McCain makes it hard on Dems' Iraq message

The Hill:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) regularly talks about his military experience on the presidential campaign trail, but he draws the line when asked about his sons’ service in the armed forces.

Jimmy McCain, 19, who returned from Iraq in mid-February, is stationed at Camp Pendleton in California. Jack McCain, 21, is poised to graduate from the Naval Academy and could join the Marines as a second lieutenant.

At a time when Democrats are calling for a withdrawal of troops from Iraq, McCain has refused to use his children’s experience to strengthen his arguments for keeping the U.S. military in the Middle Eastern country.

Democrats have claimed that a McCain White House would be tantamount to a third term of President Bush’s Iraq strategy. But the dynamic of criticizing McCain on Iraq will be different than for the president, who did not serve in a war and does not have children serving abroad.

GOP strategists say that McCain stands to gain more by keeping his sons’ military credentials off-limits than by drawing on them for political gain.

“He is playing it right. He is not going for the cheap political lines,” said John Feehery, who worked for former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and is a contributor to The Hill’s PunditsBlog.

McCain has yet to mention his sons’ military credentials on his ongoing biographical tour. McCain spoke at his own alma mater, the Naval Academy, on Wednesday, and then traveled to his old flight school in Pensacola, Fla.

McCain has appeared uncomfortable when asked about Jimmy’s deployment to Iraq.

When asked about it last month by Fox commentator Sean Hannity, McCain replied, “We really never talk about our sons. We have two sons in the military but we never talk about it, if that’s all right.”

McCain added, “I am so proud of both of them.”

...
He has reason to be proud of them. This just blows the Chicken Hawk argument out of the water. What will Democrats do if they have to argue over substance on the Iraq war? Don't worry, Obama will continue the politics of fraud on the "100 years war."

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