Of all the "ex-generals" floating around out there, perhaps the most odious is Wesley Clark. Today he decided it was his place to demean John McCain's military service on Face the Nation:

Gen. Wesley Clark, acting as a surrogate for Barack Obama's campaign, invoked John McCain's military service against him in one of the more personal attacks on the Republican presidential nominee this election cycle.

Clark said that McCain lacked the executive experience necessary to be president, calling him "untested and untried" on CBS' "Face the Nation." And in saying so, he took a few swipes at McCain's military service.

"He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee. And he has traveled all over the world. But he hasn't held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded -- that wasn't a wartime squadron," Clark said.

That's just foolishness. A squadron command doesn't become "executive experience" only if the squadron is in a combat situation. It is either an executive experience or it's not executive experience whether at war or during peace.

Does commanding NATO not count as executive experience if NATO isn't at war? And btw, does getting fired from his NATO command negate Clark's claim to executive experience?

And then this:

"I don't think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president."

Clark's attempt at denigrating and minimizing McCain's service aside, McCain's service is a qualification among many. Say what you will about McCain otherwise, but his service to the country was exemplary.

But here's a question: if the willingness to fight for your country, put your life on the line and suffer the brutality McCain suffered as a POW doesn't make the cut as far as qualifications go, how far below that does a "community organizer" show up on the list of non-qualifications?