Posted on 04/29/2008 10:07:11 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
There are four months to the Republican Convention. There are four months to get a real Republican to run for President instead of this Trojan Horse Manchurian Candidate.
...is POCKETA, POCKETA, POCKETA!
You know...I usually like your posts.
Not this time...
See tagline. I'll vote for this @%$@#$, but if he thinks any money, sympathy, or effort will be forthcoming, he'd better think again.
“Serving has nothing to do with it.”
Only someone who failed to serve his country could make such a cynical statement.
McCain was my top choice in 2000.
But he was my 3rd choice in 2008.
Given the alternatives, anyone who doesn’t vote for McCain sentences this nation to great peril in the hands of a nominee unfit for office in terms of experience AND views.
The main reason I support McCain now is he promised to finish. The other reasons are his experience as a POW, and Senator. He is progressive and that pisses conservatives off. You have no choice. If your willing to shoot him down now and wait until 2012, the world will be a different place.
I feel a little more optimistic about our nations future - thanks.
I know...it's not pretty.
I'm not a McCain backer, but to put things into context, he had a great ACU rating before 2000.
He, in fact, was a conservative! ;o)
I think this is remarkable. My question is: Will McCain’s “handlers” make sure that the general population of America will be apprised of this information before Election Day, November 4th or will they keep this info as the best kept secret in America?
My country matters enough to me that I am not willing to put one of the anti-Semitic chihuahuas from the donkey party at the helm in a time of war. If I have a choice between FDR and Jimmy Carter, I’m taking FDR every time. If you prefer Carter, then that’s your decision.
Do you know how stupid all this stuff about we who plan to vote for him being unpatriotic sounds? I didn’t freeze my butt off on Air Force flightlines because I’m unpatriotic, and I haven’t been freezing my butt off with a Support the Troops sign on a local streetcorner every Saturday for fvie years because I’m unpatriotic. Your charge makes you sound like a fool.
Yep...sadly.
No, you are not knowledgeable enough of the military to understand that flying F-102s stateside wasn’t without risk. No one can say that President Bush lacked courage, that’s for damn sure.
The key is to take the man’s entire record and look at how he has lived his entire life.
No one is perfect. McCain has views that disappoint us all. So does President Bush. Even Ronald Reagan made a few mistakes.
But when faced with the prospect of a 46 year old President who 4 years ago was a lowly state senator, who has been no where and done nothing in his life worth noting, to harp on McCain’s faults seems idiotic in the extreme.
Duncan Hunter didn’t make it, so my man is McCain.
Yeah, Bud’s the man. If the only thing the Air Force had ever done was produce Bud Day, that would be enough to make me proud!
Thank you for that list!
I don't think so. It's one of the primary reasons that I have opposed McCain since 1982. And I have voted for him in every general election. He knows who I am, his office knows who I am, I'm not afraid to give them Hell. I am also supporting him this year without reservation.
He does have an authoritarian undertone and it can lead him astray. In general, on the important issues, taxes, spending, national security, he is straight line Goldwater. On abortion he is more conservative than Goldwater. Looking forward for the next eight years, there was no other candidate more capable of handling the issues than McCain. I don't like the cocky little SOB but he will make a good President.
Serving or lack of serving has no relevance to the points SoConPubbie posted.
What John McCain did in Hanoi forty years ago is not relevant to today.
The John McCain of 2008 with his record of disloyalty and opposition to Conservative and Republican positions is the man that matters today.
Look how many Freepers comment that they have to hold their nose to vote for this guy. No lack of Stockholm Syndrome here.
No one is lessening what McCain suffered in Hanoi. But to say that makes him the wunderkund to President is wrong on two counts:
1) He effectively shut down the POW/MIA investigations. We knew that we left behind almost 600 POWs in 1973. What happened to them. McCain and Kerry(there’s a real pairing)ended an investigation dealing with over 14,000 sighting reports of American POWs in the 20 years after the war ended for us. Bud Day knows about that also.
2) As a former prisoner, he knows that non uniformed combatants are not protected under Geneva. In fact, American POWS have not been afforded protection under Geneva since 1947 in any conflict. So, why he is in such a lather to give Geneva convention protections to non uniformed combatants, move them to the US and give them Constitutional rights?
And if McCain is such a lover of America, why is he hell bent on amnesty, which will ruin this country?
The military service, heroism, et al is all well and good, but McCain has belied all of that with his positions.
You saw with your own eyes how he choose to aim and fire, not at his potential political opponents, but at his own party in North Carolina, last week.
And one’s service record, or lack of same, doesn’t change the facts about McCain.
I believe that to be a stereotype born of the fact that the media likes to heap attention on retired military officers who lean to the Left.
The military is a microcosm of society and military officers in general are much better educated than most. Many have done quite well after service in our free enterprise system.
Did he get a Silver Star? How about a Purple Heart? A DFC? Did your suckup company clerk get tortured until he couldn’t get his arms over his head?
Give me a break.
Well, we know McCain was in harm’s way.
It is true that the Army gave out Bronze stars in Vietnam as end of tour awards unfortunately.
That was much less prevalent in the other services.
Yeah, I know, you always post that.
I guess only a genius can translate that gibberish.
Right now, what I proposed is the only salvation open to the Republican party.
You can believe it or not, your choice, POCKETA.
Time to knock it off. Those of us who serve do so in part so that others will have the freedom to choose.
Besides, if someone thinks McCain’s flaws are justification for having Hillary or Obama as Commander in chief, it’s not because they didn’t serve, it’s because they have cranial rectal inversion.
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