Kerry's acceptance speech skirted war-protester past

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BOSTON (AP) -- Sen. John Kerry left a hole in his resume when he spoke to the nation as the Democratic presidential nominee and short-handed a few telling policy details in other parts of his address.

Mr. Kerry spoke frequently of his past as a decorated Vietnam veteran but gave only hints about his days as a war protester and ignored Vietnam when praising the American tradition of going to war only "because we have to."

Mr. Kerry once called the Vietnam War "the biggest nothing in history," and says he is still proud of his anti-war activism when he came back. But his televised speech at the Democratic National Convention made only passing reference to his generation's marches for "civil rights, for voting rights, for the environment, for women and for peace."

A video introduction shown at the convention before the broadcast networks began carrying his speech included a clip of the young Mr. Kerry, in military garb, testifying to Congress against the war in 1971.

As for his policy claims, Mr. Kerry declared that "we value health care that's affordable and accessible for all Americans" and called that care "a right for all Americans."

But his plan, while aimed at expanding coverage and reducing premiums, does not ensure coverage for all. His campaign says the plan would extend coverage to an additional 27 million people, which would leave more than 10 million without health insurance.

"Overall, his claims about the successes of the Clinton years and failures of the Bush presidency are -- if not down-to-the-decimal-point accurate -- close enough to avoid critique," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, who follows the factual claims of the candidates for the Annenberg Public Policy Center.

"Those who conclude from the speech that Bush would privatize Social Security would be misled, however."

Also in the speech, Mr. Kerry rhetorically asked, "What does it mean when 25 percent of the children in Harlem have asthma because of air pollution? America can do better. And help is on the way."

A study by Harlem Hospital Center last year found 25 percent of the children in a 24-block area of Harlem had the disease. But blaming all of that on air pollution as part of a case against the Bush administration is not supported by the study.