Dan Rather Is Such a Putz

---------------Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal Constitution

I was happier than a pig in poop last week when CBS unveiled those documents about the President's National Guard service. And when the critics began to pile, I remained confident that they would be proven to be genuine. After all, we're talking about CBS News, Dan Rather, and the producers of 60 Minutes. Surely such a group of respected journalists wouldn't have jeopardized their hard earned reputations by doing a story based on phony documents!!

Man, was I wrong!!! I haven't felt this duped since the time some idiot convinced me we were invading Iraq because they had weapons of mass destruction.

The real victim in this little fiasco is a silly little concept called The Truth. At this point, even if the REAL memos did surface tomorrow, no one would believe them.

And does the truth of what happened 30 years ago really matter today? Only to the extent that if the Bush people want to question John Kerry's war record, then I think their own man's credentials need to be scrutinized as well. Lord knows there are a number of unanswered questions that even Bush himself has declined to shed light on.

---------------Tom Toles, The Washington Post

But what this campaign really needs to be about is the President's record of the past 3 1/2 years, the present situation in Iraq, and the future of our nation. Kerry needs to start talking about Bush's own "flip-flopping." For starters, he needs to remind Americans that Bush initially opposed establishing a department of Homeland Security, then turned around and supported it. And how Bush opposed the creation of an independent panel to examine the 9/11 attacks and the shortcomings that allowed it, then decided to support it. And how last fall Bush opposed extending the life of that Commission, then gave in to pressure from the 9/11 families and allowed it. And how the administration wasn't going to allow Condi Rice to testify, then gave in and allowed it. And how Bush is now suddenly embracing the recommendations of the very same Commission he initially opposed.

And on the subject of Iraq, Kerry needs to remind the people of this country of what Bush said to the insurgents last summer: "Bring them on!!" Since then, over 800 American soldiers have died in that god forsaken patch of sand and almost 7000 have been wounded. And for what? To overthrow a dictator? Big freaking whoop! Saddam wasn't a threat. We already had him contained with no-fly zones over both the northern third of Iraq and the southern third. And granted, it did take a helluva lot of pressure, but weapons inspectors finally had a free reign to do their jobs.

And now we're asked to believe that we're safer than we were three years ago? How can that be when the guy that killed 3000 Americans on 9/11 is still out there, and apparently itching to inflict even more damage on us with a new, "spectacular" attack?