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I suspect that this will quickly be picked up by the "gang of 500" in the press. The NY Times has a column on it today. CBS is doing something on it on Wednesday. The AP had a story today that seems to go against the Globe piece. That probably won't matter. It will only be a matter of time before it creeps its way through the press, with only Brit Hume and ever-reliable Fox shining a light on it.

Nevertheless, I am optimistic that this story will not go anywhere. First off, the Globe's piece is pure trash. I doubt that anything except their conclusion will be repeated. The press is biased toward the left, but I think this piece is so lousy that many editors in many (though not all) newsrooms will blush at the thought of going with this further. So, that will reduce the time it can resonate in the echo chamber. There is also, of course, the fact, that there are no more documents to find, no stories to write about how Bush is still hiding documents, etc. There is no more news here. Second, I am optimistic that this time the Bushies are on top of this story -- I have this feeling mostly because I believe that Bush-Cheney '04 will deal with it rather than leaving it to the awful White House Communications office. They are horrible, and are one of the reasons the story lingered so long back in January. That they did not put together a compelling Bush guard narrative replete with evidence from the documents themselves -- rather leaving it up to people like Byron York -- is precisely why this story came back. My sense, though, is that because the Globe is only using documents Bush-Cheney has already had for months, they will be quick with a response (hopefully the one from Bartlett in the Globe is due to the fact that he really did not know what they Globe was going to print...because his quotation is really, really weak!).

At any rate, as much as I hate to admit it, I think the general public is already a tad skeptical about Bush's guard service, and that this skepticism is already built into the polls. I have seen a few people make the point that Bush did his duty by defending this nation in the last three years. I think many people whose votes are still up for grabs probably feel that. Quick and decisive response from the Bushies can settle this quickly (and provide a nice strategic contrast with the feckless Kerry campaign).

In the meantime, let me just say how annoyed I am at the Boston Globe. I was planning on going to bed hours ago. Their lousy reporter is what compelled me to stay up late. Go Boston Herald!