It Makes a Difference to the Sheep

I watched with interest yesterday as the blogosphere considered the issue of whether the CBS 60 Minutes Bush-was-AWOL documents might be forgeries. As the day went by and more and more observations and bits of information accumulated, it became increasingly clear that the documents are questionable at best (as good a round-up as any of the process can be read here). 24 hours later, the big media picks up the case (see here and here for typical examples). I am still not 100% convinced that there might not be some possible explanation that exonerates CBS because the possibility of a forger using a modern word processor to create a document that was supposedly made via typewriter strikes me as stupid to the extreme. Can anyone really be that stupid? Of course human history shows again and again the answer is yes. Anyway, I saw this early this morning and it made me laugh.

UPDATE: A little needed perspective from Rex Hammock (via Jeff Jarvis):

Who cares who served in Vietnam...or avoided it? Didn't the election of President Dole, the WWII hero, over Bill Clinton, the draft dodger, settle that as an issue? And frankly, if Kitty Kelly's book claims that back in the 1980s, George W. Bush performed abortions at Camp David while dancing naked on a table, drunk and on cocaine, it won't influence my vote. And frankly, if some veteran steps forward tomorrow proving John Kerry cut himself shaving and tried to leverage that into a Congressional Medal of Honor because he thought it would help him get a date with Jane Fonda and would look good on his campaign resume, it won't influence my vote. Hell, you could tell me that John Kerry and George Bush were once secretly married to each other in a private Skull & Crossbones ceremony at Yale, and I would be too desensitized by this campaign to give a rip.

Is anyone actually going to vote this November based on something that happened during the Vietnam war or based on decades-old DUIs or anything other than the economy or the threat of terrorism or a personal conviction related to a specific public policy isisue? No one.

Bottom line: George W. Bush has served as president for the past four years. We've all had a front row seat to how he'll likely serve if he's re-elected to the office. Vote against him or for him based on what you, yourself, have observed and based on your personal convictions. Or vote for or against John Kerry based on your perception of his service in the Senate and on what you think of him today or if you are convinced that he'll be a better president. Or vote for someone else if you think neither of them is fit for the office.