The GOP is going all-out with their “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” group whose central message is that Kerry somehow fudged his service record and, by inference, those troublesome decorations. Trouble is, none of these guys actually served WITH Kerry (NYT link sure to rot). In a cite sure to irritate Edgar, MediaMatters has actual citations of their somewhat troublesome relationship with the truth. Joe Conason in Salon has more on the subject from a May editorial.

On the other hand, the men who stood with Kerry at the convention represented 9 of the 10 surviving members of his two boats, a fact noted in the Wall Street Journal, of all places (here, but paid subscription required).

The really bizarre point here is, however, that the GOP is working to say Kerry’s war record isn’t all that, when you’d think they’d be avoiding this issue like the plague, given Dubya’s “service” in Alabama.