Just wanted to say something else about the you-can’t-criticize-McCain issue, but it didn’t fit into the last post.

I think Democrats should stop prefacing every criticism of McCain with glowing remarks about his being a war hero, a patriot, and all-around great guy. First off, it doesn’t help to be constantly be calling your opponent a hero, when just about every person in the country has heard it a zillion times already. Second, Dems don’t get any credit for it–no one feels that Dems are more electable or even necessarily nicer because they respect their opponent more. Third, McCain is not going to return the favor unless specifically questioned about his disrespecting the opposition.

But most importantly, you have to realize that the “you’re-an-ass-if-you-disparage-a-war-hero” meme has been pretty much accepted now. Therefore, when you preface a criticism with “McCain is a war hero, but…” then you are only triggering that meme and instantly making your listener antagonistic to your criticisms.

The fact is, the less you pay homage to your war-hero opponent, the better. You need look no further than Kerry to understand this. Republicans did not preface every criticism of Kerry with “the man’s a great war hero, but….” Instead, they went with a two-pronged approach: tear down his war-hero status with swift-boating, and simply ignore his service otherwise.

I’m not saying we should swift-boat. What I’m saying is that we should simply ignore the war service stuff unless specifically pressed about it.