MATTHEW YGLESIAS on the Kerry/Cambodia story:

Seriously, in my experience these damaging-looking allegations have a way of turning out not to be true, a fact that never seems to get as much coverage as the initial allegation. But it certainly looks bad from here, and I haven’t seen a good explanation yet, perhaps because there isn’t one. It’s a little hard to see what could possibly be the motive for a Kerry lie on this front, which makes it plausible that there’s a reasonable explanation, but also a little freaky if there does turn out to be one. Personally, I’ve never maintained that John Kerry had a George Washington-esque level of honesty (see, e.g., my article about how Kerry is basically lying about his trade policy) so my world won’t be shaken to the core if this turns out to be a fib.

What an endorsement! But he deserves credit for mentioning the issue, as many lefty bloggers aren’t. He also links to Campaign Desk, which links to this Frontline item on covert U.S. operations in Cambodia — though there’s not anything there that actually supports the notion that Kerry was in Cambodia. That’s not much to offset claims by Kerry’s own crewmembers that he was never there.

I agree that it’s hard to come up with a specific motive — beyond simple bragging and posing, anyway — and it’s hard to believe that Kerry could make statements like this and not expect to be called on them. For what it’s worth, this unsourced item suggests that the Kerry Campaign didn’t expect the media to check. I don’t know if it’s true, but it would explain a lot. . . . [LATER: Jim Geraghty reports that the Kerry Campaign denies this.]

At any rate, it’s far too early to compare Kerry to Micah Wright, as many of my emailers are. Unlike Wright (who’s still making lame excuses), Kerry definitely served, and regardless of the Cambodia story seems to have served well — and if he’d stuck to that and obeyed the usual war-hero conventions of manly humility and self-deprecation nobody (including me) would be paying much attention to this. But since Kerry himself has made his war experience — and his recounting of it — the centerpiece of his campaign and invited us to judge him on that (and almost exclusively so), well, it matters.

And Tom Maguire wants the military records released. It seems to me that the Kerry people could clear this up pretty quickly, if they did that.

UPDATE: Ann Haker wonders if Kerry is playing rope-a-dope here. Could be, I suppose. It would show a degree of shrewdness not previously apparent in his campaign, but I suppose that would go with running a good bluff. In some sense, if that were true I would find it comforting.

ANOTHER UPDATE: My colleague Tom Plank, who served with the Marines in Vietnam, emails:

I really appreciate that you are addressing the Kerry in Vietnam issue. As a preliminary matter, I initially thought that Kerry’s and Bush’s service in the late 1960s and earlty 1970s was irrelevant to the question of who would make a better President.

But, Kerry’s emphasis on his service in Vietnam raises issues important to me.

First, as a combat veteran of Vietnam (Aug 1969-May 1970), I was starting to feel that if the Swiftboat veterans questioning Kerry’s Vietnam service could not be heard, then this country is not worth defending. Fortunately, they are getting to be heard.

Second, even without the critics of Kerry’s Vietnam service, the prominence that Kerry has placed on Vietnam is mystifying. For example, why would any active duty officer go back and restage his activities for film? What kind of person would do that? I had a camera in Vietnam, and I took pictures. But not in combat, and not to recreate my combat experiences. I suggest that this action suggests something important about Kerry’s character, and it is not good. Along the lines of a Nixon and Clinton.

Second, emphasize four months in Vietnam and ignore one’s Senate record? How can anyone buy that? Can Kerry believe that no one will pay attention to his Senate record? I find it hard to believe that Kerry can sell himself as a hawk now (and criticise Bush) when he has one of the most appeasement-oriented and anti-military and anti-intelligence records in the senate.

Third, if you add all of this together, plus the allegations of the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, you get the sense that Kerry will say anything to get what he wants (in this case, the Presidency) whether it is true or not. Everthing points to an uprincipled person along the lines of a Nixon.

I am glad this is being aired. Do we really want a President who has this kind of character?

Well, that’s what we have to figure out. And reader Joseph Bator emails:

The point about Kerry’s Cambodia service is the context of his claim. He did not simply inflate his service record. He used the claim as a club to bludgeon supporters of Reagan’s Nicaragua policy. Nicaragua = Viet Nam. Reagan = Nixon. Support for the Contras = John Kerry sent to Cambodia by his duplicitous government. His indignation gave him not the moral high ground, but an amazing simulation. In 1986 that was all he needed to put defenders of Reagan’s policies on the defensive. If his claim to Cambodia service is false it reveals a particularly repugnant form of cynicism. If he can’t prove his claim, it speaks very badly indeed for his political character.

Indeed. Context on the Nicaragua issue here.