Posted on 07/19/2008 9:37:39 AM PDT by vietvet67
"Well, I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president." That was retired Gen. Wesley Clark's condescending assessment of John McCain's military service. Clark's words have great weight because he was speaking as a key political/military advisor to Barack Obama.
If Gen. Clark had been talking about me, his remarks might be true. After all, I rode in a fighter plane and got shot down over North Vietnam. In no way do Clark's words apply to McCain. I know, because I was a firsthand witness to his singular leadership and courage. In the years I spent as a POW in North Vietnam, I saw McCain inspire and lead under trying circumstances that Gen. Clark has not the imagination to understand.
As for the role of a president, I was fortunate enough to serve as a domestic policy advisor to President Ronald Reagan. Seeing him in action, and seeing John McCain in action, I know they are equals in character, ability and political courage.
I met John McCain in a POW camp in Vietnam. He told me his father and grandfather read history every evening. Since our release, I have done the same. From my study of history I know what we need in a leader.
Great leaders have an undefinable quality: Call it charisma. Young Winston Churchill once wrote to his mother, "We are all worms, but I am a glowworm." And so it proved. John McCain, too, is a "glowworm." You cannot help but notice him.
Gen. George C. Marshall, Army chief of staff during World War II, said, "The first thing a leader needs is courage." Churchill had courage. As a cavalry officer in the British army, Churchill left garrison duty to go where the action was. During his army career he was several times under hostile fire and conducted two daring and famous rescues. The second rescue came when he was a war correspondent covering the Boer War in 1899. It led to his capture as a prisoner of war. He escaped and after several adventures reached safety in Portuguese Mozambique. The story made him a world-wide hero and helped get him elected to Parliament.
When he became Prime Minister in World War II, all looked bleak. After the surrender of France there were some who thought that Britain could not carry on alone and should negotiate a peace with Hitler. But Churchill would not quit. He fought on until, as he said, "In God's good time, the new world comes to the rescue of the old."
McCain, like Churchill, has courage. McCain, like Churchill, stood strong when all looked bleak. My friend, Col. Jack Van Loan, was in a cell from which he could see several senior Communist officers, along with an interpreter and men with a stretcher, enter McCain's cell. He knew that John was immobilized by his wounds. He heard them offer McCain early release and heard John answer that he would go home when we all go home.
He heard the voices of the officers rising until they were shouting angrily at McCain and threatening him. This was followed by a stream of obscenities from McCain and the rapid exit of the senior officers. John told them never again to try to get him to accept early release. He was defiant at a time that he was physically helpless, unable even to crawl on his own.
In the spring of 1971, I personally witnessed John McCain's courage. After the attempted rescue of POWs at the camp at Son Tay, in November of 1970, almost all Americans were moved to Hoa Lo prison in Hanoi, the infamous "Hanoi Hilton." The communists felt so threatened by the raid that, for the first time, they concentrated us in large cells, with as many as 60 men to a cell.
One of the first things we did was to institute regular religious services in our cells. On Jan. 1, 1971, we were told that all religious activity was forbidden. This led to a long series of increasingly hostile confrontations that someone has labeled "the Church Riots." I was in a cell next to McCain's. In early March, the four senior men in his cell were removed and for some time we lost contact with them. Then the four senior men in my cell were removed, and we lost contact with them, also. The confrontations rapidly escalated. On the evening of March 18 there was a confrontation that almost descended to guards shooting mutinous POWs. The communists were now afraid of losing control.
My recollection is that John McCain was now the senior man in his cell. In any case, I know that he was deeply involved with what followed. The senior men in our two cells kept us under tight control, but carefully staged demonstrations of our anger over the religious ban and the removal of our cell mates. On March 19, St. Joseph's Day, the day after the dangerous confrontation, I remember the men in McCain's room singing, at the top of their lungs, first "the Battle Hymn of the Republic," then "Onward Christian Soldiers." This was not merely courage, but exquisite leadership to get men to show open defiance when it was clear that there would be retaliation. The only question was in what form and how harsh that retaliation would be. Remember that all of these men had been tortured and knew to what lengths the enemy was willing to go to maintain control.
