As I said during and just after the Dem convention, there was a lot of talk about soldiers in Iraq — and about veterans, here at home. How did the speakers treat them? Well, I got a lot of mail from current servicemen and veterans. And several said, “They act like we’re all basketcases, dupes, and dopes.” Governor Palin was very, very different today, talking about her son going off to Iraq. She and McCain have a completely different approach to those soldiers. They regard them as fighters, of whom to be proud — not as victims.

Do soldiers become victims? Oh, yes (in a way), in horrifying numbers. But I trust that NRO readers know what I mean. Some people regard soldiers as pawns, victimized by a Bush-Cheney oil-seeking cabal. Other people regard them as warriors doing vital and gratifying work.

Our servicemen in Iraq oppose people who drug adolescent girls and send them to markets to blow themselves up, along with dozens of innocents. How many of the rest of us do work as important as those servicemen?