The first rule for being a hatchet man...

...is not bludgeoning yourself with the hatchet. Here's what Senator John Kerry had to say about John McCain's remarks on the "Today" show this morning:

John Kerry, who's served in the past as Obama's heavy-hitter on national security, expressed incredulity at McCain's remark this morning that the timing of troops return is "not too important."

"It is unbelievably out of touch and inconsistent with the needs of Americans and particularly the families of troops who are over there. To them it’s the most important thing in the world when they come home," he said. "It’s a policy for staying in Iraq."

John McCain spent more than five years being tortured in a Vietnamese prison camp, yet according to Kerry, McCain doesn't understand what it is like to be an American serviceman stationed abroad for a long period of time.