From Yahoo! News:

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – John McCain, a Vietnam war prisoner, argued Friday that his top rivals for the GOP nomination aren’t qualified to deal with issues like torture — or to be president in wartime — because they never served in the military.

The Arizona senator’s position on an interrogation technique that simulates drowning — he says it constitutes torture and is illegal — puts him at odds with Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson, who haven’t taken such a hard line.

“There’s a clear division between those who have a military background and experience in these issues and people like Giuliani, Romney and Thompson who don’t — who chose to do other things when this nation was fighting its wars,” McCain told reporters after touring a shipyard and taking questions from workers wearing hard hats and blue jeans.

Some people do indeed have the notion that you shouldn’t be president without military service. I’m afraid that would limit the field of candidates since most who serve their country honorably don’t wish to delve into the often dishonorable world of politics.

Otherwise I think McCain has used his military service to it’s limit. I think he’s really stressing it, which isn’t a bad thing, but it’s the only thing his message has focused on for several months now. Furthermore, I disagree with him on torture even though he plays the moral authority card on that issue.

Nonetheless, I don’t think this will take him anywhere. Although I was wrong in predicting he would be out of the race by this time, he might just make it to January 2008.