He’s a parent. He knows that when something is full of shit it’s time to change it.
I guess some Presidential candidates can legitimately claim to know how to win a war:
Washington
Jackson
Grant
Eisenhower
Perhaps Teddy Roosevelt
Others may have honorable military records but I don’t see how that translates into knowing how to win a war.
Did Lincoln not make the list because he’s a lawyer from Illinois?
Last night one member of the dinner party suggested tht it should be pointed out that McCain spent 5-1/2 years “sitting on his ass,” in Hoa Lo rather than fighting in the war. 
You forgot Kennedy and George H.W. Bush. On the other hand, neither Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, or Franklin D. Roosevelt–presidents who oversaw the three largest wars this nation has been involved in–had any military service, and Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, while serving in the Navy during WWII, never saw combat (although Johnson was controversially awarded a Silver Star for being an observer in a combat zone).
In short, there is no empirical basis for the claim that executives with military combat experience are better wartime Presidents for it.
Stranger
I think Lincoln didn’t make the list because he never ended a war. I’m sure it was on his to-do list, but assassins don’t always read those closely before offing national leaders.
Uhhhh, might want to double check your facts.
Actually, Lincoln wasn’t assassinated until five days after the war ended.
Let’s not forget America’s great military truimphs agains Grenada and Panama. Oh yeah, and Gulf War I, under Bush Sr.
I’m sure McCain won those, somehow.
There is a difference between GHW Bush or Kennedy’s service during war - as middle managers - and Jackson or Grant’s or Washington’s - as Generals. But Jackson and Grant are great examples of why being able to “win a war” doesn’t necessarily translate into being a good President. Eisenhower is a good example of someone who was able to use his experience as a leader in war to become a statesman.
Service to your country in the armed forces does not mean you know “how to win a war” - it may mean you know “how to fight in a war” - but that’s a little like me saying “years of service in corporations has made me confident I can raise General Motor’s stock price.”
How do I register?!
The point behind singling out those four men: Washington, Jackson, Grant, and Eisenhower, was, I think, that they had exemplified their ability to successfully prosecute a war to a win as general officers prior to becoming President. Certainly Lincoln, Polk, Wilson, etc. were able to lead effectively as wartime Presidents – but the criterion for singling out those four (and possibly TR) was effective management of a successful war effort as an element of their why-I-should-be-President résumé.
Using those criteria, however, both parties should be starting draft-Colin-Powell campaigns.
Can I blame the American educational system? <slinks away from thread in embarassment>
“Still”, as in when?
I am no historian, so correct me if I am wrong, but here is a what I see based upon a skimming of Wiki…
Presidential candidates who, based upon prior victory in war-time military strategy and leadership, may have been able to make an argument to be elected President based upon a claim of “knowing how to win a war” as a result of that military experience:
Strong Argument
Washington
Jackson
Taylor
Grant
Eisenhower
Decent Argument
Pierce
Hayes
Garfield
Harrison
TR
Weak Argument
Monroe
Harrison
McKinley
Truman
JFK
LBJ
Nixon
Ford
Carter
Reagan
Bush 41
Bush 43
I would put McCain on the “Weak” list.
McCain is a liar, and the father of lies. When he lies it is perfectly natural because he hates the truth. His tongue is like Beelzebub’s flaccid penis, worming its way into the rotted holes of altered reality, depositing pus from its running sores in order to poison the minds of the troglodytes who follow him. When he speaks, his words are nothing more than stinking vapors from the bacteria of his own bowel infarctions. He is to be believed only by demons and idiots.
McCain is Satan. And it’s not even August yet.
How did Jack Chick get a hold of Liberal’s account information? And how did he confuse Obama and McCain?
He’s more Satan’s bumbling henchman, Beelzetwit.
Stranger
McCain isn’t even making sense on military policy. I heard a snippet on NPR this morning. McCain chides Obama, saying Obama opposed the surge in Iraq and is now supporting more troops (a “surge”, according to McCain) in Afghanistan, implying that Obama doesn’t know what he wants.
Hell, even I know that the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan aren’t the same. And aren’t there about three times as many troops in Iraq as in Afghanistan?
I don’t think McCain really wants to be President. He exhibits no energy or enthusiasm. And making speeches in US cities named London and Berlin while Obama was in Europe – that was just silly.
But he still falls short of being “the fucking beast from Revelations”, huh?