Can't he just crawl back to wherever it is he's been?

CNN has a new story online today titled Dole suggests Kerry apologize, Targets candidate's 1971 testimony of alleged atrocities.

Ok, can Bob Dole just go back now to wherever he's been (ogling old Britney Spears videos?) Can the GOP possibly find this helpful?

CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) -- Former Republican Sen. Bob Dole suggested Sunday that John Kerry apologize for past testimony before Congress about alleged atrocities during the Vietnam War and joined critics of the Democratic presidential candidate who say he received an early exit from combat for "superficial wounds."

This article, describing his Sunday appearance on CNN's "Late Edition, pretty much erases whatever goodwill Dole may have accumulated in recent years through his good-humored appearances on The Daily Show, and re-establishes him as yet another toe-the-line party hack.

Unless John McCain speaks up forcefully and soon against the current Republican smear campaign he too is risking his hard-earned rep as a straight-talking good guy.

Dole and McCain are adults responsible for their own actions, but am I alone in seeing Bush as a giant, tantrum-throwing three-year-old? He clearly cares nothing about anyone else's good name and is willing to drag the whole system down to sewer level if that's his only chance to win this election.

Dole added: "And here's, you know, a good guy, a good friend. I respect his record. But three Purple Hearts and never bled that I know of. I mean, they're all superficial wounds.

Excuse me? Never bled? John Kerry doesn't need any friends like Bob Dole. And the last thing this country needs is Bob Dole's bitterness.

Update: Via Josh Marshall:

Dole knows better.

In a 1988 campaign-trail autobiography, here's how Dole described the incident that earned him his first Purple Heart: "As we approached the enemy, there was a brief exchange of gunfire. I took a grenade in hand, pulled the pin, and tossed it in the direction of the farmhouse. It wasn't a very good pitch (remember, I was used to catching passes, not throwing them). In the darkness, the grenade must have struck a tree and bounced off. It exploded nearby, sending a sliver of metal into my leg--the sort of injury the Army patched up with Mercurochrome and a Purple Heart."