The New York Times today connects the dots and finds that the swift boat smear-job can be traced right back to Bush’s doorstep. Bush won’t denounce it because he’s responsible for it.

The Times has a handy chart so you can follow along.

From the article:

A series of interviews and a review of documents show a web of connections to the Bush family, high-profile Texas political figures and President Bush’s chief political aide, Karl Rove.

Records show that the group received the bulk of its initial financing from two men with ties to the president and his family - one a longtime political associate of Mr. Rove’s, the other a trustee of the foundation for Mr. Bush’s father’s presidential library. A Texas publicist who once helped prepare Mr. Bush’s father for his debate when he was running for vice president provided them with strategic advice. And the group’s television commercial was produced by the same team that made the devastating ad mocking Michael S. Dukakis in an oversized tank helmet when he and Mr. Bush’s father faced off in the 1988 presidential election.

This week, as its leaders spoke with reporters, they have focused primarily on the one allegation in the book that Mr. Kerry’s campaign has not been able to put to rest: that he was not in Cambodia at Christmas in 1968, as he declared in a statement to the Senate in 1986. Even Mr. Brinkley, who has emerged as a defender of Mr. Kerry, said in an interview that it was unlikely that Mr. Kerry’s Swift boat ventured into Cambodia at Christmas, though he said he believed that Mr. Kerry was probably there shortly afterward.

Does it really matter if the covert CIA operations Kerry was participating in happened at Christmas? Doesn’t the fact that Kerry showed up and did his duty with honor and distinction outweigh the possibility that the secret missions he was sent on were not actually at Christmas but New Years?

Kerry, of course, still compares very favorably to his opponent through all of this- Kerry was getting shot at on a swift boat in Cambodia, Bush was in Alabama in the throes of a coke binge.

And isn’t that the real point? Kerry showed up and did his duty while others were busy getting drunk, missing physicals, and getting coked up in Alabama?