Apparently, John Kerry has released his Navy military and medical records to the Boston Globe. The paper reports:

The records, which the Navy Personnel Command provided to the Globe, are mostly a duplication of what Kerry released during his 2004 campaign for president, including numerous commendations from commanding officers who later criticized Kerry’s Vietnam service.

The lack of any substantive new material about Kerry’s military career in the documents raises the question of why Kerry refused for so long to waive privacy restrictions.

Bloggers have questions about the release. Marc Landers at USS Neverdock wonders what exactly the paper got:

The Navy said they had over 100 pages they could not release without Kerry’s authorization. Did the Globe get that many and are they reporting on all of them?

The biggest question of all remains unanswered. What type of discharge did Kerry originally receive? Remember, Kerry had his discharge re-issued after Carter granted a pardon to Vietnam vets.

Then there is this exchange between Kerry and Tim Russert on Feb 7th.

Last week the 2008 presidential hopeful suggested he wanted to review his full Navy file to make sure of “what is in the record and what isn’t in the record” before signing Form 180.

“I’m going to sit down with them and make sure that they are clear and I am clear as to what is in the record and what isn’t in the record and we’ll put it out,” he told “Meet the Press” host Tim Russert.

Kerry did not explain his reference to “what isn’t in the record,” though questions arose late in the campaign about why he received his honorable discharge six years after leaving the service…

…We need someone else to do a Form 180 request and we need to know if Kerry signed Part III of that form.

Skepticism does seem to be warranted. The author of today’s Globe piece reporting the news of the release is Michael Kranish, co-author of “John F. Kerry: The Complete Biography By The Boston Globe Reporters Who Know Him Best.” (See also this curious story about Kranish and his Kerry coverage from the campaign.)

Mark Coffey at Decision 08 offers an alternative explanation: Maybe he did release the full records and he’s just the stupidest politician alive.

Scott Johnson at Power Line concurs: “Either Kerry is the world’s worst politician, or something is missing from his file.”

Captain Ed: “This release by Kerry still doesn’t answer key questions about what he’s claimed about his service and the conflicts in his narrative first exposed by the Swiftvets. Let Kerry make the entire record public, so we can all see the answers to these questions.”

Yes.

Update: Gack. Drudge has put up Kerry’s college photo apparently included in the release. Right Wing Howler does a compare and contrast.

Mary Katherine Ham, who blogs at Townhall.com’s C-Log, e-mails that the mugshot “would have been reason enough not to sign to Form 180!”

Hah!
Update II: Tom Maguire has more on Kranish’s Kerry coverage and highlights more missing pieces of info.

Update III: John O’Neill comments. Matt Margolis at Blogs for Bush has the details.

See also The Llama Butchers for Kerry’s Band of Brothers Revealed. Yikes.

The Commissar spoofs.

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More from:

Ankle Biting Pundits
The Spectator Online
Lorie Byrd at Polipundit
Harry Forbes

John Podhoretz says, “Let it go.” Isn’t that what the Swift Vets have been told for three decades? Thank God they didn’t “let it go.” Otherwise, Kerry might be in the White House today.

Polipundit has more questions.

Hugh Hewitt nails it:

As for the Globe, why in the world doesn’t the paper post the documents on the web site for all to see and read? Answer: A bastion of MSM is playing guardian of the news again, interpreting the docs for the public too limited to understand.

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