This whole document episode is reminiscent of the story of the comedian who was out on the town and called his wife to set up an alibi, claiming that he was meeting with his agent.
"That's very interesting," his wife replied. "Your agent is right here in our living room -- he's been looking for you."
The comedian responded, "Well, who ya gonna believe -- me or your eyes?"
They missed the obvious. But they also missed a vital rule in campaign politics that I learned as a marginal communications staffer in the 1992 Bush/Quayle reelection campaign. The imperative: don't panic.
In the last days of that doomed 1992 Bush reelection effort, we knew we were losing. James Baker and other close Bush friends and family moved in to keep a close eye on all our work. In particular, they were looking for mistakes that would embarrass the family. At the time, dubious documents about the Arkansas governor's alleged "zipper problem" were floating temptingly around campaign headquarters. Wrong-headed whispers among junior staff about "saving the campaign" could be heard if you listened closely.
Finally, we were called into a meeting and given a simple instruction: Anyone caught trafficking in this information would be summarily fired. The Bush family did not want to "win this way." Because we were almost sure to lose anyway, they made a further promise that violators would never work in Washington again. Any doubts were laid to rest when we were told who sent this message: the president's son, George W. Bush.
It was an important campaign lesson: Don't act in haste and anger. Always check and recheck all information, especially when your candidate is dreadfully stalled. Only smart politics and hard work can recover a campaign in disarray.
Somehow, John Kerry's allies forgot this rule. So did Dan Rather. He, especially, gets the Ugly Stick.
Hope you are well!!
A liberal friend explained the whole thing to me.
You see, they KNOW Bush got special treatment. So, the absence of documents is no big deal. The forging of documents is no big deal either. They KNOW such documents should have existed. Forging them just fills a gap that was created when Bush had the original documents destroyed.
The key "fact" in this campaign is that Kerry volunteered to go to Viet Nam. No other consideration is of any importance in this election. That Kerry admits he committed war crimes--irrelevant. That Kerry slandered others--irrelevant. That Kerry helped undermine the war effort--irrelevant. That Kerry has been against every military weapon since he joined the Senate--irrelevant.
The ONLY thing that matters--Kerry went to Viet Nam, Bush didn't.
See how simple it is.