John Kerry's medical records reveal, among other things, that he still has shrapnel from Vietnam in his leg, yet politically motivated vultures at The Washington Times and elsewhere are still managing to use Kerry's war record to impugn his character.

I really don't think these character attacks work on anybody but hardcore right-wingers. This criticism of Kerry is just firing up the GOP base. But remember them when you meet a rock-ribbed right-winger -- remember that that person probably thinks there's something sleazy about Kerry's war history. And that's reprehensible.

I still find it infuriating that Democrats aren't out en masse to denounce this as abhorrent and unpatriotic. But that's Democrats for you.

Maybe late-night comics can put this to rest. Hey, Jay Leno, I've got one for you:

"John Kerry won three Purple Hearts in Vietnam, and it was revealed last week that shrapnel from one of the wounds is still in his leg.... In a related story, the White House announced that George Bush still has a scar from crushing a beer can against his head in Tijuana in 1970."