In the Military? Forget about running for President

OK, this is just ridiculous. Apparently volunteering to serve your country in the military will now disqualify you from being president. At least, according to the Democrats.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain's family background as the son and grandson of admirals has given him a worldview shaped by the military, "and he has a hard time thinking beyond that," Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Ia., said Friday.

"I think he's trapped in that," Harkin said in a conference call with Iowa reporters. "Everything is looked at from his life experiences, from always having been in the military, and I think that can be pretty dangerous."

Harkin said that "it's one thing to have been drafted and served, but another thing when you come from generations of military people and that's just how you're steeped, how you've learned, how you've grown up."

As Powerline says "So it's OK to serve in the military, but only if you're drafted. Given that we now have an all-volunteer military, that standard will rule out everyone currently serving."

Let's apply that requirement to some of our past presidents. We would have to rule out:

• George Washington
• James Monroe
  
• Andrew Jackson
• William Harrison
• John Tyler
  
• Zachary Taylor
• Franklin Pierce
• Andrew Johnson
  
• Ulysses Grant
• Rutherford Hayes
• James Garfield
• Benjamin Harrison
• William McKinley
  
• Theodore Roosevelt
• Harry Truman
  
• Dwight Eisenhower
• John Kennedy
• Lyndon Johnson
• Richard Nixon
• Gerald Ford
  
• Jimmy Carter
• Ronald Reagon
  
• George H. W. Bush
• George W. Bush
  

25 of the 42 people who served as President were also members of the military at some point. And that does not include those who served in state militias.

And any of you presidential hopefuls currently serving - too bad.  At least, according to the Democrats.

Posted by: jcallery at 08:24 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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