I’ve enjoyed most of the speeches I’ve heard this week at the convention. I feel that our party is united as it was back in 1992. And I’m confident (but not overconfident) that Obama-Biden will win in November
But I’m sick of hearing every speaker praising McCain’s "service" and telling us that he loves his country.
Don’t get me wrong, every POW deserves our sympathy for the pain they’ve endured. McCain included. And I realize that wounds from the Vietnam era are still fresh. But sympathy doesn’t always need to equal praise. McCain wound up a POW because his plane happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and it got shot down. And he wasn’t some poor grunt from a poor Appalachian town or an inner-city ghetto, he was a career military officer who got into Annapolis because he came from a family of admirals.
Why do I bring this up? Anyone remember John Kerry? Did Bush, Cheney, McCain or Guiliani ever praise his service at their convention? Maybe Bush did once, when prompted to, during the debates. But not during every convention speech.
If an ex-POW Democrat ran for president, he’d be smeared as a loser. We’d hear things like: "If he was shot down in ‘Nam, it must have been his fault. He must’ve betrayed his fellow soldiers while in captivity." Or, like Kerry, they’d be accused of lying about their service. Ask Max Cleland how many times Saxby Chambliss praised him.
If any voters believe that attacking McCain is an attack on all veterans, those voters won’t vote for democrats anyway.
I’m not suggesting democrats attack McCain’s war record or allege his captivity was his fault. That would alienate veterans. Just stop praising him in every speech. It makes this party look weak and timid.
And more importantly, it undermines our message that a McCain presidency would be disastrous for this our country and the world.