When I'm talking about his peers, I am talking about fellow commanders (equal rank peers) that served in the same boat group in which he served. These aren't just disparate boats based in the same port....These are like tanks groups. Like someone was saying on TV tonight, they run in packs like tanks, so what happens to one boat is going to be seen/experienced by multiple boats. The people rallying against him are decorated officers and numerous superior officers directly involved in the awarding of the awards in question. The people that are supporting him are a handfull of his subordinates.

Yes, some have recanted their statements. Some of those same people later stated that the papers that printed the recanting had incorrectly quoted them.

I'm not advocating for these guys and their story. I am advocating for the general public to resist the media's attempt to dismiss this story and dig into the actual meat of their assertions. John Kerry has done NOTHING to deserve that blind faith and trust.

As to judging someone fit to lead, I agree that this issue is not a good litmus test. The only one in the race focusing on this aspect of their experience is Kerry. Bush may be annoying/irritating, but he's the only one of the two making substantive proposals right now. Kerry is making pie-in-the-sky statements followed by military experience rhetoric. I don't care about either of their miliatary experiences, but I sure as hell am not going to vote someone into the highest office in the US based solely upon their continual banter about Vietnam and their continued avoidance of their own experience and voting record.

I think that the Democratic party made a big mistake annointing Kerry as the Golden Child. They would have been better served with someone that could run soundly on their record and their knowledge. The people are ready for Bush to hit the road, but they aren't easily going to give that power to someone who's credibility continues to diminish. If they had tapped into a more moderate JFK/Clinon-type Democrat, this thing would have been a blowout. Hell, they might have been able to pull the more moderate conservatives/Libertarians like me to their side. But, alas, the Democratic party has been overun w/ extremists and socialists.....too bad.