Posted on 05/14/2008 5:34:20 PM PDT by Dawnsblood
In the New York Times upcoming edition of their Sunday magazine, they take a look at John McCains divergent views of the Iraq War from those of his fellow Vietnam veterans. In The McCain Doctrines, Matt Bai reports that most of these colleagues (with the noted exception of Bob Kerrey) attribute McCains support for Iraq to the fact that he didnt serve on the ground in Vietnam and that his years as a POW somehow sealed him away from the wars lessons:
There is a feeling among some of McCains fellow veterans that his break with them on Iraq can be traced, at least partly, to his markedly different experience in Vietnam. McCains comrades in the Senate will not talk about this publicly. They are wary of seeming to denigrate McCains service, marked by his legendary endurance in a Hanoi prison camp, when in fact they remain, to this day, in awe of it. And yet in private discussions with friends and colleagues, some of them have pointed out that McCain, who was shot down and captured in 1967, spent the worst and most costly years of the war sealed away, both from the rice paddies of Indochina and from the outside world. During those years, 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; he never underwent the conversion that caused Kerry, for one, to toss away some of his war decorations during a protest at the Capitol. Whatever anger McCain felt remained focused on his captors, not on his own superiors back in Washington.
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
The NY Times comes out with another “Load”. We compare McCain to the likes of BHO who’s ground experience was as a Chicago Ward Healer?
Don't feel bad. The NYT has dozens of trained professionals working on it day and night...
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THE Lesson of the Vietnam War =
NEVER ever AGAIN abandon a Free People who are fighting for their own Freedom.
HILLARY RODHAM & WILLIAM CLINTON’s support of Communist North Vietnam’s terrrorist takeover of a then Free South Vietnam =
..”JOURNEY from the FALL”..
http://www.JourneyFromTheFall.com
http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1806248/posts
http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1308949/posts
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What price for the still Free (US) to pay now...
...in a new time of war
...in a new century
...with our own Freedom
...directly at stake
...right here at home..?
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This is cheap and typical NYT yellow journalism. The Times is trying to fill the manipulative roll of Dan Rather in this election cycle. I am an “on the ground” grunt of Viet Nam and I share the same views of Iraq as does McCain. Let's ask the NYT to identify all those who are on their current payroll and served on the ground in Viet Nam, giving some credibility to this story. I would venture ZERO.
The entire world is made up of two types of people, player and scorekeepers. In the case of the NYT, they are scorekeepers who are obsessed with changing the scorecard to fit their desired outcome of the game.
That sounds like a serious stretch to me.
It is. Psychologizing looks easy but amateurs really ought not be trying it at home. Especially geeks like Matt Bai.
The fact is that the distortions characteristic of overriding shame and anxiety are mostly to be seen in the perceptions of the Kerrey Kerry Hagel cabal. They are the ones unable to make realistic appraisals and separate Iraq from VN. A very dangerous failing for those with responsibility for decisionmaking.
If in fact McCain is able to decide about Iraq separately from VN that is an advantage not a deficit. But I wouldn't expect the jerkoffs at the Slimes to understand.
I suspect it was Bai's intention to make people like me see red on this one, and what I'm thinking isn't fit for FR anyway, so let me simply offer this - McCain "served on the ground" for five and a half years, during which time he had a very clear idea of who the enemy was because it was the enemy who was torturing him. Mr. Kerry, who spent 90 days in theater and awarded himself a medal for backshooting a Vietnamese kid, would be ashamed of himself for commenting on this if he were capable of shame. Mr. Bai and the NY Times have managed to reach a new low with this one and I didn't think that was even possible. Seething.
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Former Sen. BOB KERRY invited the President of a still Communist Vietnam to sit and dine with him at his New University in New York City. A President that was on his way to meet President BUSH last fall.
The same BOB KERRY who also took on Reverend gear last year just so he could officiate the wedding of his longtime friend Comedian STEVE MARTIN at STEVE’s Beverly Hills home.
In his new autobiography, ‘Born Standing Up,’ STEVE MARTIN openly explains the roots of his own most Liberal roots.
It’s an interesting read.
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The Times is sealed away from the developments of the last 20 years. Hey, Times, communism has collapsed! Ho Chi Minh was a sucker, and so were the people who fought for him! All the Vietnamese got was a totalitarian government and a whole lot of misery.
Y’hear that McCain almost had an affair with a campaign staffer back in 2000? Yes, it’s another NY Slimes hit piece.
Obama Apologizes to WXYZ Reporter (aka “Sweetie”)
WXYZ | 05/14/08 | WXYZ Report
Posted on 05/14/2008 3:04:33 PM PDT by Kieri
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2016027/posts
(Democrat) Ohio AG (Marc Dann) resigns
amid pressure of impeachment, criminal probe
AP on Yahoo | 5/14/08 | Julie Carr Smyth - ap
Posted on 05/14/2008 2:17:15 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2015999/posts
The Times is despicable, as usual. No one should waste a dime on this miserable enterprise.
Can anyone translate this for me?
It means they lost it and killed innocent civilians. And blamed it on the "confusion of the jungle."
Former P.O.W.: "Why I Cannot Support Senator John McCain for President"
Thank you. I will.
The phrases Morissey highlights are not indicative of the entire article.
It is a 8-pager, and while it has the usual NYT leftist slant, it is not the typical “hit piece” IMO.
It actually gives a pretty thorough recap of John McCain’s evolving foreign policy positions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/magazine/18mccain-t.html
In a war, what is an innocent civilian? And why do you have to lose it to kill them?
Good point — I was thinking of Webb in this context, too. I don’t know how he reconciles views he expressed over the past couple of decades with trying to respect his current Democrat colleagues in the Senate, but the Jim Webb of these articles would be a lot more closely aligned with John McCain than with the Quisling Jon Carry:
http://www.jameswebb.com/articles/variouspubs/strategicreview.htm
http://www.jameswebb.com/articles/variouspubs/amlegionwhywefought.htm
http://www.jameswebb.com/articles/wallstjrnl/mediawar.htm
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