* This looks like an oppo dump that didn’t quite succeed. Kirk exaggerated, but as it turns out, he really does play a huge role in the war room…
“In my role in the military, I command the war room in the Pentagon,” Kirk told a gathering of experts on U.S.-Chinese relations last May.
This struck military observers as, literally speaking, implausible: The Pentagon’s National Military Command Center is typically run in eight-hour shifts headed by an officer of the rank of a one-star general, who would outrank Kirk, an intelligence officer in the Navy, both a retired flag officer and current Pentagon official said.
But as it turns out that while Kirk’s comment may have a tinge of braggadocio, his reserve role does put him in charge of an important element of the NMCC. He has a remarkable job for a reserve officer, spending his weekends in a front-line post at the NMCC, where he serves as the Deputy Director of Intelligence, his campaign said.
The NMCC, the retired flag officer and current official both said, is physically and organizationally sectioned off into “silos” with different functions.
Kirk’s post puts him “in charge of the intelligence section of the alert center — the information ‘war room’” — and is responsible for contacting the [Director of Intelligence] when necessary,” his campaign said.
Kirk “is regularly called upon to brief the JCS Vice Chairman or Director of Operations,” the campaign said.
Mark Kirk was claiming on his campaign site to be “the only member of Congress to serve stateside during Operation Iraqi Freedom,” which was true, but on his official web site he claimed to be “the only member of Congress to serve in Operation Iraqi Freedom.” To say you have served in a campaign is precisely the sort of falsehood for which Richard Blumenthal has been castigated for the past few days.
Yet, whereas Blumenthal repeatedly pointed out in speeches that he had served “during” Vietnam–with that noteable slip-up–and then corrected the record when the mistake was pointed out, Kirk’s office refused to address the falsehood on his web site for more than 50 days after I first contacted him, despite the fact the Navy’s Office of Information agreed that, because Kirk had never served in Iraq during Iraqi Freedom, he had no right to claim to be an Iraqi Freedom veteran.
In the end, Kirk’s staff simply changed the site without comment or apology.
If Kirk mistakenly said “I’m the only member of Congress to…..” that in no way diminishes the FACT that he was in uniform and serving during OIF. He just didn’t do his homework and find that perhaps one or two other members were in the active reserves at the time.
It is nothing at all like Bluementhal’s claim of service that never took place. Kirk’s service over the past decade has been constantly under a microscope so this kind of semanitc nit-picking may be fun for his enemies, but no one can question the military functions he has undertaken.
Not everyone who serves in a campaign does it from the front-lines… he may have served in a role and directly assisted OIF efforts from the Pentagon, as many officers and enlisted did.
That’s not quite the same as saying he served and wore the uniform in Vietnam as Bluementhal did.
Rich, I have absolutely no dog in the Blumenthal fight, but the NYT has released several more verified examples of his “misspeaking” over several years and blogs have found others.
I need to go back and dig up the old newspaper articles from around 2003, but I think I am remembering correctly…
I remember Kirk openly bragging about being on the intelligence team before the Iraq war while he was also serving in Congress.
I think Alexi’s campaign (or whoever leaked this) is missing the point by trying to equate him with Blumenthal.
I mean - the guy was bragging about being part of the intelligence operation that got us into the War. You know - that war with the epic intelligence failures? Talk about a huge vulnerability, and the possibility for a blistering ad.
And if Kirk isn’t careful in responding to this story, burnishing his intelligence creditials, he might open that can of beans.
Roston is significantly underplaying Blumenthal’s claims. Blumenthal has been reportedly making false statements for several years. Only now is he apparently trying to correct the record.
So one Web site got it right and the other got it wrong - and when the error was brought to Kirk’s attention, he fixed it? Sounds like a staff screw-up - and a pretty weak hit. If Kirk was calling himself an “Iraq War veteran” on that trail this would be a Blumenthal story.
George - if this was the DSCC, they are either desperate, stupid or both. Kirk comes out looking better because of this story…and it reminds people how much more experienced he is than his opponent who has never served.
