What if the documents were real? What would they show? That 30-odd years ago a twenty-something rich boy accepted the opportunity to learn to fly F-102s (not the most forgiving airplanes of the period) in TANG rather than go to Vietnam. Later, a few more strings were pulled to let him slack off. For some unascertained reason, he failed to take a required physical. More strings were pulled to give the rich boy an easy time till he finished his 6 years in the Guard.

That is the worst the the documents would show, if they were real. They'd show that Bush was a pampered rich boy thirty-odd years ago. Admirable? No. Criminal? No. Scandalous? Perhaps when it all happened.

But Bush, like Kerry, has a much more recent, more extensive, and more significant record up for discussion.

I can't believe that the "old CBS" of Eric Sevareid and Walter Cronkite would have run with such a flimsy story, or that if they had that the public and the media would have been so caught up in it. The media, not just CBS, now seem to believe what voters want is a succession of "gotchas."

What the candidates have done in public life and what they offer to do in the future are what we need to be looking at.