@Advocate,
Sorry Kerry was and is an over the hill asshole however a combat veteran he indeed happen to be and running a campaign to libel him on his war/combat record is shameful.
Given the public positions, he had taken after returning to the US from Vietnam there was more then enough to run an honest campaign against him without falsely attacking his combat record.
If I had been Kerry, I would have openly gone after Bush over the matter and not allow him to hide behind claims that the libel/slander program was not being control by his people.
How a National Guard draft/combat dodger got away with such behaviors toward a wounded combat veteran is still beyond my understanding.