[randita]

As for the swift boat vets who are hostile to Kerry, I am inclined to believe them on appearances alone. In years of opposition research work, I have found to my surprise that allegations against a candidate from people who know him almost always have an element of truth, even if murky on the facts.

So far, we have a dozen or so Kerry Swift Boat comrades who support him-- they were the ones used as props at the convention.

And we have 250 or so SBV's who challenge Kerry's version of his service time in Vietnam and his fitness to be Comm. in Chief.

This has yet to play out. If Kerry is INDEED telling the truth about his service, we should expect 100's of SBV's out there to surface--maybe not as an organized group--to validate Kerry's version.

If we don't get dozens more if not 100's more coming forth in defense of Kerry, the conclusion one might draw is that the vast majority of those who served with Kerry question Kerry's version of his service experience, i.e. Kerry has not been truthful.

Or we could also conclude that of all the people Kerry served with, only 13 or so are Democrats who would vote for him anyway and the rest are Republicans who wouldn't.

I'm waiting to hear how many men who served with Kerry and support him stick their necks out like the anti-kerry SBV's have done.

[Rockingham]

Here's another point against Kerry: his relatively few SBV allies speak seem to lack the passion of the opposing SBVs.