Changing to be more precise is not the same as admitting an error. I’d have advised him to change it to avoid the headache and stupidity of splitting hairs too.
As a veteran of the Army infantry, may I recommend that you disengage your head from your hindquarters before posting such witless — and rhetorically ineffective — generalizations.
It isn’t that spinmasters are stupid. It’s that the realize politics is perception. It doesn’t matter what is actually true, it matters what people can be made to believe.
Isn’t that the command post job where Kirk got busted Tweeting from last year? Recall then his staff came out and fell on their sword. Said it was they, not Mark, actually doing the tweeting. They were just doing it under his name while he was on duty.
Hopefully the war room commander has gotten command of his Twitter account by now. We’ll all sleep better.
- Joe McCarthy and the Red Scarecrows - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 3:25 pm:
This election is not about resumes or qualifications. After all, according to Alexi, CBS, etc, we can’t talk about Broadway anymore.
This election is about issues! Like pictures of Mark Kirk and George Bush! Focus, people!
Rich, thanks for linking - you’ve been doing great work that I’ve been aware of since I was a cub intern for BGA in the summer of 2000.
I don’t like being called a partisan because I’m not. I think AG Blumenthal is getting railroaded by an out of control editorial operation at the NYT. There are good explanations for Rep. Kirk mistakenly posting on his website that he served in OIF when he was stateside, and I think it’s an excusable error. Just like a non-partisan analysis of Blumenthal’s situation shows that he has only misspoken about his service - not ‘lied’ about it. Yet the Times editorializes on the news pages about people’s ‘impressions’ and even your readers are stating that there are ‘verified examples’ of Blumenthal’s statements when unlike the snippet of the video in Monday’s Times story, they are in fact un-factchecked accounts in small local papers that make mistakes all the time.
Neither Messrs. Blumenthal nor Kirk are liars, yet an Attorney General who has never in any demonstrable gained politically from his military service is being railroaded. It should stop.
My reading is that the American public has closed its eyes and ears to the whole Iraq fiasco, and whatever connection a candidate might have to participating in it will neither help nor hurt Kirk.
Giannoulius is a weak candidate and in a more rational world would never have been nominated to run for the Senate. It’s true that Illinois once elected the Cook County Recorder of Deeds, and Obama himself had a slim public record when he ran for the Senate. But subsequent events have shown that Obama is clearly a far more talented individual than Alexi.
I won’t vote for him, but I think Kirk will waltz to victory without much trouble.
Rich, with all due respect you are actually wrong. Kirk’s website stated he “served stateside during Operation Iraqi Freedom.” That means he was in uniform and active here, NOT IN IRAQ. It in no way claim or implies that he was in Iraq or saw combat there. (Although Kirk has been forward deployed in combat areas at other times). And changing his web site only means he doesn’t want to continue to allow you to engage in this meaningless distraction.
George-Kirk’s ad says he served “over Iraq”. It does not say he served in Operation Iraqi Freedom nor claim he is an Iraq War Veteran. He did conduct numerous combat missions as part of Operation Northern Watch in which US combat aircraft patrolled the skys over Iraq to prevent Hussein’s army from attacking the Kurds. These flights were routinely subject to hostile fire from the Iraqis.
So on all counts, Kirk’s claims are accurate and his military service is long-standing and has been closely scrutinized.
It may appear to those who want to see evil behind everything Kirk does, that he is “embellishing,” but only to those who have a less than comprehensive grasp of the terminology of the military and the facts involved.
–You do not expect Democratic political spinmeisters to understand anything regarding the military, except their expertise beyond, “war is bad”.–
That’s a despicable comment from a small mind living in a tax-funded cocoon. But not unexpected.
Tens of thousands of Americans who would call themselves Democrat gave the last full measure of devotion.
Back in the day, Barry Goldwater said the Democrats were the warmonger party. I don’t agree with the assessment, but at least I have respect for the man who made it.
Duly noted. He had two different wordings. I see the point. Thank you for one of your typically tactful corrections.
