"Bush smeared John McCain four years ago," says the new Kerry television ad.(political advertising by presidential candidate John F. Kerry)

* "Bush smeared John McCain four years ago," says the new Kerry television ad. "Now he's doing it to John Kerry." The Democratic presidential candidate is in high-outrage mode these days, striking back at the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and their book, Unfit for Command, which questions key aspects of Kerry's Vietnam record. Part of the Kerry counterattack is the claim that George W. Bush stood by and watched approvingly while a "fringe" veteran attacked former POW John McCain during the 2000 South Carolina primary campaign. No one has really examined this charge. Here's what actually happened. At a Bush rally in South Carolina on February 3, 2000, attended by several Congressional Medal of Honor winners, a man named J. Thomas Burch said of McCain, "He has always opposed all the legislation, be it Agent Orange or Gulf War health care, or frankly the POW/MIA issue. He was the leading opponent in the Senate. He had the power to help these veterans. He came home and he forgot us." Later, Bush said nothing to contradict Burch. But just how outrageous were Burch's words? He did, after all, focus his remarks ...