Thanks for reminding John McCain who his opposition really is, Democrats. In case he wasn’t sure that the Democrats would say anything mean about him before the election, now he knows differently. Step right up and take those cheap shots. I’m talking to you, Ed Schultz, Howard Dean, and John F. Kerry. For those who have never heard of Ed Schultz, he is a liberal talk radio guy who occasionally appears on cable news shows and represents the Airhead America point of view. He called John McCain a warmonger. That doesn’t sound all that inflammatory in print, but it suggests that McCain is someone who is looking to pick fights that have nothing to do with our national security interests. I don’t see McCain this way, and in spite of his bad joke about bombing Iran, I don’t think he would be as willing to do it as the Democrats suggest that he is. I also think he’s more open to the kind of diplomacy Hillary and Obama keep talking about than he can admit as the Republican nominee.

DNC chairman Howard Dean is the gift that keeps on giving for Republicans. He always gives us such great material for our campaign ads. Think you might see this quote again?

He says:

John McCain can try to reintroduce himself to the country, but he can’t change the fact that he cast aside his principles to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with President Bush for the last seven years.

While we honor McCain’s military service, the fact is Americans want a real leader who offers real solutions, not a blatant opportunist who doesn’t understand the economy and is promising to keep our troops in Iraq for 100 years.

That’s right. Howard Dean calls John McCain a blatant opportunist. I suppose that this could be interpreted any number of ways, but to suggest, as Media Matters does, that Dean wasn’t accusing McCain of playing politics with his military service — that claim is laughable. Besides, under the Democrat rules of engagement, only those who have served in the military are qualified to support or criticize wars. I’m pretty sure that doesn’t include Howard Dean. Also, Dean is being disingenuous with his claim that McCain is promising to keep our troops in Iraq for 100 years. McCain did no such thing.

McCain has every right to include his military service in his re-introduction to the American people, because that’s a big part of who the man is. If his intention was to exploit that military service for maximum advantage, he would probably mention it every three seconds like John F. Kerry did in 2004. He also wouldn’t keep the fact that his son James is serving our country in Iraq a secret (more on that later).

For some reason, Howard Dean didn’t seem to mind John Kerry (who by the way, served in Vietnam) bringing up his military experience in 2004 when he was trying to win a general election. In fact, I have a wonderful quote from Mr. Dean about that (h/t – abc news blog).

Here it is:

The real issue is this: Who would you rather have in charge of the defense of the United States of America, a group of people who never served a day overseas in their life, or a guy who served his country honorably and has three Purple Hearts and a Silver Star on the battlefields of Vietnam?

So I guess Howard Dean changed his mind 4 years later about having someone who has served in our military in charge of the defense of the United States of America.  After all, neither of the Democrats’ possible nominees has a military background.  It was important in 2004 to have that military background.  Shouldn’t it still be important in 2008?  Not if the candidate is John McCain.

The one man who you would think would return the favor McCain did him by denouncing the Swift Boat Veterans (who attacked Kerry’s account of his time in Vietnam) would be John Kerry.  But no, he is perfectly willing to throw his former friend McCain under the bus just ’cause he’s a Republican.  This is hilarious.  He won’t call McCain a blatant opportunist — just a flip-flopper.  John Kerry calling someone else out for changing positions on issues?  Comedy gold, people.

Howard was right the first time.  It does matter whether a candidate for President has military service on their resume.  Have some US Presidents with that experience made bad choices when it comes to foreign policy? Of course.  Both Hillary and Obama might accidentally make some wise foreign policy decisions without having served in the military.  But if the Democrats would actually follow their own unwritten rules, then they would have to support John McCain, the only candidate with the qualifications to make those important decisions.