Sen. John McCain, a former POW in Vietnam, has asked President Bush to condemn the latest ad attacking John Kerry's Vietnam service. A major Republican donor from Texas helped finance the ad.

As McCain defended the Democratic nominee, Kerry for the first time criticized Bush for indecisiveness in the moments after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, underscoring how personal issues of war, terrorism and military service have become.

At a morning appearance before minority journalists in Washington, Kerry faulted Bush for spending seven minutes reading to Florida schoolchildren after learning the World Trade Center had been attacked. "Had I been reading to children and had my top aide whispered in my ear that America is under attack, I would have told those kids very nicely and politely that the president of the United States has something that he needs to attend to," Kerry said.

The scenes of Bush continuing to read to children in a classroom after being told by aides of the WTC attacks were some of the most compelling in Fahrenheit 9/11. What was Bush thinking? Did he not understand? Did he think it would all go away? Was he really at such a loss as to what to do that he decided to sit there until someone gave him instructions?

Why do people praise his handling of the terror war post-9/11? Bush chose to go after a target that was not an immediate threat to the U.S., at the cost of failing to stop Al Qaeda, which his administration now tells us is about to launch an even bigger attack against us. What has he accomplished? His Attorney General put some young wannabes from Buffalo and Oregon in jail, but dropped the ball on the real terrorists. Osama's at large (unless he's in hiding for a timed perp walk before the election.) The security restrictions we now live with on a constant basis resemble those of a foreign dictatorship, not a free democracy.

Picture a crisis, and the enemy being successful at getting Bush's advisors away from the Oval office, leaving Bush alone inside. Would you feel comfortable with any decisions he had to make on his own? Or are you terrified at the thought?

Make your answer heard at the voting booth in November.

For more on the already discredited ad attacking Kerry, visit Media Matters.

Update: Joe Conason has more.

Update: Kevin Drumm says "I told you so."