Kerry calls rival 'unfit,' rips vice president on deferments.

Sep. 3--SPRINGFIELD, Ohio -- John F. Kerry blasted President Bush as "unfit for office and unfit for duty" because of the Iraq war and lost jobs at home at a midnight rally in this battleground state.

In his sharpest language of the presidential race thus far, the Democrat late last night also directly assailed the student deferments received by Dick Cheney in the 1960s, as he responded to attacks this week by the vice president and others on his antiwar activities after returning from Vietnam and on his Senate votes opposing some military weapons programs.

"For the past week, they attacked my patriotism and even my fitness to serve as commander in chief," Kerry said to loud boos at the rally here. His remarks were released to reporters two hours before Bush spoke last night at the Republican National Convention in New York -- an effort to steal some of the spotlight from Bush's nomination for reelection. "Well, here is my answer to them: I will not have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have and who misled the nation into Iraq."

"The vice president even called me unfit for office last night. Well, I'm going to leave it up to the voters to decide whether five deferments makes someone more qualified than two tours of combat duty," Kerry said.…