Wonderboy, I think we've both stated our cases (it will take me a bit to read through all of your post, but i will). At this point though it will just get down to personal perspectives on the same information.
I don't think John Kerry was the greatest candidate ever, though I do know that he served when he was well off enough to get out of it while Bush (and you can't argue this) played it safe in the National Guard.
And the fact is that there were people who actually served with Kerry who respected him as a good soldier, and others who didn't see him that way. Do we know 100% of his personal encounters with them all to know if grudges may have formed?
Either way, this has been debated to the point where we'll just have to agree to disagree instead of wasting a few days arguing.

Bow ties are coool.