Is he seriously arguing that the fight is over the votes of service(wo)men? I think that's plainly wrong. Political language about the utility/disutility accruing to troops from policy decisions is much more about leveraging civilian voters, who can attach themselves to the politician in question as a way of signaling how strongly they value the good/harm reputedly resulting to the troops. Expecting active duty military personnel to consider the immediate personal consequences of their vote seems perfectly legitimate as a consequence of the oath-based argument he's making, but any sane democracy has a public discussion about the sacrifice of service. Policy decisions by the electorate as a whole entirely appropriately include those costs, making it inevitably in-bounds for the political arena.

Old gutter mouth does not tolerate polite disparagement of his dictats. A trait common to the blogosphere sinsister.

Rodney, I tolerate those who disagree with me all the time. I have stood corrected on numerous occasions. There are a number of examples on my blog and elsewhere. What I won't tolerate is your passive/aggressive blowhard nonsense, you speak to hear yourself talk and nothing more.

pyropyga, reading your comment and then going back to reread my post I can immediately see how you came to that conclusion. I should have been more clear and I agree with the gist of your comment. No, I didn't mean that the fight is over veteran voters per se. What I take exception to, is the implication (by both candidates) that the course of action they advocate is somehow driven by sympathy for those in harm's way. I take exception to manipulation of the public through the use of veterans. If these men were truly concerned about us, well, as Senators they'd have made dammed sure that the National Guard troops from their own states were properly equipped and trained prior to deployment, for example.

I do agree that there should be public discussion of the conflict, and our commitment to it, however holding veterans up as poster children in order to manipulate that discussion offends me. Obama may not understand this, but McCain dammed sure ought to.

/Jim Wright

Hey, Jim and Rodney - you both have your own blogs. Please take this argument elsewhere.