DeWine still harping on Brown re Kerry

What Sen. John Kerry said:

"Education -- if you make the most of it and you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

What Rep. Sherrod Brown, the Democratic candidate for Ohio's U.S. Senate seat, said:

"The people who should apologize are George Bush and Mike DeWine for sending our troops into battle without body armor and without examining the cooked intelligence."

Kerry has apologized already:

"As a combat veteran, I want to make it clear to anyone in uniform and to their loved ones: my poorly stated joke at a rally was not about, and never intended to refer to any troop.

"I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted to wrongly imply anything negative about those in uniform, and I personally apologize to any service member, family member, or American who was offended.

"It is clear the Republican Party would rather talk about anything but their failed security policy. I don’t want my verbal slip to be a diversion from the real issues. I will continue to fight for a change of course to provide real security for our country, and a winning strategy for our troops."

But Republican Sen. Mike DeWine, who faces a difficult re-election challenge from Brown, is still beating this horse (from a 5:07 a.m. campaign release):

"Congressman Brown has yet to denounce John Kerry's shameful comments about our troops. Senator Kerry and Congressman Brown both voted against bills that would have helped protect our troops and Congressman Brown went one step farther and actually voted to cut intelligence funding at least 10 times over the last 14 years.

"Does Brown's silence mean that he agrees with John Kerry's demeaning and disgusting remarks about our brave men and women in uniform, proudly volunteering to serve their country in the War on Terror? Congressman Brown should immediately renounce John Kerry and his insulting comment about our troops.

"With hundreds of Ohio's best serving in Iraq and around the world, where is Sherrod Brown's outrage and embarrassment at Kerry's remarks?"

Not done yet. More from DeWine campaign spokesman Brian Seitchik (from an 11:32 a.m. campaign release):

"Hours after John Kerry apologized for his disparaging remarks aimed at our men and women in the armed forces, Sherrod Brown stood nearly alone in refusing to condemn Kerry's offensive comments.

"The Associated Press reported that Congressman Brown refused to call for an apology from his good friend John Kerry and instead said that George Bush and Mike Dewine ought to apologize. Sure John Kerry raised large sums of money for Brown's campaign, but true leaders have the courage to stand up to party bosses when their 'jokes' are so clearly offensive.

"This is the same Congressman Brown who voted against body armor for our troops... When he bothered to show up to vote. And the same Congressman Brown who drew a public rebuke from Colin Powell in 2004 for his inappropriate remarks.

"If Brown won't stand up to party leaders and defend our troops, what makes anyone think he will stand up for Ohio's values?"