John McCain: Playground Bully As Sissy

Nice to see a sensible (and overdue) perspective on this particular matter. The observation is a refreshing one after all the mileage being extracted from McCain's military past. While valid in their own right, his experiences give him no more or less special qualification to be an effective president than tens of thousands of other vets - nor do they necessarily make him any more qualified than a candidate who hasn't served in the military.

I've thought that for a while now but since I'm not a vet never was quite comfortable going there. I was just young enough to avoid Viet Nam. But my cousin and one of my best friends (That I met in '76.) were there. Interestingly enough they were both named John which makes trying to write about them both interesting so I'll just have to refer to them as my cousin and my friend. My friend was a Marine, wounded twice and from everything he said I gained the impression that he had a fairly "typical" deployment to Vietnam. My cousin was horribly wounded, though. He was caught by a land mine that shattered both legs and an arm. He was told he wouldn't walk again but beat the odds heroically, not only regaining the ability to walk but going to work in construction with a weekend job/hobby as a rodeo clown. That having been said the family has always wondered about the brain cancer that eventually took his life given Agent Orange and other incidents from Vietnam.

These men both served their country as well as John McCain in my opinion but even if they had entered politics that service 4 decades ago wouldn't count as some kind of qualification for leading our country through the times we find ourselves in now.

By acquiescing to the Military Commissions Act, McCain has established that what happened to him while he was a POW wasn't torture. Still looking for some evidence as how being a prisoner qualifies one for a leadership role.

Thank you for sharing, Jim.

Of the 10 Vietnam veterans in my tontine (last man's club), only three are still alive, the others succumbing to cancers probably triggered by their exposure to Agents Orange and Blue, one to alcoholism traceable to his PTSD, another . . . well, you get the idea.

John McCain was by most accounts a lousy pilot and skated through a Navy career because of his famous father (a wonderful man who was my commanding officer way up the chain of command) and grandfather. He suffered unspeakable horrors at the hands of the North Vietnamese, but to use his POW status as a skirt to hide behind dishonors other POWs and my dear late, lamented friends.

Despite his self-proclaimed cred as a commander in chief in waiting, he is widely reviled by veterans because they see him for what he is -- a big, fat phony who has only his best interests and not theirs in mind.

I think character is the most important quality to look for in a president, I don't fault the McCain campaign for emphasizing the experience which best reveals the strength of character of their candidate. Asking that they do otherwise would be like asking Obama not to wear a suit because he looks too handsome in it. Attacking McCain on this is pretty silly.

It's not so much what his experience as a POW says about certain aspects of his personality, Leonidas, but that aides and supporters have brought it up in areas that have nothing to do with it when their candidate has been criticized.

As someone whose served, albeit not Vietnam (Gulf War 1) I've noticed that there are typically two types of veterans; those who saw their service as a duty to their country which they were proud to do and all they ask in return is for themselves and their fellow veterans to be treated fairly and those who trade upon their veteran status for their own personal gain.

Guess which category John McCain falls into.



P.S.

You can tell by his comments that Leonidas has never served and is concern trolling for McCain.