Kerry ‘endorsements’ under fire

The Bush administration yesterday challenged Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry to prove he didn’t lie about the foreign leaders he says support his campaign, but the Massachusetts senator said he still won’t name them.

“I think that if Senator Kerry is going to say he has support from foreign leaders, then he needs to be straightforward with the American people and say who it is that he has spoken with and who it is that supports him,” White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.

“Either he is straightforward and states who they are, or the only conclusion one can draw is that he is making it up to attack the president,” he said.

Vice President Dick Cheney also joined the fray, telling supporters at a campaign speech in Phoenix that Mr. Kerry should not be allowed to get away with his response to a persistent questioner Sunday in Bethlehem, Pa. Mr. Kerry told a Bush supporter at a town-hall meeting that it was “none of your business” who the leaders are.

“It is our business when a candidate for president claims the political endorsement of foreign leaders,” Mr. Cheney said. “At the very least, we have a right to know what he is saying to foreign leaders that makes them so supportive of his candidacy.”

Mr. Kerry said last week he has “met with more leaders who can’t go out and say this publicly. But boy, they look at you and say: ‘You’ve got to win this. You’ve got to beat this guy. We need a new policy.’ Things like that.”

Since then, he repeatedly has refused to divulge the identities of the leaders or even to narrow down the list. But in comments Sunday and yesterday, he no longer specifies that the meetings were face to face.

“I have heard from people, foreign leaders elsewhere in the world who don’t appreciate the Bush administration and would love to see a change in the leadership of the United States,” he told reporters yesterday, while repeating his refusal to name names.

His spokeswoman, Stephanie Cutter, said it was “unfortunate” that the White House stepped into a political fray.

“This White House would be better off spending its time repairing our alliances around the world so we can collectively fight the war on terrorism and better protect the United States, rather than using the White House press room as a place to carry out political attacks,” Ms. Cutter said.

In addition to calling it a political move, the campaign also sent out a list of 10 administration claims or statements they said were not only not backed up, but also proved to be false, including: Iraq had “reconstituted” nuclear weapons; Iraq had obtained nuclear material from Africa; and the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts would create 1.8 million jobs between them.

An investigation by The Washington Times found few chances for the face-to-face meetings that Mr. Kerry first claimed.

Mr. Kerry has made no official trips abroad since he began his campaign. The Times also found only one opportunity when Mr. Kerry was in the same city as a foreign leader. That was Sept. 24, when New Zealand’s foreign minister was in Washington meeting with State Department officials.

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