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wouldn't it be better to shift the public debate to what Kerry hasn't done for the thirty years he's been on the public dole since then?

No. I don't think you appreciate what was just done to John Kerry. This was a draw play that will go down in history.

You have to remember that a large fraction of the voting population is too young to remember this stuff. As much as they might have thought this "Viet Nam war hero" stuff about Kerry was boring and so-what, they had no reason to doubt it. OK, here come some Swift Vets to say his medals were bogus, but 30 years later, who really cares. The guy probably did some heroic stuff, even if he exaggerated some of it.

But by poking at it, the Swift Vets made Kerry puff himself up and wave his medals even more. "I am so a hero, how dare you even question it!"

Now comes the second ad.

Now these people who didn't know John Kerry or Viet Nam from a parking lot are treated to a John Kerry they didn't know about. And this one is the antithesis of the war hero they thought he probably was. How can a guy who testified like that stand up now and act like Joe War Hero? This does not compute.

This ad campaign is a magnificently executed draw play. The whole defense came rushing in, yelling "War hero! War hero! He is so a war hero!"

And now people find out he was actually Jane Fonda.

People who do not remember the history of this are going to feel like they were tricked by John Kerry into giving him the benefit of the doubt about being some kind of hero. Maybe they didn't even care about him being a hero. But they will care that he tried to trick them. Nobody wants a guy in the White House who tries to trick people about who he is. Kerry is toast.

You have to remember that a large fraction of the voting population is too young to remember this stuff.

And the "history" that they have been taught in public schools is questionable, to say the least. However, they HAVE been taught to "QUESTION AUTHORITY." To them, this is the essence of "critical thinking," and it never occurs to them that critical thinking can be used to SUPPORT the actions of authority, indeed, the very existence of and need for legitimate and legal authority. Do these younger people EVER dare to question and rebel against the authority of those who "question authority" (namely, the oh-so-perennially-enlightened "progressives" whose IQs are oh-so-ABOVE-average)? [sarcasm]. Methinks that in the case of "progressives" IQ translates into IDIOCY quotient - a one point drop for each step further to the left. After all, it DOES take a village to raise an IDIOT.

This is why we need to make free speech forums such as Free Republic even stronger and more visible and assertive!