Jon Soltz, who served in Iraq and is now the Chairman of VoteVets.org, has been a key voice on military and veterans issues in the Democratic party and a critic of the Iraq war. Lately he's been getting shouted at on TV for his defense of General Wesley Clark, so I called him for a brief interview yesterday afternoon to discuss his views on that issue and conservatives who predict that Barack Obama will change his position on withdrawal.
Why does it seem like you are the only one defending Wes Clark on TV?
Okay, I think first off there have been a lot of people defending him. [James] Carville did, Donna Brazile, Admiral Joe Sestak, who is a big supporter, so there are people that are supporting him. This is the media bias to John McCain more than anything else. … I think the larger question is, why aren't we getting more of that pick-up? It's media insecurity about doing a real analysis on military issues. The fact of the matter is that we have a right to take on John McCain on National Security. General Clark thinks he's a hero, I think he's a hero. But he supports a policy that could cost us to lose the war in Afghanistan. That's a question that we have a right to ask him. The question is, why is the media unwilling to ask the hard natural security questions of John McCain?
Are we going to be able to have a reasonable conversation about these issues?
