I've been having as much fun as probably everybody else here seeing the White House on the defensive over whether Bush went AWOL during the Vietnam War. But is that the best we've got?
Let's suppose the best thing possible happens for the Democrats on this mini-tempest: we find conclusive proof that Bush didn't fulfil his service contract with TANG. Fine, but that was thirty years ago. How does this affect me right now? If I've been unemployed for a year, my family's on food stamps, I have no job prospects, and my kid's off in Iraq putting her ass on the line, how does this directly affect my life?
The bigger problem with this line of attack is that it is another small step in a strategy that ultimately will lose the election. While we're focusing on Bush's being AWOL in an effort to reach out to swing voters, Bush is consolidating his conservative base with aggressive attacks on abortion and gay rights. What is Kerry doing to reach out to his base? Is he even going to bother?