NEW YORK, Aug 24 (AFP) - As Democrats and Republicans spar over attack ads in the race for the White House, Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry on Tuesday accused President George W. Bush's campaign of putting up a smoke screen to divert attention from important issues.
"The Bush campaign and its allies have turned to the tactics of fear and smear because they can't talk about jobs, health care, energy independence and rebuilding our alliances -- the real issues that matter to the American people," Kerry said, according to prepared remarks.
"They have no plans, no positive vision and no understanding of an urgent and undeniable truth: a stronger America begins at home."
"I am here today to call for a truthful and robust debate about our values as Americans and the fundamental choices we will make at a critical time in our history," Kerry was to declare at a New York engineering college, The Cooper Union.
"That is what this election should be about. But from the other side, we have seen a calculated effort to evade that debate."
He charged that "every step of the way, George W. Bush has put the narrow interests of the few ahead of the interests of most Americans."
In New York ahead of the Republican National Convention, Kerry expressed confidence that the public would not be swayed by what the Republicans say at the rally.
"The world will listen to what the Republicans say when they come here," Kerry said. "But words, slogans and personal attacks cannot disguise what they have done -- and left undone. They are going to say that we've 'turned the corner,' that the job is getting done. They are even going to claim, as they already have, that this is the best economy of our lifetimes."
The speech comes on the heels of a sparring match in which the two sides have accused each other of lying in a war of words over Kerry's record in the Vietnam War.
Bush called Monday for a stop to campaign ads by independent groups, including those targetting Kerry's war record, and praised his Democratic rival's service as a Swift boat captain in Vietnam.
"I think Senator Kerry served admirably and he ought to be proud of his record," Bush told reporters at his ranch in Texas when asked about ads by a group known as the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth," which attack Kerry's military service.
The president had until Monday declined to repudiate the ads, which the Kerry campaign claims were orchestrated by Bush operatives and which allege that Kerry lied about some of the wounds and medals he received in Vietnam.