In the ongoing saga of Charlie Rangel’s tortured rationale for a draft, he came out today with one of those offhanded slurs that show how the left really feels about military service: Video: Rangel says men join the army only if they can’t have “a decent career”.

I want to make it abundantly clear: if there’s anyone who believes that these youngsters want to fight, as the Pentagon and some generals have said, you can just forget about it. No young, bright individual wants to fight just because of a bonus and just because of educational benefits. And most all of them come from communities of very, very high unemployment. If a young fella has an option of having a decent career or joining the army to fight in Iraq, you can bet your life that he would not be in Iraq.