As Christmas-in-Cambodia-obsessed Republicans high-five one another over embarrassing Kerry with dirt that only they can see, some old-fashioned record-checking shows beyond doubt that at least one of the Swift Boats Cretins for Bush, Larry Thurlow, is a bullshitter.

Newly obtained military records of one of Sen. John F. Kerry’s most vocal critics, who has accused the Democratic presidential candidate of lying about his wartime record to win medals, contradict his own version of events.

In newspaper interviews and a best-selling book, Larry Thurlow, who commanded a Navy Swift boat alongside Kerry in Vietnam, has strongly disputed Kerry’s claim that the Massachusetts Democrat’s boat came under fire during a mission in Viet Cong-controlled territory on March 13, 1969. Kerry won a Bronze Star for his actions that day. But Thurlow’s military records, portions of which were released yesterday to The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act, contain several references to “enemy small arms and automatic weapons fire” directed at “all units” of the five-boat flotilla. Thurlow won his own Bronze Star that day, and the citation praises him for providing assistance to a damaged Swift boat “despite enemy bullets flying about him.”

As one of five Swift boat skippers who led the raid up the Bay Hap River, Thurlow was a direct participant in the disputed events. He is also a leading member of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a public advocacy group of Vietnam veterans dismayed by Kerry’s subsequent antiwar activities, which has aired a controversial television advertisement attacking his war record.

Read the article for yourself, and see how Thurlow’s statement in the SWBFT affidavit (“I never heard a shot”) directly contradicts his military records. The article also makes it pretty clear that his fury over Kerry stems from Kerry’s anti-war activities.

One day, when we can all be a little more clear-eyed about this nonsense, we will look back at this and see one of the most shameful episodes in America’s political history. Certainly the most shameful I’ve ever witnessed.