I disagree. This sort of thing advances the story that John Kerry is not telling the truth about his VietNam service. In order to express their outrage and condemnation, CNN has to back up 10 paragraphs to explain what the allegations are against Kerry.
In may when the Swifties first appeared, they were completely ignored by the press. Now the press is obsessed with them.
Besides, it gives the Kerry camp one more chance to melt down and for Kerry to have a Howard Dean moment. The real story of the Swift Boat Vets is not the allegations themselves but the horrible way Kerry and his gang react to this stuff.
Additionally, the election will hinge on turnout. You won't get Kerry supporters to vote for Bush, but you can make them apathetic toward Kerry. If 5-10% of Kerry's voters stay home on election day, Bush will win in a landslide.
Rats can't take it, but they can sure dish it out.
Red
I think this is too serious to joke about. A lot of men died for the purple hearts, and not just in Vietnam.
If Kerry falsified batle accounts to get his it's not funny. It's fraud and its deadly serious and it demeans the the service of everyone who has ever put on the uniform.
So far the SBV have done a good job (I think personally) of keeping this above the fray and have conveyed the serious nature of the charges they're making very well. This does not help.