MATTHEW CONTINETTI AT THE WEEKLY STANDARD has a look at the Swiftboat Vets charges against Kerry, and gives it a mixed report: the Kerry campaign has admitted that the Christmas-in-Cambodia story was false, but Continetti has a rather involved review of the purple-heart issue and says the Swiftboat vets’ evidence is inconclusive. (Nothing about the Swiftvets’ ad regarding Kerry’s Senate testimony, etc., but then there’s not much to argue about there, I guess, on the facts).

What’s striking to me is that Continetti does a better job of making Kerry’s case for him than the Kerry campaign has done. This seems to puzzle Continetti, and it should. I don’t understand why Kerry doesn’t release his records, and answer the criticisms. He should have done it a month ago.

UPDATE: Reader George Ditter emails:

It’s just speculation on my part, but it would seem that if the records supported the circumstantial evidence set forth in the Weekly Standard article you would expect the Kerry Campaign to release the records. The logical (and legal) inference from a failure to present evidence in your control being? The same applies to Kerry’s failure to release his educational test scores. We know what Bush’s are, inference that can be drawn from Kerry’s failure?

Yeah, when you don’t release the records, you always look as if you’re hiding something. Doesn’t the Kerry campaign know that?

ANOTHER UPDATE: I wasn’t supposed to talk about it, but my own connection with the Swiftboat missions has now been exposed.

MORE: Reader John Jorsett emails:

I was reading accounts of Kerry’s “fury” with his staff for dissuading him from counterpunching on the swiftboat ads, and the subsequent tales of a staff shakeup. This led me to ask myself if Kerry might be dumb enough to counterpunch now, at 3 weeks into it, resulting in a reinvigoration of what should be a waning issue. And then when I saw today that Max Cleland and Bob Kerrey were calling for Rove’s resignation over this issue, the answer was obvious: of course Kerry’d be that dumb. The entire party is freaking out about it, so why not Kerry? I wonder if his new staffers will be able to talk him out of it?

If they can’t it’ll be their fault!