New ad portrays Kerry as indecisive on Iraq war

updated 3:41 p.m. ET Sept. 27, 2004

CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush's campaign, setting the stage for this week's opening presidential debate on foreign policy, rolled out a new television ad Monday highlighting Democratic Sen. John Kerry's statements on the Iraq war.

"How can John Kerry protect us when he doesn't even know where he stands?" the ad asks.

It shows quick snippets of the Democrat's comments on the war, including "the winning of the war was brilliant," and "It's the wrong war, in the wrong place, at the wrong time."

The Bush campaign is trying to portray Kerry as an indecisive candidate who shouldn't be trusted to serve as commander in chief.

The Kerry campaign responded, "George Bush hasn't been straight with the American people about Iraq, and he isn't being straight with them about John Kerry." Said spokesman Phil Singer, "The Bush campaign's misleading, false ads are aimed at covering up the wrong choices George Bush has made in Iraq and the fantasyland descriptions he uses to cover up his failure to deal with the violence on the ground."

Both Bush and Kerry spent the weekend preparing for their first of three head-to-head pre-election debates, slated for Thursday.

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