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It is unfortunate that Kerry chose to lump service in the National Guard along with "fleeing to Canada" and "going to jail" (both felonies) as "acceptable" ways to dodge the draft.

Kerry never said that. His criticism is that Bush seems to have walked away from his ANG commitment for an entire year, while other ANG servicemen were flying and dying in Southeast Asia.

What Kerry said was, "I would defend the President's choice with
respect to going into the Guard. I've never made any judgments
about any choice somebody made about avoiding the draft, about going
to Canada, going to jail, being a conscientious objector, going into
the National Guard."

Kerry's intent in making that statement was clear to me. He
deliberately associated service in the Guard with other less than
honorable alternatives. Going to Canada and going to jail both
conote felonious actions and illegal activity. He deliberately
lumped them into the National Guard issue for the purpose of
denegrating Bush's service and, by implication, the service of
others who took that path, his oleaginous segue, "I would defend the
President's choice with respect to going into the Guard,"
notwithstanding.