This was a comment I made in Kos's recent diary, but I have to say, in short, Obama and ALL his surrogates (including you) should stop commenting on McCain's war experience and what it means (or does not mean) toady. It's fruitless, dishonorable, and a way for Obama to lose. Read on.
I'm pretty pissed at what the progressive blogosphere has been doing with the Wes Clark thing Does anyone else realize that this is swift-boating?
My street creds: I spent the summer of 2004 working for $6/hour, 50 hours a week, raising money for John Kerry. I traveled to Cleveland from Oct. 29, 2004 through Nov. 3rd 04 urging people to vote for Kerry. I donated $25 to Obama after Iowa, and remain a steadfast supporter of his, and a steadfast opponent of McCain.
The one thing I will never forgive NOR forget from the 2004 campaign was how George W. Bush won. All along, everyone at the GOP convention (Bush, Cheney, Zell Miller, everyone) was saying "we honor John Kerry's service" and that he is a "hero of mine." But there was that whispering campaign out there that Kerry faked his injuries, that he did no acts of heroism, etc. I.e., the man was swift-boated. Why? Because the Republicans couldn't defeat Kerry on the issues alone, they would have been trounced.
And what are we doing to McCain today? Swift-boating. Wes Clark should have stopped right there when he said "I honor John McCain's service and he's a hero of mine, but serving one's country and facing the travesty of being a POW does not necessarily qualify you for president." That's good, and good enough. It tells people that yes he's a war hero, no that does not mean vote for him. But what have Clark, Massa, you, etc. have been saying? You are all saying that McCain did not have "executive experience" or assurances of "accountability" or "appropriate risk for the office of the presidency." Therefore, we're making an ISSUE out of McCain's war experience, when we should be leaving well enough ALONE.
I got an email from Eric Massa (ActBlue), and in it he wrote this:
In short, the very experiences of Lieutenant John McCain the war hero
lead me to question the judgment of Senator John McCain the politician.
This is reprehensible. Why should we question the guy's judgment based on his military experience? His military experience was honorable. What military experience does Obama have? This is a very DANGEROUS game we're falling into, and my fear is that if we keep this up, 527s are going to emerge making ADs about things with veterans saying it doesn't qualify him for president. Yes I understand that McCain sometimes makes an issue of his military experience, but is it really necessary to talk about his military experience? Can't we just say yes you were honorable, but now you are supporting endless war in Iraq, and do not believe in Universal Health Care, and support tax cuts for the wealthy. Fight him on the ISSUES and run an HONORABLE campaign.