I agree. and I imagine the Kerry camp understands this. they can (and are) fighting back against the medal controversy, and they will try and keep the focus on that and ignore the second ad entirely. the mainstream media will move in lockstep with them.
let enough americans see that "chopping off of heads and ears" testimony, in his own words, and Kerry will be hurt by it. what is he going to say about that?
If people see the second ad, it will affect them regardless of whether the media talks about it. I just hope the media is forced to talk about it so it's impact will be even larger.
Republican dirty tricks, splice together some clips of Bush to make the point. Call on Bush to condemn and stop the smear tactics and end with a clip of Bush say "Kerry served with honor and should be proud of his service to his country".