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I'll side with hon and michael.sf. on this one--mostly.

When things like this event come up, I like to play a game of "what probably really happened?" So what do we know about Kerry at that age?

1. He was already thinking about his future political viability.

2. He craved the limelight.

3. He felt comfortable in public, and seem to know how to handle the media and public relations. People I've known said he was an engaging speaker at the time.

4. He had a huge ego.

5. He was in his late twenties and having a position of public prominence that was perhaps beyond what a young man should have.

6. He saw things in the war he didn't like, and felt angry about them. Let's face it: being on a Swift boat is not for the squeamish, and officers have to make painful decisions under stress.

7. (And this is a maybe) He thought he would get easy duty in the Navy, and was a little resentful at having to serve on a Swift Boat.

So, putting it all together, here's what I would guess happened. Kerry comes back from Vietnam and looks to get his name in lights. Being from a very leftist part of the country, he senses a lot of anger toward the war.

He's a bit shell-shocked himself, and feels comfortable expressing anger against the war. Because he's been there, friends immediately laud him for his stands. He hears about Vets against Vietnam, and rushes headlong into it without knowing a lot about it.

He has some discomfort at the more radical aspects of Vets against Vietnam, but ignores that because the organization is his ticket to prominence. A man seeking to become president some day is not going to want to overthrow the nation.

And then there's the Kansas City meeting. Kerry knew the group was a little strange, but this is off the scale. Seeking to kill Senators? Kerry knows he needs to get out, but he's addicted to the limelight. As he would many times later, he decides to be on both sides of the issue. He figures acting as the spokesman for now is harmless, especially since the plot went down to defeat. But the whole think makes Kerry nervous.

So can we call him a domestic terrorist? I don't think so. On his own, Kerry never would have advocated killing anyone. Had the plot not been defeated, my guess is Kerry would have reported it to the authorities.

The disturbing fact is that Kerry appeared to have no conscience throughout the whole episode. His whole goal was working toward getting elected to something. Right and wrong was just not part of the equation.

At the end, Kerry couldn't even defend or reject the Vets against Vietnam. His final calculus was "how can I milk the situation so as to get my name in the media without the embarrassment of being linked to some questionable people?"

If Kerry is elected and a terrorist attack happens, I fear that Kerry's first instinct will be "how can I use this attack to help get me in the polls?" That thinking can lead to very bad decisions.