It still makes absolutely no difference and the more people try desperately to denigrate Kirk’s navy record, the more it will help him.
- The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 4:43 pm:
just sayin, I just looked up the whole Twitter thing (what a flashback!). That was back in JULY of 2009.
Alot of things have changed since then (for the better, I might add), including shore’s posting as “Shore”, and my still having pretty much “sole custody” of “Anonymous” as a handle.
And, you’re still stuck on that, just sayin?
Again, just sayin’.
- The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 4:46 pm:
===
The fact that he plays an important role just makes it all the more odd that he’d -ahem- embellish.
===
Got ‘em? Smoke ‘em!
Got it? Flaunt it!
You gotta a problem with that, Jon? lol
- The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 4:50 pm:
You’re not actually one of those who is against “competing”, are you, Jon?
This is surely a whole lotta of nothing. Alexi is a joke and you guys are grabbing at straws. Should have gone with Hoffman.
- The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 5:01 pm:
The Voters went with Giannoulias, jaded, because while Hoffman had more to offer from a “knowledge” and “experience” perspective, he was not nearly as “likeable”.
- The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 5:08 pm:
And…because he reminded everyone of that kid from the “Sopranos”.
- The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 5:09 pm:
(Sorry, David.)
- The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 5:21 pm:
Truly. At least I didn’t say that during the D Primary. Winning honorably, and all.
I’m a Democrat, and would love to pounce on the Republican, but come on! Kirk serves honorably and has a position of
incredible responsibility on those weekends. dems would
be wise to stay away from critiques of his military service and concentrate on his fiscal policies.
Alexi’s campaign appears about as incompetent as the usual GOP campaign in IL. If you’re going to leak a negative story, make sure it’s solid. Pathetic.
I was impressed with Hoffman, and never found anything to like about Alexi, the shallow rich kid way in over his head. The arrogance apparent in Alexi thinking he should be anywhere near this office in any capacity other than a staffer was a clear turn off for me.
As a retired Naval Intelligence officer, Rep. Kirk’s duties on weekends as a reserve are appreciated here.
The quick and dirty read is to go to his chest of ribbons on his uniform, all of which are recognitions of service from the Department of Defense.
Any of you weenies ridden back seat on a combat aircraft in SAM infested territory or served on the ground in Afghanistan? It may have only been his Active Duty two week summer requirement. He is brave enough for me.
Yes there is more hazardous duty out there than he has performed, and god bless you for your service there.
If you and the others will completely read, then I will have to make myself clearer.
Democratic political spinmeisters are usually young people working their way up the political ladders. These are the ones who work on oppo dumps and do background checks. These are the people I am commenting on - not Democrats in general.
Most of these young people do not have experience of studies in military issues or understand military issues beyond, “war is bad”, because they are not attracted to the Democratic party due to it’s military stands - but domestic stands.
Just as GOP spinmeisters should be questioned twice regarding issue regarding affirmative action and civil rights, Demo spinmeisters should be questioned twice regarding military issues.
They didn’t do this, so you see what happened - right?
- VanillaMan - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 2:44 pm:
You do not expect Democratic political spinmeisters to understand anything regarding the military, except their expertise beyond, “war is bad”.
- Adam Smith - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 2:49 pm:
If Kirk mistakenly said “I’m the only member of Congress to…..” that in no way diminishes the FACT that he was in uniform and serving during OIF. He just didn’t do his homework and find that perhaps one or two other members were in the active reserves at the time.
It is nothing at all like Bluementhal’s claim of service that never took place. Kirk’s service over the past decade has been constantly under a microscope so this kind of semanitc nit-picking may be fun for his enemies, but no one can question the military functions he has undertaken.
- Montrose - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 2:51 pm:
*You do not expect Democratic political spinmeisters to understand anything regarding the military, except their expertise beyond, “war is bad”.*
Even for you, VM, that is overly simplistic.
