I think this subject is of huge interest to Freepers and you have outlined it well.
I don't know if you saw, but last night Tony Snow was in for Bill O'Reilly and had a dem guest (I believe his name was Matt Baer--I made notes at the time), and in studio was Monica Crowley.
While some Freepers were unhappy with Snow's amiable host demeanor, I noted that he got Baer to concede that George W. Bush had released all of his Guard records and that Kerry should release all of his own records, too. Baer explicitly agreed not once, but twice.
Crowley was probably the strongest on an issue as I have ever seen her. She made your (and Freepers') point that Kerry had chosen to make his Vietnam service the central plank of his qualifications for office.
Crowley also opined that she did think that "30 year old" service was at the very least tangentially relevant to review when evaluating a candidate for office. She said she thought it was fair that Bush's records had been reviewed and they seem to be in order and he served well and honorably.
As to Kerry, again he has made it a huge issue and these men have stepped forward to offer a different point of view. These men deserve to have their voices heard, Crowley firmly stated.
Hannity and Colmes was fascinating and there are a couple threads on it. The guest, Chris Horner, identified on screen as a "Republican lawyer" was excellent. Just excellent. Susan Estrich was in for Colmes and Horner's demeanor, points and language was so spot on it was fantastic to behold. The dem guest kept a big "what, me worry?" smile plastered on his face as he said things like "I hope they do keep running this ad as it will only hurt the Republicans". Horner asked if that was why the DNC had lawyers send threatening letters to the media trying to squash this ad.
Well, I hope we see more of Chris Horner.
BTW, I was on my high school debate team and enjoyed reading your review above of how a debate is structured.
WOO-HOO!
One of the numerous reasons for admiring William F. Buckley Jr. (as if I needed to give you yet another reason) is for his brilliantly stated opposition to the candidacy of John Kerry.
Unfortunately, "Firing Line" is no longer on the air, so we don't have the opportunity to see Bill demolish the specious justifications made for Mr. Kerry by his immaculately groomed, carefully prepped cronies, who seem to be impervious to the most basic logic.
However, we do enjoy the good fortune of having our own fact checkers here at Freerepublic, who seem to be doing quite a remarkable job of defenestrating the feeble arguments made on behalf of this pitiful excuse for a major party presidential nominee.