dole admits lying for political purposes

The AFP just posted a story entitled: "Dole defends attack on Kerry's military record as 'political hardball'". I could only find a Yahoo link, which will disappear within a day, so here is a substantial reprint:

"This is presidential race. We're 70 some days away. It's political hardball, and certainly Senator Kerry understands that," Dole told CNN.
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"There's respect there," Dole said Monday. "We were in the Senate together. But we're talking about the presidential race, and I tweaked him a little on the Purple Hearts."

"I just wanted him to get off Bush's back and have his people get off Bush's back," Dole said.

So let me get this straight. Kerry endured over two weeks of increasingly public attacks without stooping to that level. But when he finally did lash back, within two days Dole appears onstage to try and take some heat off Bush. Exactly how tender is Bush skin?