A large part of this argument consists of different veterans who served with Kerry who have different eyewitness accounts. Both sides have produced records, both military and various versions of Kerry's own statements, that back their conflicting positions.

There is no objective reason why Rassman, or Rood, should have their accounts treated like testimony under oath, while veterans with a different account of things are immediately assumed to be lying, a charge that long precedes any recent documents found by the Washington Post.

You seem to have instantly dismissed the veterans from the Gridley. Instantly. You might have noticed that like many anti-Kerry veterans, the issue they had was with Kerry's performance after he got back from Vietnam, not anything to do with his medals. In fact, one of the veterans stated that Kerry deserved his medals. You might have noticed that his performance of duty was less of a concern than his tendency to make stuff up.

It is at least as legitimate to question a part of Kerry's life that he has based his campaign on, as it was to question Bush's National Guard service, a part of Bush's life that, to the best of my knowledge, has never figured in any of his campaigns in 2000 or now. On his entire website, his National Guard service consists of one line.

I'm handicapped in this kind of argument (and not just here) in that a lot of the people on the other side have seen any information other than maybe the ads, or what the Democrats and the media have been saying. The Swift Boat Veteran's website is not well-organized for general browsing. It was a lot worse when it started out--an amateur effort. That the media has chosen sides has, especially in the past few days, become even more obvious. You're not going to hear the Swift Boat Veterans' side of the argument there. I have to link to sources, I have to arrange information for comparison. All the other side has to do is link to the New York Times and scream "liar."

I have addressed other issues. I posted an analysis of Kerry's spending plans, showing that they would bust the budget even if he raised taxes. I have posted his bizarre attempts to triangulate a position on Iraq. I have posted examples of what he is like as a person. The statement that he made saying that he would have voted for the war authority even if he had known there were no WMD stockpiles, dropped like a stone down a well. I still haven't seen a thing on this from Donald the Deathwatch Beetle. Maybe I just missed it. Only Bowser, to his credit, actually commented on it at any length.