Democratic Senator Tom Harkin:
Republican presidential candidate John McCain's family background as the son and grandson of admirals has given him a worldview shaped by the military, "and he has a hard time thinking beyond that," Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Ia., said Friday.
"I think he's trapped in that," Harkin said in a conference call with Iowa reporters. "Everything is looked at from his life experiences, from always having been in the military, and I think that can be pretty dangerous."
Harkin said that "it's one thing to have been drafted and served, but another thing when you come from generations of military people and that's just how you're steeped, how you've learned, how you've grown up."
So a family tradition of serving one's country is a bad thing?
He said that "I just want to be very clear there's nothing wrong with a career in the military" and that he has friends who are generals and admirals who have served the country well.
I'm glad he cleared that up, sort of:
"But now McCain is running for a higher office. He's running for commander in chief, and our Constitution says that should be a civilian," Harkin said. "And in some ways, I think it would be nice if that commander in chief had some military background, but I don't know if they need a whole lot."
Oh, okay. So it's great if you were in combat for a couple of months like Senator Kerry but if you make a whole big career deal of this military thing, that's just way over the top
John at Power Line:
For what it's worth, it's hardly correct to say that McCain has "always...been in the military;" he retired from the Navy 27 years ago.
For what it's worth, I think Harkin is the one who's trapped. In a worldview of incoherence.
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