George,

So now it turns out that a lawyer for Bush's re-election committee, one Ben Ginsburg, has been counseling the swiftboat attack dogs bent on taking a chunk out of John Kerry's leg to slow his presidential race. This is the second member of Bush's inner circle caught trying to besmirch Kerry's Vietnam service record as a member of the swiftboat defamation crew.

Next, we can expect the Republican smear team to replay Kerry's anti-war testimony. They will get after him for telling the truth about Vietnam and what happened there even as they tell lies about Kerry's military service, even though their own candidate evaded service during the Vietnam War, as did Bush's vice-president.

In short, they will call Kerry a coward and a liar, when that exactly describes their candidate, who was too chicken to apply for overseas service and who has made a career out of lying to the American people to start the war in Iraq.

As Kerry starts swinging on this issue, look for his lead over Bush in the polls to increase. The Bush team picked an issue to attack Kerry on which Bush, not Kerry, is most vulnerable. It is a stupid thing to do, but not surprising from a bunch that made a stupid war. They're not very swift.

- Sherwood Ross (electronic mail, August 24, 2004)