SEVERAL READERS want to know why, when I’m pointing out Kerry’s heavy reliance on Vietnam stories, I don’t comment on Bush’s carrier landing.

Actually, I was quite critical of it at the time, writing:

The jet-pilot arrival, on the other hand, rang false. The whole leader-who-flies-jets thing seems, somehow, Third World to me. People say that it’ll make great campaign footage in 2004, but I actually doubt it — or at least, I think it will backfire if they do too much of this. The President is commander-in-chief, but he’s a civilian leader, and Americans want him to be one.

I still think that (even though Jeff Jarvis said I was off base at the time), and even though John Kerry seems to feel otherwise, too.

UPDATE: Reader C. Kanige emails: “The Bush Bashers have a field day (you too) about the Bush carrier landing. What I remember is the joy exhibited by the sailors on the boat at that time. It really seemed worth it all. Take a look at the tape and then disparage it. I don’t think you can.”

I’m a “Bush Basher” now? Someone tell Oliver Willis!