- Rich Miller - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 2:51 pm:
AS, Kirk’s website claimed he served in Operation Iraqi Freedom when he didn’t. You read it wrong.
- John Bambenek - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 2:52 pm:
Not everyone who serves in a campaign does it from the front-lines… he may have served in a role and directly assisted OIF efforts from the Pentagon, as many officers and enlisted did.
That’s not quite the same as saying he served and wore the uniform in Vietnam as Bluementhal did.
- D.P. Gumby - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 2:53 pm:
Yes, VM, tell that to Sen. to be Adm Sestak in Penn.
- Responsa - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 2:54 pm:
Rich, I have absolutely no dog in the Blumenthal fight, but the NYT has released several more verified examples of his “misspeaking” over several years and blogs have found others.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/times_publishes_more_accounts_of_blumenthal_misrep.php
- Rich Miller - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 2:54 pm:
John, he changed his website, so I’m not sure it’s worth defending him.
- Robert - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 2:59 pm:
I don’t completely see the comparison here - Kirk’s web site was more bad staff work than deliberately misleading in speech.
- George - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 3:00 pm:
I need to go back and dig up the old newspaper articles from around 2003, but I think I am remembering correctly…
I remember Kirk openly bragging about being on the intelligence team before the Iraq war while he was also serving in Congress.
I think Alexi’s campaign (or whoever leaked this) is missing the point by trying to equate him with Blumenthal.
I mean - the guy was bragging about being part of the intelligence operation that got us into the War. You know - that war with the epic intelligence failures? Talk about a huge vulnerability, and the possibility for a blistering ad.
And if Kirk isn’t careful in responding to this story, burnishing his intelligence creditials, he might open that can of beans.
- Brennan - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 3:00 pm:
Roston is significantly underplaying Blumenthal’s claims. Blumenthal has been reportedly making false statements for several years. Only now is he apparently trying to correct the record.
- votevet - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 3:02 pm:
So one Web site got it right and the other got it wrong - and when the error was brought to Kirk’s attention, he fixed it? Sounds like a staff screw-up - and a pretty weak hit. If Kirk was calling himself an “Iraq War veteran” on that trail this would be a Blumenthal story.
- VanillaMan - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 3:02 pm:
Democratic political spinmeisters
Sestak isn’t a Democratic political spinmeister, is he?
- George - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 3:02 pm:
And since it was in Politico, I somehow doubt this was Alexi’s campaign - probably DCCC.
- George - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 3:05 pm:
votevet, does this count?
- votevet - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 3:09 pm:
George - if this was the DSCC, they are either desperate, stupid or both. Kirk comes out looking better because of this story…and it reminds people how much more experienced he is than his opponent who has never served.
- John Bambenek - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 3:09 pm:
Rich-
Changing to be more precise is not the same as admitting an error. I’d have advised him to change it to avoid the headache and stupidity of splitting hairs too.
- MrJM - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 3:11 pm:
VM,
As a veteran of the Army infantry, may I recommend that you disengage your head from your hindquarters before posting such witless — and rhetorically ineffective — generalizations.
Good day.
– MrJM
- VanillaMan - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 3:13 pm:
Mr. JM -
Are you a Democratic political spinmeister?
That is to whom I am referring.
- John Bambenek - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 3:14 pm:
It isn’t that spinmasters are stupid. It’s that the realize politics is perception. It doesn’t matter what is actually true, it matters what people can be made to believe.
- just sayin' - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 3:19 pm:
Isn’t that the command post job where Kirk got busted Tweeting from last year? Recall then his staff came out and fell on their sword. Said it was they, not Mark, actually doing the tweeting. They were just doing it under his name while he was on duty.
Hopefully the war room commander has gotten command of his Twitter account by now. We’ll all sleep better.
- Joe McCarthy and the Red Scarecrows - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 3:25 pm:
This election is not about resumes or qualifications. After all, according to Alexi, CBS, etc, we can’t talk about Broadway anymore.
This election is about issues! Like pictures of Mark Kirk and George Bush! Focus, people!
