Being hit in the butt with a few pieces of raw rice does not compare to being in captivity in a cage for 5 1/2 years. Yes, I’m comparing John Kerry to John McCain because the old dog Gloria Steinhem from the ERA days has brought up the service of John McCain.

Steinem raised McCain’s Vietnam imprisonment as she sought to highlight an alleged gender-based media bias against Clinton.

“Suppose John McCain had been Joan McCain and Joan McCain had got captured, shot down and been a POW for eight years. [The media would ask], ‘What did you do wrong to get captured? What terrible things did you do while you were there as a captive for eight years?’” Steinem said, to laughter from the audience.

McCain was, in fact, a prisoner of war for around five-and-a-half years, during which time he was tortured repeatedly. Referring to his time in captivity, Steinem said with bewilderment, “I mean, hello? This is supposed to be a qualification to be president? I don’t think so.”

Steinem’s broader argument was that the media and the political world are too admiring of militarism in all its guises.

“I am so grateful that she [Clinton] hasn’t been trained to kill anybody. And she probably didn’t even play war games as a kid. It’s a great relief from Bush in his jump suit and from Kerry saluting.”

Yeah, John, how come you got shot down? Weren’t you wearing your magic hat? Oh, sorry, wrong John. I’m sure you got shot down on purpose just so you could get your bones crushed among other things.

At least she disapproves of Kerry’s salute.

She compares being the wife to a president to being his secretary and learning the job that way:

Steinem also told the crowd that one reason to back Clinton was because “she actually enjoys conflict.”

And she claimed that if Clinton’s experience as First Lady were taken seriously in relation to her White House bid, people might “finally admit that, say, being a secretary is the best way to learn your boss’s job and take it over.”

Hmmm. She’s not a fighter but she enjoys conflict. Does anyone else see the irony here?

If Hillary had been Bill’s secretary there wouldn’t have been a blue dress, now would there? And Bill wouldn’t have been found guilty of perjury. And it wasn’t about sex—it was about lying to a grand jury.

Quoting Mark Noonan at Blogs for Victory after telling us Wes Clark’s opinion of Hillary being Commander in Chief:

So, wandering around the world in the plush accomodations of the First Lady is better experience for CinC than 23 combat missions; showing extreme courage under the harshest of conditions for years; the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, the Legion of Merit, the Purple Heart, the Distinguished Flying Cross; being commander of a squadron; working with Congress to fund new supercarriers and retiring as a Naval captain? Wes, if you say so, I guess it must be true…

Beats the heck out of getting a purple heart for having a grain of rice hit your butt.