The Republican National Committee notes, with glee, this quote from former Democratic Sen. (and triple amputee) Max Cleland: "We cannot afford to have a leader who weaseled out of going to Vietnam on a medical deferment for a bad back and wound up on the ski slopes of Aspen like Howard Dean."

Reminds me a bit of the criticism once aimed at Joe Namath for getting a draft deferment because of a bad knee while he was healthy enough to play quarterback in the Super Bowl. But there's a big difference. If the knee blows out in a Super Bowl, a ref blows a whistle, the networks cut to a commercial and everybody stands around for a couple of minutes while the trainers haul the quarterback off on a stretcher.

No whistles in combat.