Courage alone, however, is not sufficient. A great leader also needs greatness of spirit. Again, I turn to Churchill, who never held a grudge and was prepared to be gracious and magnanimous toward a defeated foe. When McCain led church services, he prayed for the enemy who had tortured him. I have observed Ronald Reagan in the White House and I have observed McCain in the Hanoi Hilton. I have seen that McCain, like Churchill, like Reagan, has courage, prudence, and magnanimity. That is why he is qualified to be president, even if he hadn't ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down.
James H. Warner is a retired attorney. He was a policy advisor to President Ronald Reagan from 1985 until 1989. He was a Marine officer in Vietnam and was held as a POW, in North Vietnam, for five and a half years.
His service to his nation is extremely laudable.
His imprisonment in Viet Nam is not enough of a reason for him to be President.
I have heard the same things about John McCain from Paul Galanti.
You are right there, but he is still a far cry better than the alternative.
But one thing you *cannot* reasonably call McCain (assuming you have any sense of honor) is a coward.
I don't like the idea of him as President.
I hate the thought of a socialist traitor/democrat like Ubama even worse.
Wish McCain didn't make it such a tough choice.
I'll probably vote for him all the same. At least the chance of salvaging the Republic will be greater.
Comparing McCain to Reagan and Churchill is a bit over the top, IMO...
Bill Clinton Warns Nation of Danger of Electing a Former POW President
Former President Bill Clinton (D) warned voters against electing former prisoner-of-war Senator McCain president. “POWs are not like us,” Clinton observed. “They’ve been held captive in barbaric conditions, tortured and humiliated by this country’s enemies. How can they ever be objective enough to deal with our country’s enemies as president?”
Clinton argued that his evasion of military service saved him “from building up the prejudices against and hatreds for different cultures and political systems that could have compromised my ability to govern effectively. My judgment was untainted by any suffering and privation that could have biased my views. The same can’t be said for Senator McCain.”
Senator McCain called Clinton’s comments “a stunning revelation of the liberal mindset and as clear a distinction as we could want for what lies ahead if certain choices are made by voters in November.”
read more...
http://www.azconservative.org/Semmens1.htm
He is Senator for decades, run a military training program, served his nation heroically and endured 5+ years of Commie captivity. Most of his political stances are fine with me. I say he is fully qualified.
Perhaps that's true.But when comparing the record of McCain while he wore the uniform of a Navy officer to Osama Obama's brilliant military career you realize that McCain is better qualified to be Commander-In-Chief.
Churchill in his long political career was in charge of some major blunders and disasters and he was often enough the “maverick”. McCain is close to Churchill, and he won’t bow down to Ahmadinejad as Churchil did not bow down to Hitler.
Fighter plane?
BTTT for McCain.
So sorry to hear that you will be voting for the other alternative — and giving us Obama.
He is a good man, that is for certain.
But he is not a good Republican. He is a liberal.
And McCain-Feingold is the biggest turd washington crapped out in a long long time.
That legislation alone tells us everything we need to know about what he thinks washington should be able to do (to us)
This may be hard for you to understand. Are you saying you would rather have Obama, or just making a silly remark? No one, least himself, is saying that his imprisonment would make him a good CIC. It is part of his character.
His imprisonment in Viet Nam is not enough of a reason for him to be President.
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Who he is running against is. Were not picking the best person for President (he or she’s not running). We’re picking the best candidate.
Throughout history, service in the Armed Forces of our Nation has prepared men for the high positions of leadership in our country. I have seen President Dwight Eisenhower, President Jack Kennedy, and John McCain. I hope to see the title of President before his name. He does exhibit those qualities needed to lead this country in times of complex, critical and stressful international situations. His domestic experience as Senator from Arizona makes him the most qualified man in the United Statess to keep America the Home of the Free and Home of the Brave.
May God Bless Senator John McCain.
Yeah McCain was brave, but Barak Hussein was an Al Sharpton type rabble rouser in southern Chicago. lol
Think he’s just rubbing Clark’s nose in his own statement..
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