Posted on 07/02/2008 5:34:10 AM PDT by moneyrunner
Let me be clear, John McCain is not my first choice for becoming the next president; he’s not even number 2. And I have often thought that the role of live “war hero” should be reserved for people who were instrumental in winning battles and wars. So in a literal sense what Wesley Clark said is true: "I don't think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president."
"It doesn't take a great deal of effort to get shot down," McCain himself is fond of saying.
But as Kathleen Parker eloquently puts it:
McCain isn't a hero because he was tortured. He's a hero because he declined an offer by his captors to be released, refusing to leave his fellow Americans behind.
It may not take much effort to get shot down, but it must take a considerable act of will to consign oneself to more deprivation and torture. It must take a level of courage unknown to most to place concern for others above one's own interest.
Surely self-sacrifice, courage and loyalty figure somewhere in the calculus for selecting a president.
(Excerpt) Read more at moneyrunner.blogspot.com ...
He is a man, not an image cast on a screen.
He has shown by his own positions and his own willful associations of many years that he is an anti-American militant and an abject marxist. Neither of those could ever qualify him to be referred to as a patriot, I will never lessen the meaning of that word, or subject the absolute selfless service and sacrifice of real patriots by equating the likes of Obama to them.
This topic is so lame. The only ones making the argument that being a POW qualifies you to be President are the democrats. Then they knock the straw man down.
Especially if you are the "Wild Weasel".
No, but it takes a hell of a lot of effort to squeeze yourself into that cockpit and go on sortie after sortie knowing that each one could be your last.
Wesley Clark should be ashamed of himself.
huh?
I question one of the assertions in the article, that it doesn’t take all that much to get shot down in the first place, but the heroism comes from refusing early release by your torturing captors.
Being a pilot flying to drop bombs over dangerous territory, knowing you risk being shot down and joining others in that hellhole of captivity does take plenty of courage and love of country.
I will agree that isn’t automatic qualification to become President, in or of or by itself.
It does go a long way - along with other things about a person - to define their character when it comes to love of country and willingness to lay it all on the line to advance and protect American ideals.
The thing about Clark’s comments is that back when Kerry ran, Clark gave the reason of Kerry’s service and even his dispicable, lying words after he came back from Vietnam for Kerry’s deserving to be elected President.
Clark is a piece of work.
The kind that leaves you speechless and with jaw dropping that such a low creature was actually a four-star general in our military.
The obvious difference between McCain and Obama is that McCain gladly sacrificed himself for his country, while Obama has shown himself perfectly welling to sacrifice his country for himself.
Weasely Clark has DEFINITELY fallen on the sword, and no longer is a credible VP candidate. He has criticized John McCain for not having “command experience”, and not even particularly “heroic”, while at the same time, that charge is one to which Barack Hussein Obama, Jr., the charismatic, messianic Magic Negro, possesses a HUGE vulnerability.
What real “experience” would Obama bring to the Presidency? He wouldn’t be “Jimmy Carter’s second term”, he would be at the bottom end of an unbelievably steep learning curve. Naive and uncertain without the aid of the Teleprompter, unarmed with even basic facts in a serious debate over how the country should be run, he would be like the last few months of Woodrow Wilson’s term as President, where, bound to a bed and unable to communicate in any meaningful manner, Colonel House and Mrs. Wilson essentially took over the Presidency.
Getting shot down wasn’t the effort that was exerted. That was just the good fortune of the North Vietnamese gunner. Surviving for some six years under conditions of imprisonment that would not be tolerated for ten minutes in a US penitentary, or POW camp, for that matter, now THAT calls forth a degree of admiration and sympathy that cannot be assailed.
I was quite clear. You really don’t understand what I said?
It does however, DISQUALIFY one for being POTUS if you are ideologically in line with those who were shooting down brave men like McCain...
In recent years, the political left has sought to redefine patriotism because they know that the electorate reacts negatively to their true belief, which is that patriotism is a terrible vice (and is principally responsible for nationalist ideology), rather than a virtue.
They therefore shun it and twist its meaning because it interferes with their vision of a neo-authoritarian, "post-national" world.
Essentially, the libs want global Shari'a law, minus the "religion" part.
Obama is an empty suit with a lot of sleazy baggage. McCain is stubborn and often wrong, but he is a patriot and strong enough to face up to terror.
Weasley Clark presided over the relentless bombing of the civilian population of Serbia - now there’s a man (along with the one who gave him the marching orders) who should be tried for war crimes. Talk about taking up with the wrong side of everything. Weasley also helped Janet Reno (and her boss) burn out and blow up those evil Branch Davidian children and parents.
I have to agree with Clark that McCain’s war service did not really show leadership. What it did show was courage and patriotism. McCain’s going to Iraq numerous times to solve that problem and promote the surge showed leadership. What was Obama doing during this time?
I have to agree with Clark that McCain’s war service did not really show leadership. What it did show was courage and patriotism. McCain’s going to Iraq numerous times to solve that problem and promote the surge showed leadership. What was Obama doing during this time?
Darn double clicks.
McCain’s military record clearly doesn’t qualify him to be president.
Don’t we all agree that he’s not qualified, just a lot less not qualified than the other guy.
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