If you watched the DNC last night, you’ll know that Romney got absolutely scorched for failing to honor our troops in his Convention speech last week. John Kerry, a decorated vet himself, hit him hard on it. Joe Biden, with a son in the service, welled up with tears talking about the troops and scolded Romney for not paying tribute. And Obama joined in, paying his own high regard to the troops and suggesting Romney’s leaving them out was a sign of foreign policy incompetence.

But before the Democrats took their turn pig-piling on Romney’s omission, some veterans working on Romney’s campaign had their own chance. Yesterday Romney visited the vets while en route from an advier’s house in Vermont to his estate in New Hampshire, and was greeted with questions about not mentioning the troops.

His answer? He’d already done it at a different speech the night before.

I went to the American Legion, described my views with regards to our military, my commitment to our military, my commitment to our men and women in uniform.
…
The president was also invited to the American Legion and he was too busy to go. It was during my convention.

See? He said it. The night before.

Of course, there’s a big difference between honoring the troops at a private, un-televised event for the American legion and doing it in front of America at the biggest political event of the year beside the election itself.

A more accurate reason for Romney avoiding Middle Eastern military operations is probably that he’s got a very spotty record. At times he’s been both for and against pulling out of both Iraq and Afghanistan, and that comment about it not being “worth moving heaven and earth” to get bin Laden has continued to haunt him. On top of that, Obama’s foreign policy record is pretty sterling, and he’s got major bragging rights on bin Laden.

After the last decade it was a trip to see the Democratic Party as the one to wrap up its Convention with military bluster, the crowd erupting into chants of U.S.A! U.S.A!

Thankfully, the party appears to be doing so with a brain.