Should I Take Offense at This?

On the show This Week with George Stephanopoulos - John Kerry made the following statement:

KERRY: What John McCain has proven with this choice — this is very important, George. John McCain wanted to choose Tom Ridge. He wanted to choose Joe Lieberman. He wanted to choose another candidate, but you know what? Rush Limbaugh and the right wing vetoed it.

And John McCain was forced to come back and pick a sort of Cheney-esque social conservative who’s going to satisfy the base.

What John McCain has proven with this choice is that John McCain is the prisoner of the right wing, not a maverick.

Emphasis added. I'm reminded of Tim Russert telling Bob Kerry regarding a certain issue that he didn't have a leg to stand on. Russert immediately realized his mistake and apologized. Is calling John McCain a prisoner of anything on a similar level of mistake? Or am I just being overly sensitive?

As an aside - given what we now know about John Edwards - should John Kerry really be criticizing anyone else's choice for VP?

HT - Liberal Values