Yes I remember
I have to admit .. they have been very sloppy with this campaign ..
you may be right .. they thought the media would shield them
That "vice chairman" of intel committee was not simple sloppiness. The sKerry campaign had used it with the media to prop up sKerry's intel credentials six months before, and no one, not even the excellent researchers here on FR, caught the error then.
They thought they could use it to good effect again, but this time they got caught, and even initially attempted to deny they were in error.
.