In House, Republicans use floor time to chide Kerry

WASHINGTON -- Congressional Republicans have expanded their attacks on Senator John F. Kerry to the House floor, using a loophole in House rules that allows lawmakers to speak about a senator during legislative session as long as the comments are not personal in nature.

Many of the remarks -- made under a rule that allows any member to talk about any topic for one minute at the start of daily sessions -- have been focused on Kerry's criticism of the Vietnam War and the handling of the postwar situation in Iraq. House rules for all floor discussions forbid members from ''characterizing another member's personal intent or motives, and discussing personalities." House decorum also bars lawmakers from ''referring to the specific votes of particular senators."

During the speeches, GOP lawmakers have called Kerry ''Hanoi John," and accused him of everything from undermining US troops to promoting policies Republicans say would cut jobs.

Democrats say the attacks are clear violations of House protocol and should stop. The continued attacks, they say, show a body that has abandoned bipartisan legislative debate for campaign-season attacks.

''We've lost any sense of civility on the House floor; there is no respect for the rules," said Representative James P. McGovern, Democrat of Worcester and a member of the House Rules Committee. ''They don't respect the rules; they don't respect the process, and I don't think they respect one another."

Democrats also don't like the fact that Republicans are using the ''one minutes" -- speeches typically dedicated to such topics as high school sports championships or other noncontroversial matters -- to conduct campaign politics.

Representative James Gibbons, a Nevada Republican who chastised Kerry on the floor for having ''the gall to compare our efforts in Iraq to Vietnam," said the attacks were coordinated by Republican lawmakers and would continue until the election.

''You can't say anything about a senator, but you can discuss his policies," Gibbons said.

And his GOP colleagues have.

''Even today, John Kerry votes against defense, the military, veterans, and intelligence bills that would enforce the safe return of our men and women" from Iraq, Representative Randy ''Duke" Cunningham, Republican of California, said during a one-minute speech in April. ''We do not need someone who would vote like a Jane Fonda as commander in chief."

More recently, GOP House members have attacked Kerry's energy and economic policies or demanded apologies for comments Kerry has made about President Bush.

House rules expressly forbid any member from mentioning a member of the Senate, be it birthday wishes or criticism. However, the office of the parliamentarian, which arbitrates disputes over House debate rules, has allowed lawmakers to discuss Kerry as long as they don't get personal, a standard many Democrats believe their colleagues in the Republican Party have violated.

Last month, Representative Candice S. Miller, Republican of Michigan, accused Kerry of proposing ''unreasonable fuel economy standards" that would ''lead to additional outsourcing of jobs."

Representative Sam Johnson, a Texas Republican and perhaps the most vocal of Kerry's critics, has repeatedly criticized Kerry's Vietnam War comments. In the 1970s after returning from Vietnam, Kerry -- who received three Purple Hearts, a Silver Star, and a Bronze Star -- said that Americans had committed ''atrocities" and that those who may have ordered them could be considered ''war criminals." He has since called his comments excessive and said they were the words of an angry, young returning soldier.

But Johnson continues to focus on comments Kerry made three decades ago. ''Is it any wonder my comrades from Vietnam and I have a nickname for him similar to 'Hanoi Jane?' He is called 'Hanoi John,' " Johnson said. Johnson was an Air Force pilot who was shot down in North Vietnam in 1966.

Duncan Hunter, a California Republican, called Kerry's Vietnam comments ''a wild-eyed, nutty statement" and said those who disagreed with it should ''vote against John Kerry."

Stephanie Cutter, spokeswoman for the Kerry campaign, said: ''Whether it's exploiting the separation of church and state or breaking the rules of procedures in Congress, there's no line the Bush-Cheney campaign won't cross. I guess that's what happens when an incumbent president doesn't have a record to run on."

Republicans said they had every right to go after Kerry, even during legislative session, because he is the presumptive Democratic nominee for president. Democrats are not shy about criticizing the Bush administration during their one-minute speeches, they pointed out.

Representative Jim McDermott, Democrat of Washington, alluded to Bush when he pointed out in a speech defending Kerry that Bush did not share the senator's war record.

On the House floor in April, McDermott said: ''If you were in the National Guard and you did not show up, you were AWOL for a whole year. You have got real nerve to start a attack on John Kerry's character."

''Just because he's a member of the other body, it doesn't mean he's immune from questions," said Representative Joe Wilson, Republican of South Carolina. In a one-minute speech in April, Wilson called Kerry's 1971 testimony about the Vietnam War ''one of the worst public slanders ever against the valor and character of the American military."

Such rules have historically been taken seriously by lawmakers. For example, Capitol Hill Republicans who freely criticized Hillary Clinton when her husband was president are far more respectful of her in public comments, now that Clinton, a Democratic senator from New York, is a colleague.

Those who violate the rules have their words ''taken down," meaning they are expunged from the record. The offending lawmaker is then banned from talking on the floor for the rest of the day, unless colleagues vote to give him or her another chance. None of the Republican comments about Kerry have been taken down.

Representative Mark Foley, a Florida Republican, suggested that the one-minutes be left until the end of the day.