I agree with those commenters above who think that this was supposed to be the beginning of a swipe at the President’s National Guard service, as a mirror and nullifier of sorts to the Swift Boat Vets onslaught. Here are some reasons why:

1. Almost immediately after the story that utilized the forged docs broke, at least one paper moved on to doing a story about how pissed-off current National Guard members were about the supposed shirking of duties by Bush.

2. Somewhere, on some other blog which I don’t recall off the top of my head, someone had reproduced an email or letter from a 60 Minutes producer. She was looking for disgruntled military types who could help with an upcoming story about the lack of supplies and equipment. One of the things that she specifically wanted was information supporting the thesis that the National Guard was being particularly screwed, as compared to other parts of the military.

3. Kerry is slated to speak in front of a National Guard assemblage — in October, I think. My first reaction to hearing this was, is he insane? But, think about it, if this forged-doc smear had gone as planned, that might have been a pretty smart move. I’ll be interested to see if he cancels.