Posted on 07/20/2015 5:13:39 PM PDT by familyop
A group representing retired military officers called Monday for Donald Trump to apologize to Sen. John McCain and all veterans for his disparaging remarks about the Arizona Republican's military service during the Vietnam War.
"We should acknowledge the facts: John McCain cares deeply about our men and women in uniform, and through his actions, he has made a real difference for our troops. Mr. Trump owes Senator McCain and all veterans an apology," said Retired Navy Vice Adm. Norb Ryan, president and CEO of Military Officers Association of America.
At a Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, the real estate mogul and 2016 presidential candidate said in regards to McCain, "He's not a war hero...He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured."
His remarks, in response to McCain saying Trump had fired up the anti-immigration "crazies" at a recent Phoenix rally, prompted a strong rebuke from Republicans and veterans group, who rallied to McCain's defense.
Trump addressed his remarks in a USA Today op-ed on Sunday, saying that the media had distorted his words and that McCain had "abandoned" veterans.
The group defended McCain's record on helping veterans.
“Senator McCain will not say it, but let me state the obvious: John McCain is a military hero, and most importantly, he has always been a champion for the all-volunteer-force and our nation’s veterans," Ryan said.
"We can disagree with some of Senator McCain’s positions at times, but we can never say he has abandoned the troops," he said.
He noted that under McCain, the Armed Services Committee had a full debate and vote on the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act — which funds the Pentagon and the military — for the first time in three years.
"John McCain has proven his sincerity and passion for the troops. Leadership is about setting an example and not words," he said, adding, "no one has visited our troops in Afghanistan or Iraq more than John McCain."
McCain last visited troops in Afghanistan over the July 4 weekend.
Other veterans groups have rallied to McCain's defense as well.
"Trump’s asinine comments about Sen. John McCain’s service are an insult to everyone who has ever worn the uniform — and to all Americans," wrote Paul Rieckhoff, CEO and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America wrote in a New York Daily News op-ed on Monday.
"He is very capable of defending himself, but a public attack on one veteran’s service is an attack on us all," he added.
And John W. Stroud, national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, also bashed Trump.
“For someone who never served a day in uniform to criticize the service and sacrifice of a combat-wounded veteran is despicable," he said, according to the Washington Post.
I don't know if I support him or not. But I do support the message he is throwing out there. I'm just not sure why he's doing it.
I know very little about the Forrestal Disaster so I have no opinion on who was responsible. I simply meant that if John McCain did something careless or dishonorable during his military career then I would not have a problem if someone wanted to criticize him for it. However, I do have a huge problem with Trump belittling John McCain’s POW status.
I do believe the “vets lining up against trump” on this one are in the minority and are those who believe everything as they read it in the lamestream media - perfect tools for a nice RINO who would never take a stand that might upset someone
Even if he was following orders it was still heroic to choose to follow those orders and continue to be tortured rather than to disobey the orders and be released from the torture.
“Trump, in my opinion, didn’t go far enough telling the truth about McLame”
I am of the same opinion, but...
keeping some powder dry would have a greater impact should McCain foolishly call him out again. And, as luck would have it, it appears that has happened.
So maybe it’s better this way.
If true those allegations would disturb me greatly and I would not have a problem is Trump had made a specific allegation like that provided he could back it up with evidence. However, to simply belittle him for having been captured was not acceptable and was an insult to all POWs.
Do you even know that he was not shot down, but crashed yet another plane; only the last time,m was in enemy country?
Have you stopped beating your wife yet?
LOL
People on this forum are not retarded.
McCain is a DEGENERATE SCUMBAG AND IS DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE COMMUNIST FAGGOT ENEMY AGENT IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
HE IS ALSO RESPONSIBLE FOR CREATING AND FUNDING ISIS AND THE BLOOD OF ALL OF THE INNOCENTS THEY HAVE SLAUGHTERED
So piss off.
Yep, Trump is a problem, but after reading all that, John McCain isn’t.
Thanks. I think folks get the picture.
Exactly. How anyone thinks Trump would win the general election defies logic.
Family Op asked you a valid question. What was your source for those allegations? If you present allegations then you should be able to back them up with valid evidence. Asking you for your sources is in no way a trick question.
Excellent point!
An attack on McCain is an attack on McCain; not an attack on anyone else.
As an aside, I'm a life-long Republican. The son of blue-collar Republicans. I'm a retired military officer and a former fighter pilot. I have little or no respect for McCain. Whether his conduct as a POW was heroic or not; I don't know. There are stories that he was a hero and there are classified details that makes one wonder.
McCain may not be a traitor to the US, but he is certainly a traitor to the Republican Party. He is worse than a RINO. He needs to be replaced by a Conservative. I wish the Arizona voters would wise up and fire him.
So, you’re saying it would have been better for McCain to refuse to follow orders and get himself out of there...
Wouldn’t there have been military penalties for this when he got back?
Further, wouldn’t it have made a great story for the anti-military crowd back then - how an admiral’s favored son refused to obey orders, came home free, and left the everyday soldiers to rot in hell. Surely, McCain must have considered all of this.
In my opinion, and only my opinion, I’m not so sure Stiockdale didn’t give this order precisely because he was familiar with McCain taking advantage of his preferred status...
I actually agree that McCain has blood on his hands for funding the Syrian Rebels and in effect arming ISIS. I am not a supporter of McCain, I simply think that Trump was wrong to mock him for being captured.
No, he didn’t admit that those items are legit, and they’re readily available for anyone who wishes to look for them.
Here’s more:
http://www.hotr.us/mccain/mccainagain.html
If your concern is over abortion-on-demand and same-sex marriage, I can relate to you concern.
It is very frustrating to me that social conservatives do not recognize that abortion and marriage are not in the U.S.Constitution. Their absence means that the power to regulate, or control them, belongs to the States.
Abortion can be strongly regulated by a state, but therapeutic abortions (to save a woman’s life) should remain available but only at a hospital and never at a for-profit clinic. Make clinics illegal. That must be done at the state level.
Conservatives in the States need to get together and come up with a way to approach the marriage issue. I see it as an attack on religions. There’s a way to deal with it, I’m sure.
Trump must deal with those constitutional issues he as a president will face. Repealing Obamacare and destroying this new treaty with Iran are two that come to mind. Our military has been gutted, and Trump must decide on what is best to do. And there are the useless government departments that must be eliminated.
From Admiral Stockdale’s book p.254:
“There was little concern in any American’s mind about the possibility of the Vietnamese throwing anybody out to defame him; we now knew the Vietnamese well enough to be sure that any early releasee would have to buy his way out by groveling on his knees before the Communists, bad-mouthing America. I gave their new release program a name: FRP — the “Fink Release Program,” and that was the way it was to be known. I also issued an order that started on its way to the other cell blocks of Las Vegas and with subsequent movers to the camps elsewhere in the city and outside it: “No early release; we all go home together”.
IN LOVE AND WAR:
http://www.amazon.com/In-Love-War-Familys-Sacrifice/dp/0060153180
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