Is there really any doubt what John Kerry thinks about the military?
Kerry then told the students that if they were able to navigate the education system, they could get comfortable jobs - "If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq," he said to a mixture of laughter and gasps.
It is possible to believe Kerry's response to the firestorm of protests, that it was just a "botched attempt" at a joke that was really aimed at President Bush, but his objection that only "rightwing nutjobs" are trying to make it something more is a sign that the man is having a meltdown. And he has certainly been down this road before, witness his despicably opportunistic congressional testimony about his fellow Vietnam veterans. He deserves to be called a war hero about as much as I deserve to be the next pope.
The temptation will be to make this a partisan rallying cry; indeed, you can already hear the Republicans' glee and feel the Democrats' dismay. What makes this so dangerous for Democrats is that many people have the uncomfortable feeling that most of them, at least those on the national stage, really don't have a clue about national defense. And when the expected "October surprise" comes from one of their own, it doesn't inspire confidence in them.
I haven't exactly become a one-issue voter, but security is so far at the top of my list that it will be almost the sole determinant of who gets my presidential vote. Whichever candidate I think takes that issue most seriously and is the most competent to deal with it will probably get my vote, even in the unlikely event that it is a Democrat. And, yes, even if it is Hillary Clinton. But a strong-on-defense Democrat will have a bigger burden of proof than a like-minded Republican. He or she would also have to be a good enough leader to drag the rest of the party kicking and screaming to some common sense on the issue.
