Pat Dollard | Young Americans

I also have heard it mentioned, and is worth mentioning again, that those liberal dems who would use the old line about “Sending somebody else’s sons to war” could not use it in this case.

This from The Hill:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) regularly talks about his military experience on the presidential campaign trail, but he draws the line when asked about his sons’ service in the armed forces.

Jimmy McCain, 19, who returned from Iraq in mid-February, is stationed at Camp Pendleton in California. Jack McCain, 21, is poised to graduate from the Naval Academy and could join the Marines as a second lieutenant.

At a time when Democrats are calling for a withdrawal of troops from Iraq, McCain has refused to use his children’s experience to strengthen his arguments for keeping the U.S. military in the Middle Eastern country.

Democrats have claimed that a McCain White House would be tantamount to a third term of President Bush’s Iraq strategy. But the dynamic of criticizing McCain on Iraq will be different than for the president, who did not serve in a war and does not have children serving abroad.

GOP strategists say that McCain stands to gain more by keeping his sons’ military credentials off-limits than by drawing on them for political gain.

“He is playing it right. He is not going for the cheap political lines,” said John Feehery, who worked for former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and is a contributor to The Hill’s PunditsBlog.

McCain has yet to mention his sons’ military credentials on his ongoing biographical tour. McCain spoke at his own alma mater, the Naval Academy, on Wednesday, and then traveled to his old flight school in Pensacola, Fla.

McCain has appeared uncomfortable when asked about Jimmy’s deployment to Iraq.

When asked about it last month by Fox commentator Sean Hannity, McCain replied, “We really never talk about our sons. We have two sons in the military but we never talk about it, if that’s all right.”

McCain added, “I am so proud of both of them.”

“It goes to the character of McCain that he typically does not exploit his familial connections,” said Jim Pitts, co-founder of Navigators, a Washington lobby shop. Pitts is a McCain supporter and fundraiser.

McCain mentioned Jimmy in Iowa, when he casually referred to his son’s promotion to lance corporal, and once briefly on his campaign bus talking to a mother whose son died in Iraq. Cindy McCain, the candidate’s wife, cried silently as the mother told her son’s story, according to reports.

McCain’s spokeswoman, Brooke Buchanan, said that his sons’ military experience will be off-limits.

“Out of respect for the men and women who serve around Jimmy and for security reasons, the senator does not discuss his son,” said Buchanan, who asked The Hill not to run an article on McCain’s sons.

Media outlets have reported on McCain’s sons, though coverage of them has not been widespread.

“He feels very uncomfortable. He does not want Jimmy and his comrades to be put at any risk,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), McCain’s closest ally and friend in the Senate.

Security is a real concern for the son of a high-profile senator and potential future president.

McCain is well-aware of the pitfalls of being a high-profile son and target.

When McCain was captured by the North Vietnamese, he was offered early release because his father was an admiral and, at the time, Pacific commander. McCain, knowing that he would be used as a propaganda tool, refused and was beaten repeatedly.

If McCain is elected president, his sons’ fame would raise questions as to whether they could deploy to war. The military has not faced that situation in more than 50 years. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s son served as a Navy officer in World War II and President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s son was an Army officer in Korea.

(The Hill)

Nods to LftBhndAgn.