McCain’s POW Defense: Devaluing Our Service and His Own

[ProSense]

McCain’s POW Defense: Devaluing Our Service and His Own

by Lt Gen Robert G Gard
Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 05:56:54 PM PDT

The McCain campaign has spent weeks trying to portray Obama as out of touch with the concerns of ordinary Americans. Today, an interviewer at Politico.com asked McCain how many homes he and his wife owned, to which he responded that he was not sure but would get someone from his staff to answer.

Contrary to what many will tell you, this does not make McCain out of touch with ordinary Americans, as many families today are in trouble with their banks and trying to figure out how many homes they have - zero or one.

Still, it's the campaign's defense we find deeply troubling:

"This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years -- in prison."

We obviously honor and respect McCain's service and the five-and-a-half years of horror that he went through at the hands of the North Vietnamese; but it's not an excuse for everything. He has already used it to explain away his infidelities in his first marriage. He's used it to defend his healthcare plan. He just the other day used it to deflect accusations of having skirted the rules of the Saddleback forum.

It's time for the Senator to stop cheapening the war experiences of thousands of vets and his fellow POWs, and his own as well, by stretching the boundaries of logic to make his POW status a wild-card rebuttal to all accusations or an answer to all difficult questions.

We are veterans who like John McCain, who served honorably, but and we continue to serve our country honorably by not using our military experiences as unjustifiable necessary shields or stepping stones. John McCain has faced and will continue to face many difficult questions that he does not have an answer for, and problems to which that he will provides no solutions to, in the 70 days between now and the election. When he uses his status as a veteran to deflect legitimate questions and concerns, it devalues not just his service to our country but ours as well.

So today, we ask not as Veterans for Obama, but as Veterans of America that Sen. McCain respect the service of his fellow POWs and combat veterans, and stop cheapening their service by hiding behind his own.

[ProSense]

1. Pundits And Writers Start Hitting McCain For Non-Stop P.O.W. References

Pundits And Writers Start Hitting McCain For Non-Stop P.O.W. References

By Greg Sargent - August 22, 2008, 10:55AM

As all you regulars know, the McCain camp's constant evocation of his P.O.W. past as an all-purpose shield against any and all criticism is a singular obsession of this blog.

So it's gratifying to see that pundits and writers at the news orgs are really starting to turn the screws on McCain over this.

Newsweek's Howard Fineman, for instance, says that the McCain camp is in danger of "trivializing" McCain's sacrifice.

"I think they are going to it way too many times," Fineman told MSNBC, adding that "you can't help but have admiration and respect for the guy" but that "it's become a crutch in the campaign."

"I think he is in danger of trivializing it," Fineman continued. "By the time they get to the convention in St. Paul, there might not be much of it left to use."

Ouch. Time magazine's Ana Marie Cox was even harsher, writing that the constant P.O.W.-past spewing is "weird" and "bordering on irrational."

more

[TexasObserver]

2. But a bear ate his parents!!

A few years back, SNL had a skit in which Horatio Saenz was at a party, and every few minutes, he would suddenly do something outrageous, like throw furniture. His friend would quickly explain to everyone "a bear ate his parents!!"

After a few incidents, someone asked "when did this happen?"

The friend replied "about twenty years ago."



That skit sums up the practice of using events from years earlier as a rationale for being an asshole today.

[bushisanidiot]

3. McNutCase is pissing off vets.. BIG TIME!

he is starting to lose their support by blaming mistakes on his POW background and and the same time trying to use it for votes.

I don't blame them.

RELEASE YOUR MILITARY RECORDS TO THE PUBLIC, MR. MCCAIN!!!!!

WHAT ARE YOU HIDING???!?!?!?!!?!