FINAL UPDATE:
As Trump continues to brazenly refuse to apologize for – or even address — the disgraceful remarks made by one of his staff members about Senator John McCain(below), one prominent Republican has had the guts to “blast” White House officials for “refusing to condemn a vile remark made about the mortality of Sen. John McCain…”
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) according to The Washington Post:
It’s [a] pretty disgusting thing to say, if it was a joke, it was a terrible joke…I just wish somebody from the White House would tell the country that was inappropriate, that’s not who we are in the Trump administration.
Trump is the “Trump Administration,” his staff is the “Trump Administration,” Kelly Sadler is the “Trump Administration,” her disgraceful words are the Trump Administration’s disgraceful words – until and unless Trump himself has the decency and the backbone to apologize to the nation, more important, to apologize to the ailing Senator.
Some will say, “fat chance.” Judging from the sorry history of this president, “Never apologize – Never admit you are wrong,” one must agree.
However, this nation would love, just for once, to be “pleasantly surprised.”
I would also be pleasantly surprised if a prominent Republican, such as Lindsey Graham would, for once, not mince words and call a spade a spade, rather than Graham’s response to CBS’s Margaret Brennan’s question whether Trump should apologize:
I’ll leave that up to him, but if something happened like that in my office — somebody in my office said such a thing about somebody, I would apologize on behalf of the office…
Some believe the media is hyping this up too much.
Not part of the media, but “guilty as charged” and proudly so, I promise not to continue to hype up this issue in this post.
UPDATE:
As if it can’t get any worse in the Trump White House, Special assistant Kelly Sadler on Thursday mocked Sen. John McCain’s brain cancer condition during a White House meeting in reference to Gina Haspel’s nomination for CIA director: “It doesn’t matter, he’s dying anyway,” Sadler callously said.
No apology yet from the Exemplar ‘Exampler’ In Chief.
Of course, John McCain’s family is most distressed by these vile attacks on the ailing Senator.
The Senator’s wife, Cindy McCain, tweeted to Sadler:
Cindy McCain
?@cindymccain
@kellysadler45 May I remind you my husband has a family, 7 children and 5 grandchildren.
6:43 PM – May 10, 2018
In reaction to General McInerney’s offensive and false statements about her husband (below), Cindy McCain tweeted to Fox Business Charles Payne:
Cindy McCain
?@cindymccain
@FoxBusiness @cvpayne Please choose your guest more wisely.
2:08 PM – May 10, 2018
To which Payne replied, “Yes, I will and hope you accept my apology.”
It is very appropriate to quote here one of our esteemed readers’ comments on this shameful episode:
Welcome to Trump America – no insult or derogatory comment is out of bounds when talking about a member of the other political team. Human decency is now considered a disease
Original Post:
As a retired U.S. Air Force officer, it is very difficult and painful for me to criticize a fellow officer, especially someone who has held the very high active duty rank of Lieutenant General; a leader who has held very high and responsible positions during his service, including Assistant Vice Chief of Staff, U.S Air Force, just prior to retirement; a highly decorated soldier who served meritoriously during the Vietnam War and in other theaters of conflict.
It is therefore, with sadness and disappointment that I learned of retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney’s highly derogatory swipes and false accusations against another great soldier, retired U.S.Navy Captain, former Prisoner of War, Senator of these United States and a man who is battling what may be terminal brain cancer — Senator John McCain.
During a Thursday morning appearance on the Fox Business Network, McInerney smeared Senator McCain because of the Senator’s opposition to torture and the Senator’s opposition to Gina Haspel’s nomination to lead the Central Intelligence Agency.
According to The Daily Beast, McInerney questioned McCain’s character and heroism alluding to the torture McCain endured for five years in North Vietnam and alleging, “The fact is, is John McCain—it worked on John. That’s why they call him ‘Songbird John.’”
The ugly “Songbird John” refers to a disgraceful and false allegation made in 2008 suggesting that McCain collaborated with the enemy as a result of the torture and repeated beatings he suffered while in captivity.
Contrary to McInerney’s claim, however, there is no evidence McCain ever gave up accurate information while being tortured in North Vietnam. In fact, the senator wrote in one of his books, “Pressed for more useful information, I gave the names of the Green Bay Packers’ offensive line, and said they were members of my squadron.”
McInerney continued, during the Fox program, “The fact is those methods can work, and they are effective, as former Vice President Cheney said…And if we have to use them to save a million American lives, we will do whatever we have to.”
McInerney who makes frequent appearances on Fox News has a history of making “outlandish” claims such as birther conspiracy theories about President Obama, “often suggesting he was secretly a radical Muslim;” claiming that the missing passenger jet MH370 “was actually hijacked by terrorists and flown to Pakistan to be used for jihadist activities;” and, in late 2017, “while appearing on Fox News star Sean Hannity’s radio show, McInerney dismissed host concerns about how ‘millions could potentially die’ in a U.S. war with North Korea [with] ‘Yeah, but they’ll be mostly North Koreans.’”
A few hours after McInerney made his shameful remarks, the Varney & Co. host, Charles Payne, issued the following statement apologizing to the McCain family:
This morning on a show I was hosting, a guest made a very false and derogatory remark about Senator John McCain. At the time, I had the control room in my ear telling me to wrap the segment and did not hear the comment. I regret I did not catch this remark, as it should have been challenged. As a proud military veteran and son of a Vietnam Vet these words neither reflect my or the network’s feelings about Senator McCain, or his remarkable service and sacrifice to this country.
Good for you, Mr. Payne. Shame on you, General McInerney.
