SOME OF THE MILITARY ON McCAIN

Senate GOP colleagues of McWAR have expressed strong reservations about his mental suitability for the Presidency and (h/t Kirk James Murphy, M.D. at FireDogLake) Mark Benjamin in Salon finds that some military officers also have reservations.

It's 3 a.m. Who do you want answering the phone?
Not John McCain, say some military leaders:
"I think his knee-jerk response factor is a little scary."

By Mark Benjamin
March 6, 2008
SALON.COM

"I like McCain. I respect McCain. But I am a little worried by his knee-jerk response factor," said retired Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, who was in charge of training the Iraqi military from 2003 to 2004 and is now campaigning for Clinton. "I think it is a little scary. I think this guy's first reactions are not necessarily the best reactions. I believe that he acts on impulse."

"One of the things the senior military would like to see when they go visit the president is a kind of consistency, a kind of reliability," explained retired Gen. Merrill McPeak, a former Republican, former chief of staff of the Air Force and former fighter pilot who flew 285 combat missions. McPeak said his perception is that Obama is "not that up when he is up and not that down when he is down. He is kind of a steady Eddie. This is a very important feature," McPeak said. On the other hand, he said, "McCain has got a reputation for being a little volatile." McPeak is campaigning for Obama.

Retired Rear Adm. John Hutson, who has been a Republican his entire adult life, but who now supports Obama, put it this way about facing a national security crisis: "When everybody else goes nuts, the president of the United States needs to get cooler and cooler."