POLIS

Syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker notices bloggers and goes out of her way to pat them on their collective back, now that something has happened that suits her politics:

But the piece de resistance has occurred over the past several days, as bloggers questioned the authenticity of documents CBS News presented allegedly proving that President Bush received preferential treatment in the National Guard.

But, they didn't debunk the documents authenticity in any conclusive way. It wasn't until someone with first-hand knowledge came forward that the forgeries were revealed for what they are. The right-wing bloggers just threw a bunch of stuff out there and hoped some of it would stick. Questions they raised, like whether it was possible to produce proportional type in that year, were ultimately dismissed. They were simply astride the issue, a minor piece of the larger conservative bullhorn that shouts down any attempt to discredit Bush.