I would like to direct everybody's attention to a great blog post on Democrats.com about Frank Lautenberg defending John Kerry from Senator Wayne Allard (R-CO), a non-veteran who has a lot to say ("9/11! 9/11!") about military matters.
There are a lot of great quotes in the post. If I could pick just one, it would be this one:
“We see in front of us a situation that reminds us of the sad days of Vietnam, when we wanted to extricate ourselves and couldn't quite do it until the pain was so excruciating that the population could no longer stand it. We need a leader who sees clearly what is really happening and who speaks candidly--we can take bad news; we don't like it, but we can take it--about what is taking place in front of our eyes on television and newspapers in our homes. We can take the news. We will accept it and fight on to rebuild our strength and our moral conviction about what we are doing. But we need to know the truth on how to do that.”
More:
http://www.democrats.com/node/8523