I have met McPeak on several occasions. I found him to be a very bright and unusually direct person for someone who is a retired Air Force Chief of Staff.

I understand why you might find his earlier comments offensive, but that doesn't mean that his current comments are not right on the mark.

I do not know for certain what BC intended to express, but I sure know what it sounded like.  It sounded like a veiled attack on Obama's patriotism.  For a former Dem President to even imply such a thing about the front-runner for the party's nomination is clearly out of bounds and deserved to be slapped down hard.

The Clintons are very crafty in attacking their opponents.  They often reserve a certain "plausible deniability" that means they can claim innocence if they get called for implying something highly negative.  You are never quite sure if they meant the attack or not, but if you watch the pattern of such attacks you can't help but believe that they know exactly what they are doing.  It is a clever but dirty tactic.

It is a clever but dirty tactic.

Yeah, and pretending to know what someone "really" meant when the text clearly supports an alternative, purely benign explanation, is a clever but far dirtier trick.

Suffice to say, yes, Clinton meant it as a swipe against Obama. No you didn't include the full quote.  Yes, it actually matters.

Thank you for posting the bit about the Bush Sr./Bill Clinton exchange.  That was pretty cool.

The full text:
"I think it would be a great thing if we had an election year where you had two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country," said Clinton, who was speaking to a group of veterans Friday in Charlotte, N.C. "And people could actually ask themselves who is right on these issues, instead of all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself on our politics."

I personally believe he was talking about the primary election that is currently going on so the two candidates could talk about ISSUES and the differences in their ISSUES which would help the PARTY in the general election against McCain rather divide the party with remarks like McPeak who interject that the innocuous statement was calling Obama a communist. This has gone beyond ridiculous.

When Biden called Obama articulate it was a veiled insult that blacks aren't articulate. It was a compliment thrown back into the guys face as a racist remark. Not all white people are articulate and being called articulate by anyone is a compliment.

It was an Obama camp slime...