NOTE: I know there is another diary on this subject, but I felt it needed more analysis than that one provided (and with less offensive words).
Jimmy Carter went there, now it's up for other Dems and surrogates to take one for the team and go there too:
Former president Jimmy Carter called Republican presidential candidate John McCain a "distinguished Naval officer," but said the Arizona senator has been "milking every possible drop of advantage" from his time served as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
Dems, if you're going to go off-message and be undisciplined, THAT'S the way to do it (are you paying attention Rendell/Bredesen?). We need people to take one for the team, particularly before next week's POW-fest, I mean Republican Convention. And wait, there's more:
But he focused heavily on McCain, explaining how he was bewildered to see him during a conversation earlier this month with pastor and author Rick Warren at the Saddlebrook Church in Lake Forest, Calif. Carter said that whether the question was about religion, domestic or foreign affairs, every answer came back to his five-and-a-half years as a POW.
"John McCain was able to weave in his experience in a Vietnam prison camp, no matter what the question was," said Carter, a 7-year Naval officer who served aboard submarines. "It's much better than talking about how he's changed his total character between being a senator, a kind of a maverick at the time, and his acquiescence in the last few months with every kind of lobbyist pressure that the right wing Republicans have presented to him."
Snap! Sounds like someone isn't too happy about being mocked by John McCain earlier this summer. Way to go Jimmy.
And if you thought that wasn't enough, he takes on Holy Joe too!:
"I would hope that the Democrats could have enough senators elected in November so that we would not any longer need to include Joe Lieberman among the senators," Carter said. Speaking of this week's convention, Carter said "He would be the least welcome here of any Democrat I could think of."
Surrogates, are you listening? It's time to call out John McCain on his POW status, and it's time to pre-spin his convention, which we know will be all-POW-all-the-time.
Thank you President Carter!
Here's some video.
CROSS-POSTED AT STRATEGY '08