Possibly in response to the "care package" proposed by Mick Wright, Senator John Kerry has apparently signed his form 180. But not without a snarky comment:

''The call for me to sign a 180 form came from the same partisan operatives who were lying about my record on a daily basis on the Web and in the right-wing media. Even though the media was discrediting them, they continued to lie. I felt strongly that we shouldn't kowtow to them and their attempts to drag their lies out."

(Via Glenn Reynolds.)

But I do think it's fair to point out that one of my favorite liberal commenters (a Daily Kos writer named "bink") agreed with me that Kerry should have released his records. If in fact they show nothing dishonorable, then why didn't he sign the 180 before the election? I can't think of a more stupid mistake -- which might alone have cost him the election.

Roger L. Simon thinks the problem might be that Kerry's a little bit lacking in what Bush is often accused of lacking:

Kerry was clearly not the brightest bulb, but we knew that. One of the more interesting obfuscations (deliberate and otherwise) that went on... and continues to go on to some extent... about the last presidential campaign is that Bush was the dumb one. In actuality, I always thought one of the reasons for Kerry's famous flip-flopping, possibly the key reason, was that the Senator didn't really understand the issues. I know this sounds rash and almost vicious, but he seemed to have some kind of cognitive disorder. There may be a lot of that in politics. After all, rational discourse is not often rewarded. Talking endlessly around a subject is.

Hey, C students are the ones who often go on to become very successful. Many millionaires rise from among their ranks.

But if they didn't show anything damaging, then releasing these records should have been a no-brainer, even for a C student.

It doesn't make sense -- any more than it made sense for Kerry to throw away a perfectly good opportunity for a Sister Souljah moment with Michael Moore. I thought he could have won had he done that, and it wasn't "lying about his record on a daily basis" to point it out.

Cognitive disorders are not the same thing as stupidity.

MORE: Arnold Kling (via InstaPundit) sheds additional light on what Kerry might have been thinking feeling.

UPDATE (06/08/05): According to the New York Sun, it still isn't entirely clear exactly what was released, or what was on the form Kerry signed:

More than a year after promising on national television to release his full military record, Senator Kerry of Massachusetts authorized the Navy last month to provide his service file to selected news organizations.

However, Mr. Kerry has not given the military permission to disclose the records to the general public, fueling continued speculation by the senator's critics that he is attempting to hush up some aspect of his service.

The news organizations that have seen the latest collection of documents reported that there was little new information aside from a copy of Mr. Kerry's Yale University transcript showing that the future politician received some mediocre marks.

The new release was prompted by a privacy waiver form, known as an SF-180, that Mr. Kerry signed on May 20, according a spokesman for the senator, David Wade.

A Navy spokesman, Lieutenant Commander Daniel Hernandez, said the waiver applied only to the Boston Globe and did not authorize release of Mr. Kerry's records to the public.

"Kerry controls the release of his records," Commander Hernandez said yesterday. "You have to talk to his office."

(Via Powerline.)