Kerry:
'Misleading
America'

updated 1:04 p.m. ET April 21, 2004

TITLE: "Misleading America."

LENGTH: 30 seconds.

PRODUCER: Riverfront Media, (a political unit of GMMB & SDD).

AIRING: 16 states.

SCRIPT:

Announcer: "Once again, George Bush is misleading America. John Kerry has never called for a $900 billion dollar tax increase. He wants to cut taxes for the middle class. Doesn't America deserve more from its president than misleading negative ads? John Kerry will crack down on the export of American jobs, get health care costs under control, and cut the deficit."

Kerry: "I'm John Kerry and I approved this message because we need to do what's right for America's economy."

Announcer: "John Kerry. A new direction for America."

KEY IMAGES: The ad shows a TV screen with footage of Bush's ad that criticized Kerry, as a newspaper clipping appears with the headline "Bush Unveils Negative Ads Vs. Kerry." A sentence from the newspaper, "Kerry has never called for a $900 billion tax increase," is enlarged. Another newspaper clip is shown with the headline "Kerry wants deeper middle class tax cuts."

A photograph of the White House is shown, followed by a series of photographs of Kerry on the campaign trail.

ANALYSIS, by Liz Sidoti, Associated Press writer: The ad is a response to Bush's commercial that accuses Kerry of being "wrong on taxes" and "wrong on defense." It rebuts the president's claim that Kerry has proposed a $900 billion tax increase.

Kerry has never called for a $900 billion tax increase, but that's one estimate for the cost of his health care plan. Kerry has said he wants to repeal the tax cut Bush gave to wealthy Americans, but that would save nowhere near $900 billion. His campaign has promised to flesh out his tax plan and his spending plan in the next few weeks.

The ad hits Bush for launching a negative attack. However, Kerry himself has run at least a dozen ads criticizing Bush or his policies over the past six months. Granted those ads were run during the Democratic primary season. They — along with others from Democratic competitors — likely contributed to Bush's dropping approval rating.