the GOP Desperate Moment of the Day(tm)

WASHINGTON - Chris Carney wasn't in Congress in 2002, never voted for the resolution authorizing President Bush to go to war in Iraq and yet the Pennsylvania Republican Party accuses the Democrat of helping to start the war.

"Chris Carney failed our nation once ... now Chris Carney attacks the same war he helped start," reads the mailing sent to voters. "Don't give Chris Carney the chance to fail us again."

Carney, a former intelligence analyst at the Pentagon, is challenging Republican Rep. Don Sherwood. A lieutenant commander in the Navy reserves, Carney dismissed the mailing as a sign of desperation and argued that Bush - with Congress' blessing - took the country to war.

Sherwood voted to give the president the authority to use military force to oust Saddam Hussein.

"How can they dare attack my service? The accusation is that I'm responsible for the war. That is ridiculous," Carney said. "The intelligence community consists of 16 different agencies. I was but one voice in one agency."

--story