Few people in Washington have been as adamant and clear on the stakes in Iraq as John McCain (Joe Lieberman would be another). I admire him for that. All Americans — especially those of us who are not carrying the burden of this war in the deep and personal way some others of us are — do. But the aspects of John McCain that I admire have been eclipsed, of late, by his less-than-honorable side.

Back in March, during a blogger conference call, McCain criticized other senators who use their service in Vietnam as a political club to bludgeon those who didn’t serve. He said that his own foreign-policy views — unlike those of, say, Senators Chuck Hagel and Jim Webb — are based on a lifetime of experience, and are not framed by events that took place 30 years ago (Hagel and Webb being examples of bludgeoners). McCain said that his own positions on national security do not always hearken back to Vietnam.

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And yet, this month, his campaign ran again a commercial it produced last fall featuring a great line from one of the debates this season. He was criticizing Hillary Clinton’s vote for federal funding for a Woodstock museum, at which point he reminded everyone that he did not attend Woodstock — he was “tied up at the time.” As a debate line, it was riveting; but my first impression upon viewing it as a campaign commercial — one of a few now citing McCain’s combat valor and bravery as a prisoner of war — was that it verged on crass. I immediately flashed back to that straight talk about how Vietnam service shouldn’t be used as a political credential — straight talk that I had frequently cited as one of my reasons for admiring McCain. His is a great American story of bravery and resilience. But I can’t help thinking that it’s the rest of us who should be saying that of him — as indeed we (even other candidates!) are.

And then we need to go further, and follow the advice he gave us on that blogger call — by focusing on his entire record of service, beyond the valor he showed in Vietnam. Agree or disagree with him on a whole host of issues — some of them fundamental — he has a record of service that has dealt with most of the key questions we should be asking all of the presidential candidates: Iraq, Guantanamo, interrogation, immigration, campaign-finance reform, embryonic-stem-cell research . . .

That said, the McCain campaign’s use of the senator’s Vietnam service as a credential didn’t really bother me — who am I to criticize, after all? and he’s more than entitled to tell his story — until Saturday. On Saturday, the McCain campaign worked the news cycle well, but at the cost of straight talk.


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