Reply #29: There are two symbols (which is what screws it up).

[ieoeja]

First, it is in John McCain's biography that jangling keys are a PTSD trigger for him because North Vietnamese prison guards used to taunt him by jangling the keys in front of him. Over the past few weeks there have been several threads on DU suggesting protestors appear at his events jangling keys trying to get him to flip out in public. I can not tell you what the tenor of those threads were, since I never even bothered with them.

Then over the weekend someone at DailyKos started campaigning for delegates to jangle keys at the Democratic convention to remind the American public of McCain not knowing how many homes he owns. I am pretty much assuming the person at DailyKos was unaware of the PTSD issue.

Those of us who oppose it do so because the PTSD issue is well documented and pre-dates the home gaffe. There is no chance in hell this will not be seen as taunting McCain over his capture and imprisonment.

Those in favor seem to fall into two camps. First, there are those who do not want us to let the Right frame the issues. Obviously, we all agree with that sentiment. But the anti- argument against that is that there is no fucking way we can stop it from being framed in this fashion. Anyone who believes otherwise must spend their entire lives in an echo chamber where normality never intrudes.

The second pro- camp is perfectly okay with it being framed as above. "I don't want a president who is afraid of my car keys," is one thread out there. They figure we can turn it to our advantage. Should the Democratic delegates actually be ignorant enough to do this at the convention, then we will have no choice but to (1) explain what we really mean and (2) add-on with he 2nd pro- camp's argument:

"The keys were referring to his not knowing how many homes he owns all the while trying to claim that Obama, who was still working from paycheck to paycheck a couple years ago, is the one out of touch with our lives. But as long as you have brought up McCain's PTSD issue, doesn't it bother you a little having a president who can be completely rattled at negotiations by someone tossing their keys onto the table?"


I really don't want to have to explain over and over again that the keys were about the house, not taunting him over his imprisonment.