Not since the 90's. When they had two old guys who served in WWII or Korea or wherever those doddering old fucks Bush I and Dole served, and they were up against the first Baby Boomer nominee-later incumbent - service mattered! It defined character and you simply could not be a commander in chief unless you had served.
But Clinton was merely the first baby boomer to run - once their doddering old farts finally got out and their baby boomers hit the field, ALL OF WHOM were champagne draft dodgers (they got out cause they were rich), then service didn't matter.
And it never will again, cause Republicans don't serve anymore, nor do their children.
So keep up - It's Different When It's A Republican.
All of the above is fact. Period. But since I really am so tired of that whole baby boomer/vietnam thing myself, I feel that it is far more interesting that Mitt Romney openly dismissed and sneered at the troops. If Obama had made the statement Romney made when asked why he never mentioned the troops at his convention, there would have been a fucking uprising! You could not have contained FOX news and the rest of the right wing bs media, Bravo, Damo, PIMP, Alias, Superfreak, or any other righty.
It would have been a traitorous statement.
They're such hypocrites. More proof no Republican who lives gives one shit about the troops unless they can exploit them for political gain. Period.