>Hi Mike,
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>>Why shouldn't liberals, or anyone else, "lash out" when their patriotism is questioned? Don't you think it's offensive? Blindly defending the government is not my definition of patriotism. Loving one's country is a lot better definition. I don't see how being satisfied with misgovernment is unpatriotic. I also don't agree that only those who have served in the military are patriotic. You didn't say that but the thought is out there, and in fact has been injected into the presidential campaign.
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>In principle, I agree with you and I'd be extremely bent if someone questioned my patriotism. The weird thing is that Obama brought this up without anyone questioning his patriotism. Goes to my earlier point in that Democrats, at least the left-leaning ones, seem to believe they have to constantly state their patriotism even when not under duress. To me, that signifies insecurity.
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>>You may have heard that Barack Obama defended himself yesterday against charges that he is unpatriotic. He also criticized a top advisor, Wesley Clark, for disparaging John McCain's military service. Obama has said many times how much he admires McCain as a patriot and as a man. I think a lot of people were skeptical about Obama's promise to keep it positive and refrain from mud slinging. He'll start doing it, too, they all do, yada yada yada. So far he hasn't. And I would say the same of McCain. They have significantly different political positions so they have criticized each other on that basis, but as far as I have seen there has been nothing personal or below the belt. Very refreshing.
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>Mike, wake up. I'll explain to you what happened. Obama defended himself against "charges" that were never made. Who, in the political world, called him unpatriotic? As far as I can see, no one. So he set up a situation where people were led to believe that this had happened when, in fact, it hadn't. Meanwhile, Wesley Clark goes out and says something outrageous about McCain's military service to Bob Schieffer who - if you listen to the interview - is incredulous that Clark is so demeaning. Dude, again I say, "wake up"; Clark said what he said not because he believed it but because it gave an opening for Obama to criticize the comment and look like he was giving creds to a vet like McCain. It's so transparent and you'll see more of it - Democratic minions will badmouth McCain and Obama will badmouth the minion's comments. I mean, c'mon, are you that naive?

Could be. I think it's interesting that Clark was a Hillary supporter who only recently linked up with the Obama campaign. Which may be neither here nor there, I suppose. IAC, yes, I do know candidates sometimes attack their opponents through surrogates. I still think both Obama and McCain are running much cleaner campaigns than usual. I hope it lasts.

Are you kidding about Obama's patriotism not being questioned? It has been questioned repeatedly -- why doesn't he wear a flag pin, he doesn't look like he held his hand over his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance, do you know he's Muslim?, etc. The McCain campaign realizes they are fighting an uphill battle and the most effective thing they can do is probably sow doubt about Obama's fitness for the job. Strategically I can't fault that. It's probably their best bet.