Having one’s plane shot down does not make one a statesman. Sitting in Vietnamese prison does not teach one how to create and execute policy. How could it? If you doubt me, consider: John McCain’s foreign policy is identical to the failed foreign policy we have followed for the past eight years, a policy crafted by a guy who steadfastly avoided service in Vietnam (or, for that matter, Texas.) One can’t be a great statesman and policy guru AND crib everything from the worst, most unpopular president in American history. You can’t be a great foreign policy mind AND an idiot. You would have to be an idiot to think otherwise. You would have to be a respected pundit.

Further, being a prisoner of war does not necessarily give one political courage. John McCain has changed his position on every issue you can think of, all in the name of political expediency. McCain’s fellow Arizona Republicans know he has “no core, [and] his only principle is winning the presidency.” Even official Bush Court Jester ROFLMAO Cohen knows McCain has no convictions, sees it with his “keen eye”, and yet finds it less telling than Barak Obama’s decision to change campaign tactics, because John McCain soul was purified in a POW camp. But this makes no sense. You can’t be steady and fearless and true AND shamelessly change your position on every substantive issue there is. Something can’t be both true AND contradicted by every piece of verifiable evidence. You would have to be an idiot to think otherwise. You would have to be a respected pundit.

But McCain keeps getting away with it — because, as The Poor Man says, the kewpie dolls now serving as respected pundits are acting like idiots.