Chris Reed catches
His framing of the issue is bogus: Yeah, Dukakis didn't vote on weapons as a governor. But his positions on military issues were endlessly explored by the media in 1988. He was one of two finalists to be commander-in-chief. Of course he would be pressed on his views. And a Nexis hunt of campaign coverage in 1988 shows the attack ad, by the standards of attack ads, is unusually accurate. Dukakis did oppose new missile systems (N.Y. Times, Sept. 21, 1988). He did routinely criticize "Star Wars" missile defense research as a "fantasy" (N.Y. Times, Sept. 21, 1988). He did criticize the U.S. actions in Grenada and Libya (N.Y. Times, Sept. 21, 1988). He did criticize spending on aircraft carriers (N.Y. Times, Sept. 2, 1988). He did oppose ground emergency warning systems against nuclear attack (Boston Globe, Oct. 19, 1988).