Too little, Too late

Now, after weeks of wallowing in Swift Boat swill, the press is cranking up research into Bush's wartime record. People are saying he wasn't where he was supposed to be, the guy who says he arranged W.'s spot in the Texas Air National Guard "Champagne Unit" is going on TV, it turns out many important documents are missing from his record, and the widow of a late Alabama Senator says George H.W. called her husband looking for a campaign job for his troublesome son W, who was embarrassing him and needed to be gotten out of Texas for a while.

Great. Wonderful. Nice to see some actual investigation being done.

Sadly, none of it matters, except for expiation. It's old news. And, coming now, it just seems like a counter-smear, no matter that the Swifties were lying, and the Bush story is supported by fact. Enough people will just respond "a pox on both their houses." Instead, could we please get some more coverage of the weakness of W.'s war presidency, his abysmal economic record, and the surreptitious destruction of the environment through quiet changes in regulatory policy?

(Besides, for a good counter-smear, how about Kitty Kelley's new book, which features W.'s ex-sister-in-law Sharon Bush talking about George repeatedly doing lines of coke at Camp David when his father was the President? Y'know, continued drug abuse might explain his current erratic behavior, stilted speech, poor memory, and difficulty thinking on his feet. After all, he's "asked for such scrutiny", given how he's made his character and reliable decision-making the centerpiece of his campaign. It'll be informative to see how much airtime this allegation gets, relative to the Swift Boaters.)