Shit Disturbance

Here’s the latest from Donkey Rising on the Swift Boat Smear numbers:

Aug 23-26th Poll by the Annenberg Center for Public Policy shows a plurality of Americans – 46% – believe President Bush was behind the ads attacking John Kerry’s military record while only 37% believe the Bush campaign’s denials.

Day by day tracking of the percentage of voters who were influenced by the accusations and came to doubt that Kerry deserved his medals showed that from August 10-15 the percentage of doubters hovered in the low 20’s, then rose between August 16-22 (reaching almost 30% on August 18th) and then returned back down to the low 20’s between August 20-25.

It appears that the smear itself didn’t take. But, of course, you have to take into account the time and effort spent refuting it was time and effort that could have been better spent elsewhere, so it’s not a simple case of no harm no foul.

The most important thing is that Kerry survived a near death experience and the old saying “whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is more true than ever. This is what we will have to look forward to for the next four years after he’s elected. We might as well get used to it.