That crank reader’s comment about the Bush Twins reminded me — and a few readers — of something my buddy Richard Bradley wrote last week (and to which Kathryn linked). In what he clearly thought was a brilliant post, the former Dick Blow wrote:

Thanks in large part to Cindy Sheehan, people are starting to raise the issue of why Jenna and Barbara Bush aren’t serving in the military. It’s a tough question, but I think it’s a fair one. The President of the United States is calling on American young people to volunteer to go to war, but his own daughters, who are certainly of the appropriate age, are better known for their drunken nightclub escapades than for any acts of patriotism.
There’s a precedent for prodding Bush on this question. Back in 1993, when Bill and Hillary Clinton moved to Washington, they decided to enroll Chelsea in a private, rather than public, school. Because the decision seemed to contradict the Clintons’ stated faith in public schools, the press asked the Clintons about that decision, and they had to defend it—publicly. (And unlike the Bush daughters now, Chelsea was a minor.)
It’s pretty simple, really. The military doesn’t have enough soldiers; the president believes that this is a good and just war; he has two daughters who could enlist in the military, but haven’t. These things don’t add up.
So here’s a question I think a White House reporter should ask the president: “President Bush, if your own two daughters won’t enlist, how can you expect anyone else’s children to join the military?”

Me: I’m probably taking him too seriously, but did it not dawn on him that perhaps having a couple dozen Secret Service agents swarming around these two girls might be more trouble than it’s worth? I’m no expert, but I’d guess the Twins would make a great prize for the cut-off-their-heads crowd and maybe that alone is good enough reason not to have the daughters of the Commander-in-Chief in a combat zone. But, I doubt such logic will wipe the sitting-in-the-front-of-class grin on Richard’s face. But, then again, what will?