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John Kerry announced a new website today designed to attack the smears against Barack Obama. “We’ve seen this movie before. The Republicans, without ideas, start running a negative campaign filled with personal attacks and misleading ads. The attacks get condemned, but they get lots of attention and get played on TV endlessly,” Kerry wrote in an email.

He wrote that it isn’t enough to play defense against smear campaigns, so this is why he launched Truth Fights Back, “You can’t just play defense against smears, pointing out how they aren’t true. You’ve got to play offense, too, exposing the whole cynical game for what it is: an attempt to keep us from talking about the real issues and ultimately changing our country for the better.”

Kerry pointed out that the Republicans have no issues to run on, “The Republicans have nothing to run on, no ideas to push, no solutions for America. They’ll run a campaign of laughable gimmicks and outright distortions and lies. But we can fight back with the truth – and the truth can win this time.” This is Kerry’s own website funded by Kerry’s leadership PAC. He promises to stay on top of what the right wing is doing and fight for the truth.

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The timing of the launch of this website is no coincidence. The website will go after the “80 lies” in Jerome Corsi’s new book Obama Nation. Corsi was one of the main players in the swift-boating of Kerry during the 2004 presidential campaign, but I don’t think that his new book is going to damage Obama the same way as his 2004 attack did to Kerry. This time the Democrats are ready for the attacks, and Barack Obama is more popular than John Kerry ever was in 2004.

The vote in 2004 was more a vote against Bush than a vote for Kerry. In 2008, the election is about Barack Obama. Those who support McCain are doing so as a vote against Obama. The political mood of the nation is with the Democrats this time, so I doubt that this latest book will have any impact on the race. I think this website is more about rallying the Democratic base, not concern over this upcoming smear campaign.