Wesley Clark was on Dan Abrams last night standing behind his statement that John McCain being shot down and held prisoner is not a qualification for being President. Good for him. The right is in a frenzy over Clark’s statement of truth regarding McCain.
John McCain bases everything in his run on his experience in the military. As MissLaura reminds us at DKos, McCain even tried to link his time as a POW to healthcare. In other words – McCain exploits what happened to him.
What I find most ironic is some of the people complaining the loudest about Clark’s statement are some of the same people who jumped on the swift boating bandwagon against John Kerry, and a few who questioned Clark’s service to our nation. Let’s stop acting like Clark is a nobody. He was shot up pretty badly in Vietnam. Does he use that as a resume builder? No. He uses the fact that he stayed in the military and moved on to become one of the top leaders as a resume builder. Funny how being a general and the commander of NATO doesn’t qualify someone to be President, but being shot down and captured does.
If McCain wants to set the record straight and use his military experience as his main qualification for being President then it’s time for him to release his military service record. Include in it how many planes he actually lost. Let the people judge on facts, not on assumption or rumors. If McCain doesn’t want to do that then we have every right to question his military service and we should. We also should question the mental health of someone who was held prisoner for five years. I’m sure McCain has some hidden issues from his time as a POW and the American people need to be certain those won’t interfere with his job as Commander in Chief.
UPDATE
Thanks to Izzy, here is the interview from last night: