Wesley Clark is right

This is what he said:

“In the matters of national security policy making, it’s a matter of understanding risk,” he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “It’s a matter of gauging your opponents and it’s a matter of being held accountable. John McCain’s never done any of that in his official positions. I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in the armed forces, as a prisoner of war. He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee and he has traveled all over the world, but he hasn’t held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded — that wasn’t a wartime squadron.”

And then Bob Schieffer, who had raised the issue, noted that Obama hadn’t had those experiences nor had he ridden in a fighter plane and been shot down. “Well, I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president,” Clark replied.

For this we get the McCain camp screaming that Clark "demean[ed] and attack[ed] John McCain’s military service record"?

Puh-lease.

And here's another take - same angle, different words:

n a March conference call with reporters while he was still backing Hillary Rodham Clinton, Clark said: “Everybody admires John McCain’s service as a fighter pilot, his courage as a prisoner of war. There’s no issue there. He’s a great man and an honorable man. But having served as a fighter pilot — and I know my experience as a company commander in Vietnam — that doesn’t prepare you to be commander in chief in terms of dealing with the national strategic issues that are involved. It may give you a feeling for what the troops are going through in the process, but it doesn’t give you the experience first hand of the national strategic issues.”

We all know he's right. (Hell, I was in the army. Does that mean I'm qualified to be President?) Pointing out the McCain's service was individual, low-level, and tactical as well as heroic is not an attack. It's the truth. And the same people who are screaming about it now thought it was just fine to genuinely demean John Kerry's service, and excuse Bush's lack-luster can't-even-finish-it National Guard term, and Cheney's got-better-things-to-do genuine draft evading.

It's outrageous that this gets any air time at all. Real issues, anybody? Please?