- Michael Roston - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 3:45 pm:
Rich, thanks for linking - you’ve been doing great work that I’ve been aware of since I was a cub intern for BGA in the summer of 2000.
I don’t like being called a partisan because I’m not. I think AG Blumenthal is getting railroaded by an out of control editorial operation at the NYT. There are good explanations for Rep. Kirk mistakenly posting on his website that he served in OIF when he was stateside, and I think it’s an excusable error. Just like a non-partisan analysis of Blumenthal’s situation shows that he has only misspoken about his service - not ‘lied’ about it. Yet the Times editorializes on the news pages about people’s ‘impressions’ and even your readers are stating that there are ‘verified examples’ of Blumenthal’s statements when unlike the snippet of the video in Monday’s Times story, they are in fact un-factchecked accounts in small local papers that make mistakes all the time.
Neither Messrs. Blumenthal nor Kirk are liars, yet an Attorney General who has never in any demonstrable gained politically from his military service is being railroaded. It should stop.
- Phyllis - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 3:52 pm:
Kirk is a veteran. Alexi never served. ‘Nuff said.
- Pat Robertson - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 3:58 pm:
“Gentlemen! You can’t fight here! This is the war room!”
Sorry, but somebody had to say it.
- DuPage Dave - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 4:08 pm:
My reading is that the American public has closed its eyes and ears to the whole Iraq fiasco, and whatever connection a candidate might have to participating in it will neither help nor hurt Kirk.
Giannoulius is a weak candidate and in a more rational world would never have been nominated to run for the Senate. It’s true that Illinois once elected the Cook County Recorder of Deeds, and Obama himself had a slim public record when he ran for the Senate. But subsequent events have shown that Obama is clearly a far more talented individual than Alexi.
I won’t vote for him, but I think Kirk will waltz to victory without much trouble.
- Adam Smith - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 4:10 pm:
Rich, with all due respect you are actually wrong. Kirk’s website stated he “served stateside during Operation Iraqi Freedom.” That means he was in uniform and active here, NOT IN IRAQ. It in no way claim or implies that he was in Iraq or saw combat there. (Although Kirk has been forward deployed in combat areas at other times). And changing his web site only means he doesn’t want to continue to allow you to engage in this meaningless distraction.
George-Kirk’s ad says he served “over Iraq”. It does not say he served in Operation Iraqi Freedom nor claim he is an Iraq War Veteran. He did conduct numerous combat missions as part of Operation Northern Watch in which US combat aircraft patrolled the skys over Iraq to prevent Hussein’s army from attacking the Kurds. These flights were routinely subject to hostile fire from the Iraqis.
So on all counts, Kirk’s claims are accurate and his military service is long-standing and has been closely scrutinized.
It may appear to those who want to see evil behind everything Kirk does, that he is “embellishing,” but only to those who have a less than comprehensive grasp of the terminology of the military and the facts involved.
- shore - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 4:10 pm:
he blew off his campaign in 2000 to fly missions above the 35th parallel or whatever it was in iraq. Good luck on this line of attack.
- The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 4:12 pm:
===
Hopefully the war room commander has gotten command of his Twitter account by now.
===
Everything seems just fine, just sayin’. Just sayin’.
- wordslinger - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 4:20 pm:
–You do not expect Democratic political spinmeisters to understand anything regarding the military, except their expertise beyond, “war is bad”.–
That’s a despicable comment from a small mind living in a tax-funded cocoon. But not unexpected.
Tens of thousands of Americans who would call themselves Democrat gave the last full measure of devotion.
Back in the day, Barry Goldwater said the Democrats were the warmonger party. I don’t agree with the assessment, but at least I have respect for the man who made it.
- Brennan - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 4:23 pm:
Kirk did volunteer to go to Iraq. The Navy approved it. The Pentagon killed it. They didn’t want active Congressman deployed.
Blumenthal likely has a similar record of courage. It just hasn’t yet found the attention of the NY Times editorial board.
- Rich Miller - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 4:23 pm:
AS, you must be slow today. Read the post again.
