The left goes there

This really isn't surprising - and, after the "Swift Boating" of 2004 (which McCain condemned), Republicans really don't have much moral authority to complain about it. Doesn't make it any less disgusting, though:

McCain's campaign Sunday issued a pair of outraged statements after retired general and Barack Obama supporter Wesley Clark said he didn't think that McCain’s service as a fighter pilot and prisoner of war was relevant to running the country. Obama has consistently praised McCain's service, and called him "a genuine American hero."

But farther to the left—and among some of McCain's conservative enemies as well—harsher attacks are circulating. Critics have accused McCain of war crimes for bombing targets in Hanoi in the 1960s. Sunday, a widely read liberal blog accused McCain of "disloyalty" during his captivity in Vietnam for his coerced participation in propaganda films and interviews after he’d been tortured.

"A lot of people don't know… that McCain made a propaganda video for the enemy while he was in captivity," wrote Americablog's John Aravosis. "Putting that bit of disloyalty aside, what exactly is McCain's military experience that prepares him for being commander in chief?"

Damian P.

Afterthoughts: leaving aside questions of taste and decency, will this actually hurt McCain? I doubt it.

John Kerry spoke out against the Vietnam War, in graphic terms, once he returned from his service - and then, when he was running for President, tried to use his military experience to help him get elected. It smacked of opportunism, and the "Swift Boat" allegations played to many voters' uneasiness about the candidate.

By contrast, McCain has never apologized for his Vietnam service, and even his opponents (including, I'm sure, Barack Obama) respect him for overcoming years of torture and captivity. The nutroots' attacks on McCain, frankly, make him look even more sympathetic.

Update: Obama has, wisely, repudiated Clark's comments...just in time for this to blow up.

It must be getting crowded under that bus.

Posted by damian at June 30, 2008 11:40 AM