IN THE WASHINGTON POST:

Most of the debate between the former shipmates who swear by John Kerry and the group of other Swift boat veterans who are attacking his military record focuses on matters that few of us have the experience or the moral standing to judge. But one issue, having nothing to do with medals, wounds or bravery under fire, goes to the heart of Kerry’s qualifications for the presidency and is therefore something that each of us must consider. That is Kerry’s apparently fabricated claim that he fought in Cambodia. . . .

Two weeks ago Kerry’s spokesmen began to backtrack. First, one campaign aide explained that Kerry had patrolled the Mekong Delta somewhere “between” Cambodia and Vietnam. But there is no between; there is a border. Then another spokesman told reporters that Kerry had been “near Cambodia.” But the point of Kerry’s 1986 speech was that he personally had taken part in a secret and illegal war in a neutral country. That was only true if he was “in Cambodia,” as he had often said he was. If he was merely “near,” then his deliberate misstatement falsified the entire speech.

And, the article notes, Kerry biographer Doug Brinkley’s new, improved account has now been contradicted by the Kerry campaign’s newest version. (It’s a bad week for Brinkley, as Brinkley’s Tour of Duty was also the proximate cause of the Swift Boat Vets being organized, according to Michael Novak today.) Fred Kaplan’s effort to salvage Kerry’s credibility on this issue isn’t very persuasive, either — he’s starting to sound like Atrios — and Bill Adams says he’s gone into the tank. (“What Kaplan can’t explain is why Kerry would stop boasting and deny crossing the border on that particular day once people began looking into the facts of the matter. So Kaplan doesn’t even mention that Kerry’s staffers have issued this denial and rendered Kaplan’s whole thesis pointless.”) He certainly seems to be stretching — turning “in” to “near” even though that makes nonsense of Kerry’s claims, and then arguing that, well, other people went into Cambodia, so Kerry might have, too. Would Kaplan stretch so far for anyone else? I don’t think so. I guess he’s one of Kerry’s fans in the press. (“But what is true for most people is true for journalists, too: When you want something badly enough, it shows.”)