Each time, we say it can never get any worse...

... than this.
And, four years later, it does!
It begins to look as though this years version of the Presidential Sweepstakes will be decided pretty much on the basis of what people believe about what John Kerry did, and in what manner he did it, in Vietnam, in a different time, in a different place, in a different world. The current debate might be called mud-slinging, but it really isn't. Its more like a spitting contest: Did not! - Did So! - You're a Liar! - You're Another!... Absolutely no attention to where we are now, what we need to be doing now, what needs our attention now. Nothing about the Other Candidate whatsoever. Nothing about "a referendum on the President's performance."
It's really sort of interesting, in a multiple-car-crash sort of a way. Lets spend all our attention on an irrelevancy, and let our impressions of a long past event, and the claims and counterclaims the candidates make about the event, the centerpiece of the presidential campaign. Use an old issue as a surrogate for todays issues that no one really wants to try to campaign on anyway. Trade an uncertain response to a past event for an uncertain response to current events.
It might not make any difference to the outcome anyway.
That's what bothers me, I think.