Actually, I think what's apparent from the swift vets debacle is that Kerry has either been lying, exagerrating greatly, or mistaken about some details of his tour as CO of a swiftboat in Vietnam. The number of things his campaign has stepped back on is pretty astounding. Kerry's campaign has changed its stance on the Cambodia issue and the first purple heart quite a bit. That said, I don't really approve of the swift vets because it's taking a focus off of more important issues. I'm not sure what it means to criticize someone for something he did 35 years ago in a time of war. Clearly, people change significantly in that time.
The only somewhat relevant point the swift boat vets have made is that of the Cambodia issue, since it's clear that John Kerry has been telling a half-truth about it for a number of years since the War. Though, he's definitely not the only veteran to embellish war stories. I think it's well known that I'm not a big Kerry fan, but it's not because of his actions during the Vietnam War. I'm personally not into his stances on many issues since then, and he seems slimey.
The whole swift vets issue has made a bad election worse. The whole scheme is Vote Bush or the guy who isn't Bush. Even if Kerry wins, I have a feeling he'll be lame duck from day one, as he seems to have nobody passionate about him winning, other than they dislike Bush more than him. Howard Dean, though I disagree with his politics was an excellent public speaker, and truly believed in what he was selling, which is refreshing in politics. He would have been a presidential disaster, however, imho.
Unfortunately, McCain I think is coming out of this looking the worst. I like his politics relatively well, as he's pretty moderate socially, but this issue is making him seem like sour grapes for losing the nomination to Bush in 2000. Not sure if this is the case or not, but that's how it comes across.