The centerpiece of Kerry's campaign is his service in Viet Nam. He even took a water taxi to the convention to remind us. So, it seems as though it would be a valid story when a group of swift boat captains question Kerry's fitness to be president. After all, Bush's service record in the Guard was examined in 2000 but a single comment from Michael Moore and the Bush people had to spend two weeks defending his record all over again. Then it came up for a third time last month when his records surfaced.

Kerry's fellow officers say that he didn't deserve at least one of his Purple Hearts. He was the only swift boat captain to get out after four months with no worse injuries than a few scratches.

How does the press cover this? They attack the accusers. The story broke with a quote from McCain denouncing the ad. Bush was asked to disavow it. All of a sudden the 527s were news because they let 3rd party groups run ads. Really nasty anti-Bush ads have been running for months but the press only notices when someone runs an anti-Kerry ad.

The 3rd chapter of the anti-Kerry book is available on-line. It is pretty devistating. It seems that, while on a training mission, Kerry ordered his men to open fire on some people in sampans - possibly Viet Con but there is no proof wither way. As soon as they opened fire, the possible VCs took cover in the jungle.

During the excitement, Kerry's gun jammed so he fired a grenade. It hit the ground too close and a sliver hit his hand. When he presented it to the doctor, the doctor's reaction was, "Why are you showing me this?" He used tweezers to pull out the sliver and put a band-aid on it. Kerry's commanding officer refused Kerry's request for a Purple Heart but Kerry got one anyway, pussible by nominating himself.

Another interesting fact from this chapter - Kerry lied about being in Cambodia. People have been checking this the last few days. Kerry has been claiming since the late 1970s to have been on a secret mission in Cambodia at Christmas, 1968. At times he adds that President Nixon was telling people that there were no troops in Cambodia at the same time that Kerry was there. Interesting bit of historic trivia - Nixon didn't take office until January, 1969.

Kerry even told Congress this story. It is in the Congressional Record.

But it never happened. On Christmas, 1968, Kerry was 50 miles from Cambodia.

Again, outside of bloggers, this is not getting any press.

What was that about no liberal media?