Posted on 07/22/2015 7:11:35 PM PDT by NKP_Vet
I do realize that everyone from Charles Krauthammer to the recently escaped Mexican drug lord, El Chapo, is piling onto Donald Trump for his straight-forward remarks. Well, being the contrarian that I am, I am going to come down on the side of Mr. Trump!
Do I like him? No. Never have. I don't like his swagger, his cockiness, his arrogance. And I certainly don't care for that mop of comb-over fake hair. But they say the difference between egotism and self-assurance is the ability to produce. By any measure, he certainly wins that contest, both at home and abroad. True, he was born with a silver spoon, but he, and he alone, turned it into gold!
The first thing he did after declaring his presidential candidacy was to observe that Mexico was not sending their "best and brightest" across our southern border. Instead, in Mr. Trump's opinion, they are sending their gang members, their druggies, their serial felons and killers. Certainly, the tragic instance in San Francisco, and others elsewhere, have borne out the truth of his statement.
But the Honorable Senator John McCain (R-AZ) picked a fight by calling him, and others like him, "crazies" for criticizing Mexican immigration. I guess when you are worth $10 BILLION of your own making, you feel free to take issue when a politician calls you crazy!
So The Donald retaliated with the statement that getting yourself captured doesn't necessarily make you a hero. "He's a war hero because he was captured? I like people who weren't captured." With that, all hell broke loose in the mainstream media, as well as the Karl Rove dominated Republican establishment -- and the gaggle of GOP presidential wannabes.
But it might behoove us at this point in time to wonder just why would getting captured make you a hero? And why would remaining in captivity make you a military expert, and thus qualified to currently fill the roles of chairman of both the Senate Committee on Armed Services and Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. And one might ask, how has his leadership in both these strategic positions of responsibility been working out for ya'?
Since Mr. Trump expressed his opinion, there is now a whole group of Vietnam veterans who have come forward with statements that highly question the Senator's preferential treatment as the son and grandson of Navy admirals, and his loyalty to his country while in captivity. Some even place him in the Jane Fonda category. Among the allegations are:
John McCain was a below average student, getting into the Naval Academy due to his father's and grandfather's influence and naval careers. Both were admirals. McCain was a boozing, smoking, womanizing party animal, graduating fifth from the bottom of his class at Annapolis.
John McCain's arms were broken not from being tortured by the North Vietnamese, as he has claimed, but when he improperly ejected from his plane over North Vietnam. According to his fellow prisoners, he was never tortured by the North Vietnamese.
John McCain's nickname among his North Vietnamese captors was "Songbird," as he was eager to tell them anything they wanted to hear to avoid torture. It is claimed that he made 32 propaganda videos for the North Vietnamese in which he blamed the United States for targeting schools, temples, orphanages, and hospitals. McCain has admitted to making one propaganda video.
And from a US Navy Aviator who served with McCain: "His "shoot down" was self-induced, as he DISOBEYED ORDERS and flew well below the 'floor,' getting himself shot down. There were several other jets on that particular mission and he was the only one shot down, because the others obeyed their orders."
But if you think these opinions of Senator McCain are somewhat negative, try this one by Theodore Shoebat, Communications Director for Rescue Christians, an organization that is on the ground in Muslim lands, rescuing Christians from persecution, and the author of two books, For God or For Tyranny and In Satan's Footsteps: The Source and Interconnections of all Evil.
"John McCain is a giant bag of scum; his mouth is a continual sewer of bile, his heart is a decayed rot of dung, his mind a river of filth, and his soul is amongst the damned. He is nothing but a murderous scumbag. His evils are so great, that the words of Trump don't even bother me. McCain is a demon incarnate. His service in Vietnam does nothing to justify the evils he has supported and pushed for."
The late Daniel Patrick Moynihan said it well: "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts." Mr. Trump expressed his opinion, twice, apparently based upon ample facts.
Was it the politically smart thing for him to do? Perhaps not, but isn't it refreshing, for once, to see a candidate for political office speaking his mind, instead of having his thoughts evaluated by a panel of political analysts before expressing them?
At least Trump is now branded as a no-holds-barred fighter, a type of leadership our country desperately needs at this time -- and could certainly have used in the recent Iranian nuclear negotiations. Can you imagine the outcome had he been there instead of "Swiftboat" Kerry?
The GOP needs for someone to break away from the pack of wilting violets currently running for the 2016 candidacy, and Trump may have just done it! As I write this, the liberally reluctant Washington Post poll shows Trump leading by 24%, followed by Walker at 13, Bush at 12, Huckabee at 8, Rubio at 7, etc., etc.
Fasten your seat belts folks, we ain't seen nothing yet!
Please read your own post:
The Hanoi press.... SAYS McCain SAID...
One report (from Hanoi) SAYS McCain SAID
A Castro Communist Cuban reporter, (not a Spanish MD/reporter) SAYS McCain SAID... .
A BLOGGER says McCain made a film... (that no one has ever been able to produce)
The Phoenix New Times (a comm/lib “underground” Dem paper) says.... that 2 people who did not know McCain say...
