PUTTING IT TO REST I: KRANISH. Here is the Globe's account of Michael Kranish and the Kerry-Edwards campaign book. As you'll see, it fits with accounts in the New York Times and the New York Daily News, and offers a bit more background. No apologies or retractions from Rush Limbaugh or Matt Drudge this morning.

The Globe article, by Susan Milligan, also reports that the paper stands by its story regarding John Kerry's former commanding officer, George Elliott, who claims Kranish misquoted him yesterday on the matter of Kerry's service in Vietnam. Let's look again at this key passage in Kranish's story, shall we?

Yesterday, reached at his home, Elliott said he regretted signing the affidavit and said he still thinks Kerry deserved the Silver Star.

"I still don't think he shot the guy in the back," Elliott said. "It was a terrible mistake probably for me to sign the affidavit with those words. I'm the one in trouble here."

Elliott said he was no under personal or political pressure to sign the statement, but he did feel "time pressure" from those involved in the book. "That's no excuse," Elliott said. "I knew it was wrong ... In a hurry I signed it and faxed it back. That was a mistake."

A misquote? I don't think so. A misquote is when you get a couple of words wrong, or if you twist the context. Elliott may be using the word "misquote," but what he's really claiming is that Kranish fabricated the whole thing. I don't believe Elliott, and neither should you.

PUTTING IT TO REST II: NOMAR. This one's for you, P.G. Chicago Tribune sports columnist Rick Morrissey yesterday blasted (reg. req.) the Boston media for its treatment of Nomar Garciaparra on his way out the door. Morrissey writes:

The Red Sox know they messed up. We know the Red Sox know they messed up because, ever since they dealt him to the Cubs, they have tried to tear him down. This is what you do to buildings that are dilapidated and lack character. You don't do it to one of the best players in team history.

ON GETTING IT AND NOT GETTING IT. The New York Times' Elisabeth Bumiller reports on George W. Bush's comments at the Unity Conference yesterday, in which he said he has come to oppose the practice of admitting "legacies" - the children of well-connected and/or wealthy alumni - at colleges and universities:

Mr. Bush said that he assumed Mr. Martin had brought up the issue because of the president's Yale legacy, but Mr. Bush also joked that "in my case, I had to knock on a lot of doors to follow the old man's footsteps." Mr. Bush apparently meant that he had to work hard to succeed.

What? Oh, well. Here is the Globe's Anne Kornblut on the same matter:

Asked to describe his feelings about legacy admissions, Bush replied, "I think it ought to be based upon merit." Asked whether his response meant that he thought colleges should abandon preferences for alumni children, he said, "Well, I think so, yes."

And in a knock on his own mediocre grades, Bush said, joking: "I had to knock on a lot of doors to follow in the old man's footsteps."

Well, yeah. Was this really that hard to figure out?