Amazing how one side's opposition research is a bunch of slander and yours is the honest truth. Character is an issue for a leader, but that doesn't mean you had to be perfect your whole life. Read the info about Kerry and Jane or about George's time AWOL then leave it in the past and look at the people they have become now. Ditto for whether you stole from the collection plate when you were 10, smoked pot when you were 20 (inhaling or not) or drank yourself stupid till you were 40.

I don't get you this time, Silence. Is it really "opposition research" to quote a book the candidate wrote? VP Gore said that he stood by every word in "Earth in the Balance;" it will be interesting to see how far Senator Kerry might want to distance himself from his 1970 tome.

Another point I would make is that it is Kerry himself who constantly brings up his military service. He wants the cache of earning his medals without the baggage of publicly throwing them away.

The Bush AWOL charge is a complete canard as well. Anybody can investigate if he wants but this well has been turnin' up dry for ten years now. Kerry was offended that Senator Dole had the temerity to compare his wartime heroics to Mr. Clinton's draft dodging. Yet, Kerry wants to use his heroics against President Bush's service in the National Guard.

If the Senator wants to publicly disavow these actions as the equivalent of Bush's youthful drinking, I'll certainly accept that. I just fear that he wants it both ways.

Youthful? Cool, I can still claim to be youthful! Can we agree to run this election in 2004 and leave 1970 out of it? I do agree that Kerry is trying to have it both ways, playing the war hero card and the anti-war card. Bush too, wants you to know he didn't draft dodge, he enlisted in the National Guard, but don't ask too many questions about where he was stationed, with whom, and what he did because gosh it was 30 years ago and he just doesn't remember.

Re: Hood ornament

Yep, all us liberals are communists cuz heck you can't possibly be liberal without being a commie. Think perhaps the hood ornament might have something to do with the capatilist in-laws?

I think John Forkum meant the hood ornament to show that the guy is rolling in dough, but he knows what the sign of the dollar means to John Galt, Francisco d'Anconia, Ragnar Danneskjold and Hugh Akston. To put it on the hood of an opulence-mobile owned by such a renowned second-hander is an insult. I admit that the hammer and sickle may not be the best symbol for the "anti-establishment mainstream hippie" characterization I drew but it was the first thing I thought of. On second thought, how about a nice big spleef fattie? ("joint" or "marijuana cigarette" for our less worldly readers.) Or, better yet, a bong? Yeah, that's it!

So George W's hood ornament will be a bottle of Jack Daniels?

It really is funny to watch politicians claim to be middle class every day joes - the old log cabin tactic. Kerry who came back from Vietnam to become a professional protester, then had to tone down the hippie rhetoric to enter politics. On to Washington for a 20 year stint and marriage into a very wealthy family. Yep, he's just like me. Bush is the same, elite prep school, ivy league colleges then out into the business world -if what you mean is your dad and his friends set you up with your own company. Then the buddies let you in on a sweatheart deal to become part owner of a pro baseball team and finance your entry into politics. Yep, just what I planned for my kids.

I believe in redemption, Silence. I've done things of which I am not proud but I try to improve. I know a lot of alcoholics and have great respect for their ability to succeed; I have seen up close how difficult it is.

I don't hold President Bush's past against him because he has repudiated his actions. If Senator Kerry said "I was an ass when I disparaged my fellow soldiers, I'll never do it again," then I would not make a large issue of it.

The fact is, many bloggers are calling for Kerry to clarify his current thoughts on his past actions. I do not believe that he has.

I agree JK, I do not judge Bush by his past. He and Kerry should be judged on what type of man they have become, not how they got there. I also don't believe that Kerry should have to offer a blanket apology for his actions after his return from Vietnam, nor Bush an apology for availing himself of the National Guard option to avoid service in Vietnam. It is simply unfair to look back with today's sensibilities and knowledge of history since then and judge the actions of those who lived through the history.

I guess we agree "up to a point" as Evelyn Waugh would say. I cannot forgive Al Sharpton for the Tawana Brawly hoax because he will not admit his complicity and I have a tough time forgiving Senator Kerry.

He told scurrilous lies about his fellow soldiers in Congressional testimony and has never repudiated that. I think he is going to have to make a stand on that sometime soon. If he disavows, forgiveness is his.