WE ARE SMARTER THAN THIS!
When did we start believing the MSM, especially the HANOI MSM!!!!!
I don’t see need to dredge out those government documents that others have dug up. I understand that information was found motivated by those who wanted to derail McCain’s campaign. Before shooting the messengers, ask if there is any truth in what was dug up.
There is no reason to assume it isn't true.
Here is part of Juan McCain’s military performance I’ll bet you never heard about:
Did John McCain accidently fire his missile causing the USS Forrestal disaster?
From WIKI Answers:
“No, he didn’t fire the missile, but was responsible. A missile fired from another plane, striking McCain’s aircraft and setting it ablaze.
Something made the plane behind McCain fire a rocket, which hit McCain’s external center fuel tank, and caused a fire. McCain panicked, and dropped two bombs into the fire.
Surviving crewmen of the USS Forrestal and those who investigated the Forrestal fire case reported that McCain deliberately ‘wet-started’ his A-4E Skyhawk to shake up the guy in the F-4 Phantom behind his plane.
‘Wet-starts’, done either deliberately (the starter motor switch allowed kerosene to pool in the engine and give a wet start) or accidentally, shoot a large flame from the tail of the aircraft.’Wet starting’ was a common practice among young ‘hot-dog’ pilots.
In McCain’s case, the ‘wet-start’’cooked off’ and launched the M34 Zuni rocket from the rear F-4 that punctured the Skyhawk’s fuel tank, knocked the M-65 1000 lb bomb off it’s 500 lb rated mount, and touched off the explosions and massive fire.”
Colonel Ted Guy wanted to bring charges against McCain.
http://educate-yourself.org/cn/earlhopperinterview08feb08.shtml
“According to his fellow prisoners, he was never tortured by the North Vietnamese.”
Odd. That isn’t what his cell mate said. Nor is it consistent with the injuries seen after he arrived and was seen by others.
“And from a US Navy Aviator who served with McCain: “His “shoot down” was self-induced, as he DISOBEYED ORDERS and flew well below the ‘floor,’ getting himself shot down.”
He went down to release altitude. That is determined before takeoff. It is mandatory when dropping manual bombs. That supposed naval aviator is either a fake, an idiot or a liar.
“There were several other jets on that particular mission and he was the only one shot down, because the others obeyed their orders.”
Actually, we lost three planes on that mission.
“Navy Lt. Verlene Daniels, flying an A-4 bomber like McCain, was the first to go down, about 20 miles southwest of Hanoi. Moments later, one of the F-8 fighter escorts, piloted by Lt. Charles Rice, was hit by another missile half a dozen miles west of the capital. Both Daniels and Rice ejected and were promptly captured by angry Vietnamese peasants.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/04/AR2008100402351_2.html
McCain was number three.
What you posted is factually false. As in a lie. If you ever bother to look at how the aircraft were arranged on deck, it is obviously a lie.
There is no proper way to eject from a plane other than pull the handles and hope. Injuries from a high speed ejection are common and not pilot error.
I don’t think so. Let’s try a more reliable source shall we? Begin with the top paragraph and get back with us. http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/cv-59/59f-0729.htm Once that missile hit the only thing McCain or others had to do was get out and run! The bomb cook offs? They shouldn’t have done this however other sources say there was a material issue with the bombs onloaded the previous day that had concern of ships C.O. and weapons officer. Read the time sequencing as well. Hundreds of thousands of sailors if not millions by now have see the footage of the actual fire. Me included several times.
Anyone will talk, and they do. Even Bud Day said that - and he said it in my presence. They push you so hard you can’t even think anymore. That’s the reality.
No the plane beside McCain was hit McCain's plane was in fact not hit by the missile. I've heard them all including he hit the afterburner and caused it. Look at the plane spotting chart on the link I posted. That chart was not changeable after the incident. Look where the launch came from, the positions of the planes in relation to others, and you'll see it was not his fault.
> “He said all the McCain stories about “songbird” are BS, and McCain served honorably. So much of the other is what communist reporters say he said. Who do you trust, a MOH-winning American or communist reporters?”
Your facts are off.
First, Admiral Stockdale supported all POWs in the HH but he was not a cell mate of McCain. McCain was brought in after to replace Admiral Stockdale in solitary confinement.
Second, Admiral Stockdale set up a clandestine communication network because communication among POWs was forbidden and one of the communications from Admiral Stockdale to the hundreds of POWs in the HH was that no one would accept an early release, that everyone would go home together. McCain got that order but told his captors in his own words “I will need to think about it” when first offered early release (that’s all on the record). The Communist interrogator came back to ask McCain again and McCain said his answer was no. McCain was following orders after realizing that if he got out the POWs would eventually come home and ruin him with their testimony.
Admiral Stockdale stood up for McCain because he followed orders. All great leaders and Commanding Officers such as Admiral Stockdale (then a USN Captain) stand up for their loyal subordinates as part of leadership training to build loyalty up and down the chain of command.
