McCain’s Freudian Slip

David Edwards and Ron Brynaert

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain, one of the few members of Congress to have a family member serving in Iraq, was confronted by a fellow Vietnam veteran angry at national leadership's "opting out," while speaking at a campaign event in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Wednesday.

"I'm a combat veteran of Vietnam and I have a son who served in the 82nd Airborne in Afghanistan and Iraq," the man said to loud applause, with McCain interjecting to thank his family's service.

After the crowd stopped clapping the man continued, "According to VFW Magazine, less than one percent of the members of Congress have children or grandchildren who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan. I think that's a national disgrace."

"The leadership of this country is asking our sons and daughters to go off and serve, and perhaps die, in a war that their families are opting out of and I think that should be a national scandal," the man added.

The McCain crowd clapped for a second time with slightly less enthusiasm, but at least one holler can be heard in the videotaped coverage.

"Just two quick responses, thank you and thank you for your service. One, I don't believe we need to go back to a draft," McCain responded. "As you know, we had a draft during the Vietnam war. The majority of the people who served were lowest income Americans and [the] wealthiest people were able to find a doctor who said that they had a bad knee."

The Arizona senator didn't explain why he was referring to a draft.

McCain's "second" response tread heavily on the same ground.

"Second, is that I want to tell you as president of the United States I will ask young Americans to serve this country, I will ask them to serve in a variety of ways in AmeriCorps, in the Peace Corps," McCain said, citing other examples before continuing, "...but I will still tell them that I still think the noblest of all service to the country is service in the military of the United State of America and I believe I can inspire them to serve."