Tuesday, May 20, 2008

JOHN MCCAIN

Three Oddly Similar Criticisms of McCain's Military Service

"McCain was a fighter pilot, who dropped laser-guided missiles from 35,000 feet. He was long gone when they hit," Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. said.

"What happened when they [the missiles] get to the ground? He doesn't know. You have to care about the lives of people. McCain never gets into those issues."

Two:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain's family background as the son and grandson of admirals has given him a worldview shaped by the military, "and he has a hard time thinking beyond that," Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Ia., said Friday.

"I think he's trapped in that," Harkin said in a conference call with Iowa reporters. "Everything is looked at from his life experiences, from always having been in the military, and I think that can be pretty dangerous."

Harkin said that "it's one thing to have been drafted and served, but another thing when you come from generations of military people and that's just how you're steeped, how you've learned, how you've grown up."

"But now McCain is running for a higher office. He's running for commander in chief, and our Constitution says that should be a civilian," Harkin said. "And in some ways, I think it would be nice if that commander in chief had some military background, but I don't know if they need a whole lot."

Three (hat tip, RedState):

A prominent local Barack Obama backer bashed John McCain's military record Monday, calling the Republican presidential candidate a "self-promoter."

In a nearly-half hour speech, Democratic congressional candidate Bill Gillespie praised Obama, his party's leading White House hopeful...

"Admirals' sons," Gillespie said, unopposed for the Democratic nomination in the 1st Congressional District held by Republican Rep. Jack Kingston, "were treated like royalty. They were privileged people. They were given a silver spoon. Their careers were prepared for them."

Gillespie, a former Army officer who served in Iraq, said McCain was the kind of admiral's son who became a "maverick."

McCain, Gillespie added, was "somebody who needed to stand out, someone that needed to draw attention to themselves and ... was usually out for themselves."

He said his "heart grieves" for McCain's suffering as a POW.

"After that," Gillespie said, "he was somewhat of a celebrity and it went to his head. ... I think he was a self-promoter for the last four years (in the Navy.)

Asked to cite specific examples, Gillespie responded, "I don't have one right now."

To quote Auric Goldfinger, "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."

Which is worse — that Democrats across the country are spontaneously choosing to cite McCain's military experience as a drawback or weakness, and a reason to not vote for him? Or that this is some sort of coordinated message effort?

05/20 12:32 PM Share