This is the sort of thing that drives conservatives crazy. The SwiftVets were dismissed by the mainstream press as a bunch of partisan liars on little more evidence than that their original donor also donates to the Republicans. The SwiftVets charges have never been examined in detail by the mainstream press.

How does the Kerry campaign fight back? First they get Dan Rather to do a 60 Minutes attack on Bush based on forged documents and some statements of a major Kerry backer who contradicted years of sworn statements. Next they form a new 527 and raise $400,000 to start attacks on Bush based on the 60 Minutes piece.

What if the documents are forged?

It doesn't matter to me," Smith says plainly. The issue of Bush's service
is still valid.

So, on the one side, attacks on Kerry are dismissed out of hand and on the other side, attacks on Bush are carried forward even though the documentation is forged.

I'd hate to see what things would be like if we did have a liberal media.

The root cause here is Bush-bashing. The Left needs Kerry. If there's anything damaging in his past then their hopes of ending the evil Bush dynasty are gone so they don't want to know. They are holding their hands over their ears and going, "La, la, la." But they want something to be wrong with Bush so they believe everything they are told because they want him damaged.

At least competition has opened things up a bit. It's a major story when a major news outlet attacks the President on the basis of poorly forged records. It hurts all of the media so they are distancing themselves.

As the Bush campaign has pointed out, none of these accusations are new. The Democrats keep bringing them up again and again hoping that they will stick this time. I expect that the public has grown numb to this litany.

What do Kerry supporters say about this?

"I wish we could be talking about [exporting] jobs ... And health care," he
(Smith) says. "But you've got to play the game you're in."

But it is the Kerry people who keep bringing up Viet Nam. We should vote for Kerry because he served in Viet Nam and Bush didn't. Except we should ignore Kerry's anti-war activities when he returned because he was young and inexperienced. Except we should pay attention to what Bush did when he was young and inexperienced.

Why don't we focus on the issues? Like the Department of Wellness.

I can imagine the conversation at the Kerry headquarters.

"Our candidate just proposed a Department of Wellness."

"Oh great. Pull out some more Viet Nam pictures."