Democrats Challenge McCain's Presidential Qualifications

The news this morning, on cable and on the web, is the statement from Wesley Clark that John McCain's military service is not qualification for the Oval Office. Here's the key quote, from the transcript:

Well, I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be President.

This isn't the brightest line of attack against McCain, but such slurs aren't new: Gloria Steinem and Wesley Clark attacked McCain's military service during the primaries.

What's interesting is how eveyone's touting 2008 as the big Democratic year, but if things are going so well - if the Dems have such a slam dunk - why must leftist partisans resort to the most rank personal attacks to make the sale?

Indeed, John Aravosis sinks to allegations of treason against McCain:

Yes, we all know that John McCain was captured and tortured in Vietnam (McCain won't let you forget). A lot of people don't know, however, that McCain made a propaganda video for the enemy while he was in captivity. Putting that bit of disloyalty aside, what exactly is McCain's military experience that prepares him for being commander in chief?

I'm most of the way through John McCain's family memoir, Faith of My Fathers. Reading that book ought to be answer enough, for any fair-minded person, as to McCain's background experience and fitness to serve as the nation's chief executive. Add McCain's Senate career in foreign relations, and his judgment and leadership on national security, and there's really no comparison between McCain and Barack Obama (whose leadership experience includes a legacy of dilapidated public housing in Chicago).

Strata-Sphere's got a theory of the left's attacks on McCain's record, "Ugly Liberals: Only Care If Terrorists Are Tortured, Not If Americans Are":

The “Ugly Liberal” is coming out in the Democrat Party. A close cousin to the Ugly American - who would go to Europe and other places and display such arrogance and snobbery that it gave all America a bad reputation - this is the election for the Ugly Liberal. It is their hate of Americans, conservatives, life, etc that drives them. They are a constant insult machine, tearing down others to prop up their insecurity. They run their little fantasies about how only they can save humanity from itself.

I doubt this is a winning angle for the lefties, but let's see how it plays out. In the meanwhile, here's a YouTube of Clark making an attack on McCain's experience earlier in June:

See also, Ben Smith, "Some on Left Target McCain's War Record."

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UPDATE: As a response to the moral equivalence in my comments, let me refer readers to Rick Moran's breathtaking analysis, "Honestly, Is John Aravosis a Piece of Excrement or What?"

It turns out that Aravosis led a "peeping Tom" expedition to catch GOP operatives engaged in homosexual intercourse, events which ultimately led to an unauthorized "outing" campaign against the targets in a public relations smear attack.

Just add Aravosis to the type of usual suspects I discussed last night in my post, "Think Progress Lies About McCain - Again!"

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UPDATE II: From NBC's Andrea Mitchell, the Obama campaign, has rejected Wesley Clark's comments on John McCain's fitness to serve as commander-in-chief.

See also, Lawhawk, "Bus and Driver: Wesley Clark Edition" (Clark's the latest to be thrown under the bus...).