Bush camp hits back at Kerry with a quip

President Bush’s re-election campaign is ridiculing what it calls “John Kerry’s coalition of the wild-eyed,” which includes filmmaker Michael Moore and former Vice President Al Gore.

The campaign has compiled a collection of video clips featuring angry Democrats and over-the-top ads by MoveOn.org, a liberal advocacy group, to showcase what it calls the “rage” of the left.

The resulting Internet ad, which is posted on the campaign’s Web site, is dubbed “The Faces of John Kerry’s Democratic Party: The Coalition of the Wild-eyed.”

Taking a page from the political playbook of Mr. Moore, whose anti-Bush movie, “Fahrenheit 9/11,” opened nationwide on Friday, the Bush campaign has edited together the most strident sound bites from those who support Mr. Kerry, a Democratic senator from Massachusetts.

“How dare they drag the good name of the United States of America through the mud of Saddam Hussein’s torture prison,” exclaims an angry Mr. Gore at the beginning of the ad.

Viewers then see a clip from a MoveOn.org ad showing Adolf Hitler basking in the adulation of Nazis who cry “sieg heil.” An image of Mr. Bush’s raising his right hand to take the oath of office is made to look as though he is saluting the German dictator.

“What were war crimes in 1945,” the ad says, “is foreign policy in 2003.”

Next comes a montage of angry exhortations from former Democratic presidential candidates Howard Dean and Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri. Mr. Moore is shown being booed at the Academy Awards for accusing the president of “sending us to war for fictitious reasons.”

After more shots of Mr. Gore railing against Mr. Bush and MoveOn.org likening him to Hitler, the ad shows Mr. Kerry using an expletive to describe Mr. Bush’s domestic policies.

“This is not a time for pessimism and rage,” the ad concludes as the image of Mr. Kerry gives way to one of Mr. Bush. “It’s a time for optimism, steady leadership and progress.”

On Thursday, the day of the ad’s release, Mr. Kerry disputed the notion that he is a pessimist.

“This nation is destined to think big and dream big, and it’s time America had a president who once again will look toward a future of discovery with hope and confidence,” he said.

“I’ve offered an economic agenda focused on high-tech, high-wage job growth,” he added. “It is an optimistic agenda for prosperity.”

Kerry campaign spokesman Mary Beth Cahill called on Republicans to remove the ad saying that “the use of Adolf Hitler by any campaign, politician or party is simply wrong.”

But the Bush-Cheney campaign team refused.

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