NYT: McCain “sealed away” from the lessons of Vietnam

Hot Air ^ | 5/14/08 | Ed Morrissey

[forYourChildrenVote4Bush]

By writer, i meant the NYT writer and not the writer of this...

[the_Watchman]

Think of this article as a trial balloon by the Dems to see what derogatory slander will have the most effect. Look for more trial balloons in upcoming editions of the NYT and the Washington Post!

[Ilya Mourometz]

Actually, I’d like to see some evidence that Webb, for one, even agrees with the other two on what the “lessons” were. I think Webb probably would have agreed with McCain (and Colin Powell) that the cause of the Vietnam debacle in the end was the insistence of Washington to fight with one hand tied behind its back. The big problem with the left isn’t that they compare Iraq to Vietnam, per se (comparisons between wars are done for lots of valid reasons). Just my guess.

Anyway, the problem is that they aren’t comparing Iraq to Vietnam at all—they’re comparing an inaccurate portrayal of Iraq to a an even more inaccurate portrayal of the Vietnam War.

All that said, the article itself exposing the NYT hitpiece is well done and should be widely distributed. I agree that this is the most obtuse angle the NYT has come up with yet: that A POW doesn’t understand the consequences of fighting a war. It’s quite possibly the most idiotic thing the NYT has ever published, and that’s saying a lot. Really; it’s not a far stretch to say that McCain can save all his ad money and let the left and the NYT and driveby MSM do their hits. Every time they do this, McCain rises in the polls.

[stockstrader]

So is the NYT trying to say that Obama's 'war experience' is much more meaningful and profound than McCain's?

Wow. You can't make this stuff up.

[appleharvey]

I'm sorry if you misconstrued my intentions. I was talking about the Times, not Sen. McCain.

[mass55th]

I wonder if Kerry, Webb or Hagel would have been willing to exchange a year on the ground with 5 1/2 years as a POW in the Hanoi Hilton. In Kerry’s case, let’s bring that year down to 3 lousy months.

[weegee]

Leftist politicians and columnists have already started to circulate the talking point that his POW experience has left him mentally unstable.

But we aren’t supposed to point out that Barack Obama has serious psychological issues on race and fatherhood based on his own childhood experiences growing up in a variety of homes.

[alarm rider]

No McCain fan here, but I call BS on this crap.

[JimSEA]

There is a feeling among some of McCain’s fellow veterans that his break with them on Iraq can be traced, at least partly, to his markedly different experience in Vietnam. McCain’s comrades in the Senate will not talk about this publicly.

Sheer horse sh!t. John Kerry is who they are talking about (along with Murtha and others). McCain saw infinitely more than these dirtbags. I am constantly surprised at what these POS com up with. I am so mad I can't form a coherent rebuttal as I want to go out and "converse" with these POS as well at the scumbag writer.

[2ndDivisionVet]

These so-called “journalists” need to be called on this disrespectful behavior: Where were they during Vietnam, the Cold War, Desert Storm, WoT, etc...?? I think we know the answer, don’t we? Also, has anyone ever found out if Barack Hussein Obama registered for Selective Service as required by law on or about his 18th birthday? That would speak volumes about his “patriotism” and love of country!
http://www.sss.gov/PDFs/Who%20Must%20Register%20Chart%20Fit%20page10_07.pdf

[muawiyah]

WEbb, Kerry and Hagel are freaks. For one thing Webb got into office with a direct appeal to antisemitism and the residual elements of the Ku Kux Klan in Virginia (who are more numerous than I'd expected so I am going to carry more than 1 loaded assault rifle with me when I go Southwest from here in the future.)

Kerry was over there re-enacting stuff and filming it ~ totally strange dude, then he turned coat and betrayed Viet Nam vets.

Herr Hegel, interestingly enough, votes parallel to Herr Lugar of Indiana, and some other Herr so-and-sos with German surnames in the Senate. (Not all the guys with such surnames do though, but those two are definitely body tatoo to body tatoo Fur Shur).

They vote German national interests and actually seem disturbed that we used our European units for use in Iraq.

I would imagine the NYT likes Hagel since they think he's as antisemitic as Webb.

[johniegrad]

In The McCain Doctrines, Matt Bai reports that most of these colleagues (with the noted exception of Bob Kerrey) attribute McCain’s support for Iraq to the fact that he didn’t serve on the ground in Vietnam — and that his years as a POW somehow “sealed” him away from the war’s lessons:

If I were "Matt Bai", I would have eyes in the back of my head. This sort of idiocy is the thing that might make a disgruntled vet think about taking him out. Regardless of whether you support McCain or not, this is slime politics at its very worst even from the likes of the New York Slimes. Matt, keep your eyes open.

[muawiyah]

If they’d just restart the war for a couple of weeks and allow folks to fire on the domestic enemies, I think it’d be OK actually.

[mathurine]

Count me as one Vietnam veteran who has no use for the views of Kerry, Webb or Hagel. The United States Congress sold out the Vietnamese and those of us who served in that war, and they’ll sell out on Irag and those who served in that one is they don’t have a President goading them to do the right thing.

[johniegrad]

Of course, “Matt Bai” never served.

[muawiyah]

Everybody gets the candidate nobody wants. What a deal.

They're not nuts; we are!

[billmor]

Sealed away ?...time to debunk some more NY Slimes BS....

Ask McCain how he felt about never yielding to his Communist captors in 7 years; ask what it felt like with two broken arms, a busted shoulder and a bayonet wound in the gut if he ever felt the ‘pain’ of war with no humane treatment whatsoever for over a month; ask him if he felt the ground shake as our B-52’s dropped tons of bombs on North Vietnam- if he ever felt the terror the North Vietnamese felt; ask why his face is misshapen because he was beaten by his captors..Ask him if he ever thought each day would be his last day on earth, if he ever felt sheer terror every single day, especially when confined in solitary..you know he did !

He felt the pain of war beyond what most soldiers in Vietnam ever felt...He suffered from real wounds, not from some self-inflicted wounds, and he did it in defense of democracy-so the South Vietnamese could have some years of freedom until the anti-war cowards in this country put an end to their hopes for freedom...

As for the bum who wrote this piece—Shame on him and on the NY Times for showing such a lack of sensitivity and decency for a man who helped defend their journalist’s freedoms..

[okie01]

McCain did not share the disillusioning and morally jarring experiences of soldiers like Kerry, Webb and Hagel, who found themselves unable to recognize their enemy in the confusion of the jungle... Kerry was in Viet Nam?

Kerry was "on the ground" in Viet Nam?

In a boat? For three months?

Any comparison of Kerry's and McCain's experience in Viet Nam is absurd on its face.

One of them served their country. The other served himself. And I'm not even a McCain fan...

[niteowl77]

I can't abide the Gang of Fourteen's leader, and don't give him a pass on much of anything. Be that as it may, I suggest that John McCain's hair clippings have a better grasp of "Vietnam's lessons" than does the entire NYT staff.

I still don't think there is anyone/anything that can p me off enough to vote for Johnny, but the contest is apparently just getting warmed up.

Mr. niteowl77

[jwalsh07]

The lesson of Vietnam is that a democrat Congress cut off all funding in Southeast Asia resulting in the massacre of millions.

Stay tuned, it's about to happen again.