Posted on 07/18/2015 1:40:40 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Dr. Ben Carson was asked about Donald Trump‘s comments today and ended up saying something odd about John McCain.
In case you still haven’t heard, Trump said today, of McCain’s status as a war hero, “He’s a war hero ’cause he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured.”
Pretty much all of Trump’s GOP rivals came out to scold him over those comments. As of yet, Carson hasn’t done that, but as Politico reported, this is what happened when he was asked:
Neurosurgeon Ben Carson, whose appearance followed Trump’s at the summit, declined to comment on Trump’s remarks after leaving the stage. He also would not say when asked whether or not McCain was a war hero. “It depends on your definition of a war hero,” he said.
And that wasn’t all:
In case any of you are actually wondering whether McCain should be considered a war hero, he wrote a firsthand accounting of what he underwent.
Ted Cruz, meanwhile, praised McCain but also refused to say anything negative about Trump.
The War Secrets Sen. John McCain Hides
Former POW Fights Public Access to POW/MIA Files - Sydney SchanbergHurdles and limitations
Finally, in addition to these hurdles and limitations, the McCain act does not specifically order the declassification of the information. Further, it provides the Defense Department with other justifications for withholding documents. One such clause says that if the information “may compromise the safety of any United States personnel … who remain not accounted for but who may still be alive in captivity, then the Secretary [of Defense] may withhold that record or other information from the disclosure otherwise required by this section.”
Boiled down, the preceding paragraph means that the Defense Department is not obligated to tell the public about prisoners believed alive in captivity and what efforts are being made to rescue them. It only has to notify the White House and the intelligence committees in the Senate and House. The committees are forbidden under law from releasing such information.
McCain goes further to hurt future POWs...
Another bill gutted in 1996And then there is the Missing Service Personnel Act, which McCain succeeded in gutting in 1996. A year before, the act had been strengthened, with bipartisan support, to compel the Pentagon to deploy more resources with greater speed to locate and rescue missing men. The measure imposed strict reporting requirements.
McCain amended the heart out of the statute. For example, the 1995 version required a unit commander to report to his theater commander within two days that a person was missing and describe what rescue and recovery efforts were underway. The McCain amendments allowed 10 days to pass before a report had to be made.
Vietnam Veterans Against McCain YouTube video 7:45
I have heard he was responsible for the Forrestal fire by executing a “wet “start as a prank and cooked off another planes ordinance, which in turn set off a chain of events that resulted in many deaths. All the info is anecdotal by military personnel who didn’t want to be ID’ed. The fact that McCain was immediately transfered to the Oriskany also makes one wonder.
http://rockcreekfreepress.tumblr.com/post/35321150/navy-releases-mccains-records
That actually makes my point that POWs from WWII were not recognized as heroes. He's being recognized 70 years after his POW experience, in a different era with different sensibilities.
We learned about Audie Murphy, Jimmy Doolittle, Paul Tibbets and a long list of famous generals and admirals during the first decade or so after the WWII ended.
Anyone serving in the military deserve respect, those injure, tortured, etc., definitely deserve respect. Any question of this legitimacy, especially for political purposes is wrong. That said, basing your career on and promoting yourself because of this is, well can be, over the top, unnecessary, and just wrong. Whether McCain has or not is open to discussion. Carson and Trump are wrong in questioning or diminishing McCain’s service. How to challenge him politically when he wraps himself in the flag is a challenge so I give pass to everyone on this topic.
Words mean things. I am a disabled vet. Vietnam era. I did my duty as did many others. I do not consider myself a hero by the proper definitions below. While every vet should be appreciated for their service you have to draw the line somewhere on what is truly “heroic” or the word loses meaning.
1.
a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.
2.
a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal:
He was a local hero when he saved the drowning child.
3.
the principal male character in a story, play, film, etc.
4.
Classical Mythology.
a being of godlike prowess and beneficence who often came to be honored as a divinity.
(in the Homeric period) a warrior-chieftain of special strength, courage, or ability.
(in later antiquity) an immortal being; demigod.
5.
hero sandwich.
6.
the bread or roll used in making a hero sandwich.
Really? “...an outstandingly brave and effective fighter pilot.” LOL
You obviously don’t know McCain’s true history and true “record”. You do know who his daddy was, don’t you????? He would have gone nowhere with out his daddy pulling strings, he was so incompetent and destroyed I don’t know how many aircraft while “practicing” as well as being at the very bottom of his graduating class. He was lazy and had a nasty, arrogant attitude.
Being a POW does deserve our sympathy and admiration for survival skills and perseverance and sacrifice, but the other attributes do not apply to someone like McCain-—like they would to a Louis Zamperini who did not lust for power or use his POW status for control over others and to actually help destroy Free Market Capitalism and our Health system, etc. that reduces vets to slaves of the state to make himself and his elite buddies filthy wealthy.
As a person who did all he could to avoid serving at least Clinton didn't bad-mouth those that did. Trump could learn from that example at least.
McCain’s military record- crashing 5 American planes (a reverse ace), starting the fire on the Forrestal (which killed dozens of Sailors), and getting the crap kicked out of him by democrats in Hanoi.
Read it again. It’s the definition.
Carson says war hero is a relative thing.
I’m just supplying the definition.
If you are going to use your hero status to destroy the country which you served, I don’t think you should remain on the list of heroes.
McCain has been going out of his way to destroy American sovereignty and the constitution since he used his hero status to gain a seat in the Senate.
He deserves every bit of ridicule he gets.
I’ve met a few heroes in my time. I cannot think of a single one who wore a sign around his neck that stated, “look at me, I’m a HERO.”
On the contrary, I cannot think of a single one who didn’t have a very humble attitude: “I was just doing my job” or “I had to do what I had to do...anybody else would’ve done the same thing.”
Contrast that attitude with the attitude of most politicians with the “war hero” reputation. Including McLame.
When McCain was captured he could have been released based on the military status of his father... He chose to be treated like any other American POW. That’s heroic...
That said, McCain stated the fight with Trump... and McCain hasn’t done diddly squat on stopping illegals. He needs to duke this one out with Trump mano e mano...
If I understand the statements correctly, neither are questioning/diminishing his ‘service’. They are however questioning(diminishing?) his status as ‘hero’....
Roger Dodger, You Old Codger, I’m a Vietnam Veteran too!
Thank you for your service, Marine. Welcome Home! 8^)
e.g. "That Audie Murphy ... now that was some Spartan!"
I agree. The man served his country as a Navy fighter pilot. The only thing Trumps knows about jets is flying in the luxurious private ones he owns and I like Trump and don’t like McCain. Not to belabor the point but the man did serve and you can’t take that away from him.
Trumps point being that if McCain had not been shot down and captured, there would be no war heroism beyond what every other pilot and combat veteran earned
Especially those who did not crash one plane, lose another to undetermined causes and damage another while hot rodding over a Spanish village and taking their electrical wires home on his airframe
( and no I am not referring to the Forrestal disaster from which McCain escaped as an apparent bystander who was not at fault)
Yeah
Bruce Jenner is a hero for being a psychological sicko
Trump made a dumb, dumb mistake today.
But he did highlight the fact that the GOP really has been badly served by McCain the politician. The country has kept McCain the politician going for decades now basically on his war hero status.
The only reason he got into flight school was because of his daddy. He got shot down because he got drunk the night before and flew hungover.
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True first statement. Second statement, I don’t know.
I think McLame was just totally inept. Afterall, he damaged or destroyed five Navy jet aircraft.
I believe many of his severe injuries resulted from the locals who beat the crap out of him after he landed in their rice paddy, and before the NVA had him in custody.
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