Regardless of the reports about McCain, many of which came from honorable persons, regardless he came home and one of the first things he did was get rid of his wife who had been dutifully waiting for him for years praying for him and his safe return. She had been ill and had gained a little weight so she wasn’t so pretty as she once was. So McCain dumps her and goes and gets a younger, prettier and richer wife. That right there is a red flag of poor and conceited character, a character developed as a spoiled son and grandson of 4-star Admirals.
And the report of graduating near the bottom of his class and of his flight instructors wanting to kick him out of flight school are on the record; they are true.
Admiral Stockdale recommended all the POWs for medals but only two others were cited for the Congressional Medal of Honor; McCain was not one of those. Instead McCain was cited for a Silver Star for nothing more than surviving.
So Trump was right, McCain was decorated as a POW because he was a POW and for nothing more.
When one reads McCain’s citation for Silver Star, there are no ‘acts’ other than the fact that he survived.
Should every person that survives brutality be declared a ‘hero’?
Should the 80 year old vet who was brutally murdered by criminal black youth following the Trayvon Martin fiasco be declared a hero and cited for a Legion of Merit medal? And Legion of Merit medals are awarded to civilians.
Should a person walking down to the corner grocery market who is jumped and savaged by criminals but survives, should they be declared a hero?
Does refusing to call a victim a hero mean we disrespect the victim?
Can we sympathize with and offer our support to a victim, a survivor of horrors and still think the person does not deserve hero status?
The ‘story’ of McCain’s ‘heroism’ is a myth. It is a myth boosted by a corrupt media as a shield around the severely flawed character of McCain for the simple reason that Mark Steyn writes “because McCain bad-mouthed other Republicans” and the Media saw a useful tool in McCain.
You can read more here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3314982/posts?page=35#35
Jeremiah Denton was the real deal.
Actually I have heard about it many times.
But, as a lawyer, and a very Conservative one at that, you’re trained to ask, “Who says so?”
In this case, like every other McCain story, it’s some anonymous person who claims there are unseen “reports” that some anonymous unnamed surviving seaman “says” etc.
The Forrestal fire was a disaster. It was thoroughly investigated by the Navy. Where is the report that says McCain was responsible? As with all the other McCain military service knocks, it doesn’t exist.
I certainly hope no one ever depends on “WIKI Answers” for anything more important than how to spell WIKI.
I hate his politics, but also have too much respect for ANY person who ever laced ‘em up (even a Squid) to let BS like this tarnish the record of anyone who ever served.
“Something made the plane behind McCain fire a rocket,”
Our now-departed pal Kenny Bunk told me about this one time. Kenny was a great one for skewering ‘John McAnus’ as he used to call him. If McCain were responsible Kenny would have eagerly tagged him with it.
Anyway, Kenny said McCain was totally innocent of blame in the Forrestal affair. IIRC he said it was a stray electrical charge that set off the rocket, not anything that McCain had done.
That’s not the point.
The point is that McCain’s broken arms and leg were attributed to torture from his captors when they were actually the result of his cockpit ejection. All that is on record.
And McCain did nothing to set the record straight when that myth was created. He let it continue so that he could win sympathy points.
And I am still waiting for your answer as to what specific acts of heroism did McCain perform. What lives did he save? What acts did he do that resulted in crucial victories in war?
There were NEVER ANY CONCRETE FACTS WRITTEN IN HIS CITATION FOR A SILVER STAR even though the DOD Manual calls for concrete acts to be written. He got that medal because his father and grandfather were 4-star Admirals. All he did was suffer and survive yet hundreds of thousands suffered in that war and more than 50,000 paid the ultimate price of death. Most of them did not have an Admiral lineage to ensure they were decorated with high awards with citations that stated a bunch of exalted language with no facts as to what the hell the person did.
McCain is no hero. His heroism is a myth perpetrated by the Media who circle the wagons around him because he bad-mouths Republicans which they like to see. So they build up a myth of his heroism to make a PC shield so that anyone that challenges the myth is unpatriotic and ‘crazy’ as McCain likes to call them.
My point is very simple. McCain is a political asshole RINO. Likewise, there is NO substantiation of any misconduct by McCain. People here are way too willing to repeat BS stories that he was.
When did we start to believe the MSM, especially the Hanoi MSM?
We make a huge mistake when, rather than concentrating on his political misdeeds, we descent into unproven character assassination. We’re smarter than that. Dems/Libs do it all the time. We shouldn’t.
Additionally, Trump doesn’t know when to shut up. We could certainly use him in high political office. But he let’s himself get goaded into opening his mouth and sounding like 7th grade girls in a catfight.
If he learns to not be suckered into this BS, he can win.
Right now, he is good media “copy.” But if he keeps shooting his mouth off when he doesn’t need to, he’s got another 30 days left before everyone decides he’s just some loudmouth billionaire bully, and that’s bad for all of us.
Smart Republicans have to walk the fine line between being uninspiring and being too loud and becoming the flavor of the month.
The Donald needs to dial it back.
Ah ha!
Facts!
Strange things those things called facts.
It’s a shame Kenny is gone. Perhaps Kenny could have also helped disprove the story that McCain blew up the Hindenburg and taught the 9/11 hijackers how to fly.
:)
Be Well
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