- Irish - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 4:27 pm:
Did anyone else have flashbacks to Al Haig when they read this?
- JonShibleyFan - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 4:34 pm:
The fact that he plays an important role just makes it all the more odd that he’d -ahem- embellish.
I trust that most of the folks defending him were ardent defenders of John Kerry in 2004. And Max Cleland in 2002.
Right?
- Adam Smith - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 4:36 pm:
Duly noted. He had two different wordings. I see the point. Thank you for one of your typically tactful corrections.
It still makes absolutely no difference and the more people try desperately to denigrate Kirk’s navy record, the more it will help him.
- The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 4:43 pm:
just sayin, I just looked up the whole Twitter thing (what a flashback!). That was back in JULY of 2009.
Alot of things have changed since then (for the better, I might add), including shore’s posting as “Shore”, and my still having pretty much “sole custody” of “Anonymous” as a handle.
And, you’re still stuck on that, just sayin?
Again, just sayin’.
- The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 4:46 pm:
===
The fact that he plays an important role just makes it all the more odd that he’d -ahem- embellish.
===
Got ‘em? Smoke ‘em!
Got it? Flaunt it!
You gotta a problem with that, Jon? lol
- The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 4:50 pm:
You’re not actually one of those who is against “competing”, are you, Jon?
Let the best man win–and he WILL.
- jaded voter - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 4:53 pm:
This is surely a whole lotta of nothing. Alexi is a joke and you guys are grabbing at straws. Should have gone with Hoffman.
- The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 5:01 pm:
The Voters went with Giannoulias, jaded, because while Hoffman had more to offer from a “knowledge” and “experience” perspective, he was not nearly as “likeable”.
- The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 5:08 pm:
And…because he reminded everyone of that kid from the “Sopranos”.
- The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 5:09 pm:
(Sorry, David.)
- The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 5:21 pm:
Truly. At least I didn’t say that during the D Primary. Winning honorably, and all.
- Amalia - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 5:26 pm:
I’m a Democrat, and would love to pounce on the Republican, but come on! Kirk serves honorably and has a position of
incredible responsibility on those weekends. dems would
be wise to stay away from critiques of his military service and concentrate on his fiscal policies.
- Whatever - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 5:34 pm:
Alexi’s campaign appears about as incompetent as the usual GOP campaign in IL. If you’re going to leak a negative story, make sure it’s solid. Pathetic.
- jaded voter - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 5:51 pm:
@Real,
I was impressed with Hoffman, and never found anything to like about Alexi, the shallow rich kid way in over his head. The arrogance apparent in Alexi thinking he should be anywhere near this office in any capacity other than a staffer was a clear turn off for me.
- Truthful James - Friday, May 21, 10 @ 6:00 pm:
As a retired Naval Intelligence officer, Rep. Kirk’s duties on weekends as a reserve are appreciated here.
The quick and dirty read is to go to his chest of ribbons on his uniform, all of which are recognitions of service from the Department of Defense.
Any of you weenies ridden back seat on a combat aircraft in SAM infested territory or served on the ground in Afghanistan? It may have only been his Active Duty two week summer requirement. He is brave enough for me.
Yes there is more hazardous duty out there than he has performed, and god bless you for your service there.
- VanillaMan - Saturday, May 22, 10 @ 3:15 pm:
Good grief wordslinger - you too?
If you and the others will completely read, then I will have to make myself clearer.
Democratic political spinmeisters are usually young people working their way up the political ladders. These are the ones who work on oppo dumps and do background checks. These are the people I am commenting on - not Democrats in general.
Most of these young people do not have experience of studies in military issues or understand military issues beyond, “war is bad”, because they are not attracted to the Democratic party due to it’s military stands - but domestic stands.
Just as GOP spinmeisters should be questioned twice regarding issue regarding affirmative action and civil rights, Demo spinmeisters should be questioned twice regarding military issues.
They didn’t do this, so you see what happened - right?
You’ve misinterpreted my comments.