"Rathergate" is not a political story or issue

Did Bill Burkett give Dan Rather forged or replicated memos allegedly written by Bush's TANG commander Jerry Killian? Who cares? Whether or not Bush got preferential treatment to get into the TANG, ahead of a 150-man waiting list is pretty self-evident. No one needs to concoct stuff to prove that fact. Whether or not Bush disobeyed a direct order or failed to complete his service is certainly an interesting story, but not particularly compelling to me. I already believe all those things based on evidence that had already been released and hadn't been challenged. I didn't need these memos to help prove anything, to me at least. I do think Bush's escapades with the TANG are relevant, but only as it relates to Iraq - this is a guy who was gung-ho for Vietnam, but was to chicken to go fight it himself. Just like Cheney. Ok. But we've known that since at least 2000. Rathergate, if you want to call it that, is nothing more than a media story. No more relevant to the Presidential campaign than, say, the Jayson Blair fiasco at the NY Times. Rathergate is an inside-the-beltway kind of story. This makes certain bloggers crazy. This makes freepers go nuts. This makes the Lucianne crowd spew out more racist, ignorant drivel. This makes Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, et al. foam at their mouths. In short, as Kevin Drum suggests, this story does nothing more than help Republicans perpetuate the myth that they're somehow victimized by the S/C liberal media. So let Rather twist in the wind. Or not. Who cares? The families of the 1,000 + servicepeople who have died in Iraq don't care. The 9/11 widows don't care. The workers who have lost their jobs to outsourcing or downsizing don't care. Iraqis trying to make it these days don't care. There are bigger issues and bigger problems out there. Let's make sure we get the right message out. The right message is that Bush is, has, and will be wrong on practically every single important issue facing America today. No amount of fake memos or blogger debunkers can change that.