General Wesley Clark has given a number of explanations for his turn towards the Democratic party. But this has to be one of his strangest rationalizations yet.

In an interview yesterday on New Hampshire Public Radio's "The Exchange," Clark spoke about how guys in uniform try to stay apolitical. Then he dropped this rhetorical bomb:

What I learned in the armed forces is this: To be, to be really cold about it, the Republicans are mostly interested in weapons systems. The Democrats are interested in people. And the more senior I became in the armed forces, the more clear it became to me that it's the people that matter the most, not the weapons systems.

And that's what made you start leaning in the Democratic direction?

Absolutely.

This declaration begs a question or two, of course. For example, does Wes Clark mean that the importance of individual soldiers wasn't clear to him when he was a Purple Heart-winning officer in Vietnam? And, if he was already leaning Democratic when he reached the military's upper echelons in the early 90's, why did he then say such sweet things about George W. Bush, Condi Rice, and company in 2001?

(Thanks to Defense Tech pal Brian McWilliams for the catch)