John Kerry undoubtedly calculated he could have it both ways: For those who wanted to see a war hero, he could tout his decorations; for those who were anti-war, he could point to his role as spokesperson for the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. What John Kerry never calculated fully was that a great number of the men and women who served in Vietnam simply wouldn't buy the story.

A faded 35-year-old operations order recovered from the Naval Historical Center in Washington bears directly on the ongoing dispute between Senator Kerry and the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth about who wrote the key after-action report that ended Mr. Kerry's service in Vietnam. The report appears in the official Navy records and is posted on Mr. Kerry's campaign Web site.

TV CAMERAS are brutally unforgiving - especially during high-stakes election debates. They amplified the angst on Nixon's brow, the inexperience in Quayle's eyes, and the vulgarity of Gore's visage.

September 30, 2004 -- MIAMI — The stakes couldn't be higher as President Bush and Democrat John Kerry face off at tonight's first presidential debate.

-- by Tyler Whitley

Richmonder Phyllis Galanti, the wife of former prisoner of war Paul Galanti, is featured in a new television ad sponsored by Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth, a group attacking Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

CNN -- Headed into their first face-to-face debate, President Bush appears to be leading Democratic Sen. John Kerry among likely voters, with a clearer edge among registered voters.

The principal debate between George W. Bush and John F. Kerry, as framed primarily by Kerry at the Democratic National Convention, is about who best can be America's commander-in-chief.

Those who dismiss critics of John Kerry's Vietnam service as just a bunch of right-wing Republicans out to advance George W. Bush's cause don't know what they are talking about -- or they are engaged in wishful thinking. Okay, I may have once thought that about the critics, too. But after poring over the large volume of e-mail I received after my Aug. 28 column, "What Matters About Kerry and Vietnam," I don't any longer.

There is little dispute that the documents used by CBS to prove that George Bush was not an outstanding National Guard fighter pilot are fakes. To put a fine point on it, these memos are false, fictitious, fraudulent, bogus, amateurish, ridiculous, silly, mean-spirited, incredible, stupid, and pathetic.

I believe we now have conclusive proof that:

(1) Dan Rather is not an honest newsman who was simply duped by extremely clever forgeries; and

(2) We could have won the Vietnam War.