two things strike me here.  despite all the calls for kerry to do exactly what he did (and i believe he was right in so doing), nobody but you felt it was worth comment.   since kerry took the initiative, it would seem bush should do the same.   im not holding my breath.

Bush's team did condemn the swift-vote ad if you recall.

Secondly, Bush hasn't made his miltiary service the center point of his campaign.  Kerry made his 4 month stint in Vietnam.  It's an apples and oranges comparison. 

Though at this point, pretty much only extreme left wing zealots take Moveon.org seriously about anything.  I wish everyone could see the MoveOn.org ad so that people could see how nutty Kerry supporters have gotten. 

You may not like the swift boat ad but it had people who served with Kerry, from the photo that Kerry's campaign used to circulate, actually in it refuting Kerry.  That's pretty powerful.  By contrast, a half-baked "Bush uses family connections to get into the National Guard" just sounds petty given that Moveon.org would be supporting Bill Clinton today if he were running.

i was trying for a higher moral ground but you just made me spit juice outta my nose

this is what i recall (from the washington post, august 5, 2004, article entitled: "McCain Criticizes Ad Attacking Kerry on Vietnam War Record" by Jim VandeHei and Mary Fitzgerald)

In an interview with the Associated Press, McCain called the ad "dishonest and dishonorable." Asked if the White House was behind it, McCain said: "I hope not, but I don't know. But I think the Bush campaign should specifically condemn the ad."

Soon after, White House spokesman Scott McClellan declined to do so and instead criticized the financing of the ad, saying the president "deplores all the unregulated soft-money activity." McClellan said the Bush campaign had nothing to do with the ad or the group behind it. "We have not and we will not question Kerry's service in Vietnam,"

if bush had, we wouldnt be having this discussion.  kerry may have focused on his 4 months (for which he volunteered knowing how extremely dangerous swiftboat ops were) in vietnam...you keep neglecting to consider that occured during kerry's SECOND tour of duty. 

its pretty easy to find moveon.org...considering thats the url

the most telling fact of this whole sorry episode is this: larry thurlow--who now claims the after-action report that led to kerry's being awared a bronze star is wrong in that he witnessed the incident and there was no enemy fire--was also awarded his own bronze star on the basis of the report. which says:  “larry thurlow had maneuvered his pcf-51 over to pcf-3, and by and hopped aboard to offer assistance. the boat was in shambles but they were still returning fire and could not therefore assess any damage”….“all boats received heavy a/w [automatic weapons] & s/a [small arms] from both banks…all boats returned fire …pcf-94 [kerry’s boat] picked up special forces advisor who went overboard. pcf-94 towed pcf-3.”

why didnt thurlow refuse the bronze star?   why hasnt he returned it?

im not certain who youre jabbing here but if youre referring to the bush campaign, mores the pity.  cheney is a true master of that kinda thing.  one thing i truly admire about him is that smarmy smile that says (without words) 'you know im lying...i know im lying...but nobody has the balls to call me on it.'

all politicians say theyre against negative ads in general.  it's not at all nitpicky to expect bush to speficially address this issue.

please prove me wrong with a verifiable contextual quote if it exists. i provided  kerry condemnation of  the moveon.org ad smearing bush's service record.   i have yet to read or hear bush repudiating the swiftboatvets (the validity of their claims has now been called into question by every responsible journalist--not op-ed authors--whos looked into them).  

No, Bush said he would love to see these soft money ads taken off the air -- ALL of them.

Meanwhile, Kerry quotes parts of F-9/11 to use against Bush.

The idea of a sleazy guy like Kerry winning the white house and thus propelling a trial lawyer to VP gives me the creeps. 

It's pretty ironic that someone who's hoping that the trial lawyer who managed to make C-sections more common because of lawsuits becomes VP would have a problem with Cheney.

Wisefawn here is the article you are looking for Link it's on msnbc.com.  It's also what Kingbee was talking about with Larry Thurlow and the report which contradicts what Thurlow is saying.  I also recommend you read this article on the same website that's titled "Report exposes Bush connections to Swift Boat vets"  Link that's also on MSNBC from the New York Times.   I think these links are relative to the topic.