"The idiot could easily have acquired an old typewriter like the common Olympia typewriter mentioned by Killian's ex-secretary and typed the letter on old bond paper. The forgery could have been made undetectable and the election would now be over. "

The "sad" part is that if these forgery had been better and had gone undetected, it would have made little difference to the election.
What Bush did 30 years ago is simply not important. Just as it is relatively unimportant what Kerry did in Vietnam. And even without the Swift boats and all the vets saying Kerry is unfit for Command, Kerry would still be losing.

Just look at the fundamentals:
Bush is an incumbent.
Economy has recovered. Unemployment is low.
The country is at war. [The war has been conducted successfully- no major errors, and enemy has been throughly thwarted and enemy is losing any hope of carrying out it's goal. Major acomplishments of war are the overthrow of two repressive regimes [Afghanistan & Iraq]. These countries have travelled at a very fast speed toward getting to the point of having free and just govt. Iraq though the change of regime occurred later than Afghanistan, is making extraordinary progress. ]
Bush has proven that he can provide strong leadership in a time of uncertainty and at this particular time the country needs of strong leadership.

Kerry is a weak leader:
He lacks any record of accomplishment as a leader.
His Senate record is weak in regards to working in the interest of the country.
He lacks anything that would that would distingish him from any other potential leader.
Kerry's only advantage is that the Dem leadership and Dems in general have decided that he represents someone who is the best choice that could beat Bush. This is simply a poor way of selecting a candidate. Kerry lacks support from his own party- he isn't liked. He is broadly liked only because they think he can defeat Bush. Or in other words take Bush out of the equation- and Dems wouldn't support this guy.
Supporting such a candidate in the middle of a war- is simply madness. Of course some Dems haven't really accepted the idea that we are at war. To them we are in a criminal investigation which has been "exaggerated".

Anyways most Americans know we are at war. Just as Russia is now convinced that it is at war. Any Party that can not accept the obvious and lacks the willingness to solve this issue will lose- and lose big time.