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John McCain's military service doesn't automatically qualify him to be president according to retired General Wesley Clark.
General Clark is a former NATO commander who backed Hillary Clinton and now supports Barack Obama. He says that performing heroic military acts is not a substitute for command experience. Clark says he honors McCain's service as a POW, and calls him a hero. He credits McCain's time on the Senate Armed Services Committee and his travel worldwide, but he points out that John McCain hasn't held executive responsibility. General Clark says, "I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.”
McCain was more than just a fighter pilot, though. After being a POW, he went on to become the commanding officer of the largest squadron in the U.S. Navy.
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[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/06/30/art.budday.cnn.jpg caption="Former Col. Bud Day appeared in a 2004 Swift Boat Vets spot."] (CNN) - One of the members of John McCain’s new Truth Squad - which his campaign says was launched to respond to unfair attacks on his record of military service –- was a member of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, and appeared in an attack ad for the group in 2004.
The group was created to attack 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry’s military service record.
"How can you expect our sons and daughters to follow you when you condemned their fathers and grandfathers?" asked former Air Force Col. Bud Day, who was a prisoner of war with McCain in Vietnam, in a 2004 Swift Boat Vets spot.
McCain has said that he opposed the group’s efforts.
On a campaign conference call Monday, a Politico reporter asked Day if there was any similarity between former Gen. Wesley Clark’s controversial Sunday comments about McCain’s military service and his own remarks about John Kerry during the last presidential campaign.
Day dismissed any equivalence. "The Swift Boat 'attacks' were simply revelation of the truth. The similarity does not exist here," he said. "…One was about laying out the truth. This one is about attempting to cast a new shadow on John McCain."
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/06/30/art.hersh.gi.jpg caption="Do you have a question for Sy Hersh?"] What questions do you have for Seymour Hersh? Send us a video question and you could be shown on air in "The Situation Room"! Hersh has written a new article on Iran, published in this week's The New Yorker. He claims Congress has given President Bush the go-ahead to conduct clandestine operations in Iran. He also said in an interview on CNN that he thinks the Bush administration believes it must either attack Iran or stop its nuclear weapons program before the next president takes office.
What do you think? Sy Hersh will be in "The Situation Room" today and you can ask him a question yourself.
Send us your questions on video, and be sure to keep them clear and concise. Your videos could be used on air - and your views a part of the best political team on TV.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/06/30/art.mccaintruth.ap.jpg caption="McCain is launching a truth squad."](CNN) - John McCain’s campaign announced Monday it was launching a new Truth Squad to defend the presumptive Republican nominee’s military record after controversial comments by former Gen. Wes Clark, an Obama supporter, who said Sunday that the Arizona senator’s service in Vietnam did not mean that he was qualified to serve as commander-in-chief.
Leaders of the latest group include McCain’s fellow Vietnam prisoners of war Air Force Col. Bud Day and Marine Lt.Col. Orson Swindle, along with former Navy pilot Carl Smith, who served with him.
Earlier in the primary season, the campaign created a similar effort in advance of the presidential primary in South Carolina, where McCain’s 2000 White House bid was derailed by rumors spread by supporters of then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
The South Carolina group included Adjutant General Stan Spears, state Attorney General Henry McMaster, House Speaker Bobby Harrell and Seventh Circuit Solicitor Trey Gowdy.
Earlier this month, Barack Obama’s campaign launched an aggressive effort to respond to and discredit e-mail rumors about the presumptive Democratic nominee, including a new Web site that gives supporters the ability to upload their address books for rapid response messages and a chart that lays out alleged sources of misinformation.
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