CT Discussion about Kerry

Some at Crooked Timber have wondered aloud why no one is harping on supposed "grounding" of GWB:
click here

Could someone please tell me why Kerry’s actions 30 years ago are such an issue and not GWB’s? If there is so much reporting on where Kerry may, or may not, have slept in the 1970s, why isn’t there a good investigation in the SCLM of why GWB was grounded around that time?

My reply:

The problem is: GWB is not on the record denying or defining what the “grounding” was all about.

Kerry’s entire career starts from the premise of his war stories, his denying he threw the medals, his saying he did throw the medals, his saying they were only ribbons, his recanting that statement…

I agree, it’s all frivolous… but notice that most discussions around Kerry are saturated in the mundane and unimportant because he can’t walk a straight line.

Take the Bush DUI. The political last minute hurrah before the 2000 election amounted to nothing because he admitted it fully, took responsibility and submitted to the consequences. If he denied it or gave it wiggle room it would haunt him to this day.

He can claim right-wing attack all he wants… but Kerry’s ghosts are Kerry’s doings.