Reply #6: The reason may be because they knew it was a loser [View All]

[karynnj]

When the Rather story first came out the NYT found that people leaning to Bush, when asked if that being true would change their vote and the vast majority said it was irrelevent. (It was just another thing he did wrong in his youth.) Kerry's service did matter, because as Beachmom pointed out, it went to Kerry's honesty and character - and Bush being a low life was irrelevent.

The people left to win were the people who in late August were still tied to Bush. It's hard to see, given what was already known about Bush, that even knowing that he blew off attending the national guard, it was not the issue in 2004. The election was not a vote on who had the better service record - Kerry would have won that losing only the wingnuts.

Also, as you said, the campaign may have publicly distanced themselves, while privately being ok with it.