Getting to Know John McCain

WSJ ^ | April 30th, 2008 | KARL ROVE

[The_Republican]

It came to me while I was having dinner with Doris Day. No, not that Doris Day. The Doris Day who is married to Col. Bud Day, Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, fighter pilot, Vietnam POW and roommate of John McCain at the Hanoi Hilton.

As we ate near the Days' home in Florida recently, I heard things about Sen. McCain that were deeply moving and politically troubling. Moving because they told me things about him the American people need to know. And troubling because it is clear that Mr. McCain is one of the most private individuals to run for president in history.

When it comes to choosing a president, the American people want to know more about a candidate than policy positions. They want to know about character, the values ingrained in his heart. For Mr. McCain, that means they will want to know more about him personally than he has been willing to reveal.

Mr. Day relayed to me one of the stories Americans should hear. It involves what happened to him after escaping from a North Vietnamese prison during the war. When he was recaptured, a Vietnamese captor broke his arm and said, "I told you I would make you a cripple."

The break was designed to shatter Mr. Day's will. He had survived in prison on the hope that one day he would return to the United States and be able to fly again. To kill that hope, the Vietnamese left part of a bone sticking out of his arm, and put him in a misshapen cast. This was done so that the arm would heal at "a goofy angle," as Mr. Day explained. Had it done so, he never would have flown again.

[T. Buzzard Trueblood]

One night, a Vietnamese guard loosened his bonds, returning at the end of his watch to tighten them again so no one would notice. Shortly after, on Christmas Day, the same guard stood beside Mr. McCain in the prison yard and drew a cross in the sand before erasing it. Mr. McCain later said that when he returned to Vietnam for the first time after the war, the only person he really wanted to meet was that guard.

Goosebumps.

[BARLF]

Thanks for the post TR, a very moving report.

[doc1019]

Getting to know McCain is irrelevant. He is the republican offering to the general public, we have no other choice as conservatives. He is a liberal in sheep’s clothing.. Our other choices are even worse. Just because he suffered, suffered beyond anything most of us could survive, doesn’t make him the best choice for POTUS, just our only choice.

I know I will get hammered for this post; however, the future of the US is at stake, and we have no choices!

[Ratblaster]

That is such a great story, It almost makes me forget about the Keating 5, and the Gang of 14, and “it's not amnesty,” and every shiv in the back, from the selfish whore Sen. John McCain. Any nobility he may have had in his soul, he sold to the highest bidder years ago. He's as evil as Hillary but with a smaller pair.

[muir_redwoods]

I’m going to vote for him, I’m just not going to enjoy it.

[Recovering_Democrat]

Interesting stories...certainly gives us a glimpse into the John McCain of 35 years ago.

[Dilbert56]

We have choices: McCain, the Democrat candidate (somehow, it will be Hillary), not voting, or voting for a fringe candidate.

McCain and Hillary are close on a lot of issues.

• I don't think Hillary would yank the troops from Iraq; she's just saying that to get elected. She sees the trends and by the time she's done "studying" the situation, the force levels will be coming down anyway. She'll take credit for the remarkable turnaround our military achieved.
• McCain is more likely to hold the line on taxes.
• McCain would be substantially more pro-life. He'd piss away federal dollars on embyonic stem cell research though.
• McCain would appoint "centrist" judges. The Senate will have fewer than 60 Republicans so it's doubtful any conservative judge would get through. President Bush did a good job of finding SCOTUS judges who could get confirmed. McCain would probably accomodate Congress more. Hillary would appoint Ruth Buzzy Ginsberg type ideologues.
• McCain would support the military. Hillary would be thinking (feeling): "Those are our planes now", as she did in 1992.
• Don't know if McCain ever really "got" just how out of touch he was with the public on borders. He at least noticed the outcry. The President never did. Can't imagine Hillary being any better than McCain on that though.

So conservatives can moan that the Republicans haven't nominated one of us (who would lose), but rather a "maverick", who does appeal to some Democrats and independents.

This article tells us McCain has, or at least had, a lot of integrity, honor and faith. We know Hillary has none of the above.

For me, that's a no brainer in the voting booth.