John O'Neill was featured on Lehrer's news show on PBS last night. Counterpoint was provided by a smirking Tom Oliphant, who just happened to have witnessed the O'Neill/Kerry debate on the Cavett show in 1971. Oliphant closed with the observation that the swiftees' story was at the level of tabloids and cable TV, which have lower standards. Lehrer looked Oliphant in the eye, and said that the story is now on PBS (duh, obviously) due to Kerry's speech.
I am getting the distinct impression that the slightly more mainstream establishment branch of the media is starting to decide that saving Kerry from his own past isn't worth destroying what little credibility they have left. And the Kerry hacks simply aren't up to the task of pulling off this caliber of orchestrated lie campaign - and the media, for all their faults, don't suffer bad liars well.
Good for Lehrer. He probably didn't mean it as a supportive comment for the Swiftees, but Elephant needed to be slapped down for his comment.