However, the Clinton and Obama camps managed to snipe at each other today despite the festivities, this time through two of their more visible surrogates. As Laura mentioned in her post today, President Clinton made a remark which may or may not have questioned Obama's patriotism. It might have gone unnoticed were it not for retired Air Force general Merrill McPeak, co-chairman of Obama's campaign, who responded, "As one who for 37 years proudly wore the uniform of our country, I'm saddened to see a president employ these tactics. He of all people should know better because he was the target of exactly the same kind of tactics...I was going to college when Joe McCarthy was accusing good Americans of being traitors, so I've had enough of it."
Conjuring up the specter of the infamous Senator McCarthy is sure to get any Democrat's blood boiling, and the Clinton camp was quick to call the general's accusations "absurd."
After reading over Clinton's comments, it seems to me that McPeak's interpretation might be a bit of a stretch. The President may simply have been talking about the upcoming general election, and his "two people who love this country" might have referred to McCain and either Democrat. But it's hard to say for certain.
Frankly,it doesn't seem like much of a big deal, but well, it's Easter. Slow news days turn minor spats into verbal wars. We probably haven't heard the last of this one.
Since Sundays are typically slow days, I'm going to be posting a political cartoon of the week in this space each Sunday. As I was writing this post, the news broke that the Iraq War has claimed its 4,000th American casualty, just a few days past its fifth anniversary. That's in addition to the many non-American soldiers who have given their lives, as well as the tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians who have been killed.
In light of that grim milestone, I went with this one (click to enlarge.)
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