Instead of meeting the challenge head on as best he could he tried to get the ads pulled. Next, he complained that Bush didn't do enough to stop the ads so Bush came out against the ads. Now, it is impossible for Kerry to attack Bush on his military experience without being labled a hypocrite.
The Swift Boat Veterans will continue to run ads. Bush will continue to denounce all 527 groups which will only serve to bring more attention to the ads; and Kerry will try to switch the public's attention from his war record (which he put in the limelight) to items such as the economy.
It won't fly. The piblic will always gravitate to the gossip type of issues such as his tossing his medals over mundane thing like economic forecasts.
It is a basic rule of politics that a candidate with high negatives and less likability cannot help himself with an over the top negative assault on his opponent. The fact that seasoned democrat pros are recommending this to Kerry is evidence of desperation. Neither can Kerry defuse matters by a Fonda style apology to veterans-it would infuriate his base, and democrats need an intensely energized base to offset their lack of appeal to moderates.