Do you give money to NPR? Don't write the check until you hear Morning Edition's useless coverage this morning on the Swift Boat sewer campaign by the Bush administration and its surrogates, now including Bob Dole. Two segments, one exclusively about process (Are the ads working? How much did the media buy cost?), the other nearly so, with a few details questioning the GOP liars' version of events, ascribed to various news reports in a "he-said-he-said" fashion (heaven forfend that journalism should be practiced on NPR and its reporters should attempt to ascertain the truth in this situation independently). And neither story pointed out that Dole sneered at the wounds that won Kerry his Purple Hearts despite his own 1988 acknowledgment that the wounds that led to his Purple Heart were relatively minor and "patched up with Mercurochrome." (There wasn't even a less specific acknowledgment that it's perfectly proper to issue a Purple Heart for a minor wound.)

Do I even need to tell you that the stories came from the appalling Juan Williams and Cokie Roberts?

UPDATE: Here's the show. Scroll down to "Attack Ads Take Toll on Kerry in Polls" and
"Controversy Over Kerry's War Record Continues."