Bedar Blog notes that John Kerry allowed the statue of limitations to expire on *snort* defamation charges against Swift Boat Vets.

“In my 2005 post, I offered this free and helpful legal advice to Sen. Kerry (who may need it, since his own bar membership is still on inactive status):

Seriously, though, Senator, some folks might draw the inference that rather than your having just forgotten the one-year anniversary of the publication of Unfit for Command ‚Äî oopsies! ‚Äî you’re instead desperately afraid to ever face cross-examination under oath, or [to face] document subpoenas of yourself and your hagiographer Doug Brinkley, or the rest of the brilliant spotlight that accompanies a public lawsuit. Folks might become more and more convinced that you’ve very deliberately let most state statutes of limitations expire already, and that you’ll continue to allow the clock to run on any that haven’t yet.

So let’s drop the snark and call a spade a spade: The very last thing John Kerry wants is to ever give the SwiftVets the legal tools they’d need to conclusively document their claims, because truth is, of course, a complete defense to defamation claims. Kerry doesn’t deserve vindication, and he knows he could never get it in court. In court, there would be compulsory discovery of witnesses and documents, followed by a fair and disciplined adversary process, followed by a definitive determination of the truth or falsity of the SwiftVets’ charges ‚Äî a determination that he damn well knows would go against him. Instead, the haze of time and the near-universal bluster of his mainstream media allies (who continue to insist that the SwiftVets’ claims were “debunked” and that Kerry was victimized) has given him a far better result than he could ever get in court.”

As Bedar notes the reason Kerry never went to court is that he knows he’d lose. Moveover, even more of his real record would be open to public scrutiny. Bedar even offers a challenge to sue him as he printed just about as much of Unfit to Lead as anyone. Don’t hold your breath Bedar, won’t happen.