Wesley Clark Gaffe?

I'm wondering, Fair, if you have been following the coverage of ret. General Wesley Clark's statement this past Sunday on Face the Nation. He said, paraphrasing, that when McCain was flying a fighter jet over Viet Nam and got shot down, that didn't automatically qualify him to become President. Most of the coverage is that Clark shouldn't have said this, even if it's true (like Charlie Black's statements last week that another terrorist attack on U.S. soil before the election would help his candidate, John McCain) - you just don't even give the appearance of dissing the experience of McCain in this regard, given that he was subsequently held and tortured in a POW camp for years.

Watching Clark last night on the Dan Abrams show, Verdict, on MSNBC, I was reminded of Geraldine Ferraro. In that, Clark would not back down from his statements. He repeatedly said that on Sunday and last night, he was not speaking as an Obama surrogate, but that is a point that will be lost. At the time of Ferraro's comments, it wouldn't have mattered to me if she said she was just a supporter of Hillary, not speaking for the campaign - she still made me angry and I directed that anger also at Hillary. I'm afraid it's the same now with Clark - I agree with his statements, in this case, but he's off message and distracting from what Obama is trying to do this week (Patriotism and all that). His days being considered a Veep possibility appear to be over. . .