On the August 27 edition of CNN's Inside Politics, host Judy Woodruff lent a hand to right-wing efforts to blame Senator John Kerry (D-MA) for dishonest attacks by the anti-Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Woodruff posed the following question to guest former Senator John Glenn (D-OH): “But don't you think John Kerry could have avoided this to a large extent by focusing himself on the future at the Democratic convention?”

Woodruff adopted conservatives' blame-the-victim talking point that Kerry wouldn't be subjected to lies about his war record if he hadn't talked about his Vietnam service during the Democratic National Convention last month -- despite the fact that smears about Kerry's record had been well under way for months.

FACT: Swift Boat Vets began lying about John Kerry long before Democratic convention

False attacks by John O'Neill and others had already begun in early May, long before the Democratic Convention in late July.

FACT: Republicans were already planning to smear Kerry's war service last year

From an article in the December 9, 2003, edition of Financial Times:

The Bush campaign machine, well oiled and already rolling, should not be underestimated. The current president's father gained a formidable reputation as a nasty campaigner, though the presidential fingerprints were carefully wiped off negative blueprints administered by Lee Atwater, the first Mr Bush's ruthless chief strategist.

Karl Rove, a disciple of Mr Atwater, is similarly meticulous about keeping the president publicly above the fray. Yet it is an open secret in Washington that White House-blessed campaign strategists have been working quietly for months to compile potentially damaging background on all the Democratic candidates. In the early going, when it appeared Mr Kerry would emerge as the frontrunner, one senior Republican commented wryly: “By the time the White House finishes with Kerry, no one will know what side of the (Vietnam) war he fought on.”

FACT: Other candidates have spoken of their war records without being subjected to vicious smears

During Bob Dole's 1996 presidential bid, Dole's war record was promoted by both the Republican National Committee (RNC) and by the candidate himself. The RNC ran a TV ad that used photos of Dole recovering from war injuries. And Dole explained that the RNC ad was coordinated with his campaign.

From a March 15, 1998, article published in Capital Eye, a newsletter of the Center for Responsive Politics:

“We can, through the Republican National Committee, through what we call the Victory '96 program, run television ads and other advertising,” Dole said on ABC television. “It's called 'generic'....It doesn't say 'Bob Dole for President' it has my -- it talks about the Bob Dole story. It never says that I'm running for president, though I hope that it's fairly obvious since I'm the only one in the picture!”

In addition, a 1996 Dole campaign TV ad boasted that he was “tested in war.”

Dole's discussion of his wartime heroism didn't give opponents a license to lie about his war record. The same is true of John Kerry.