POWs can do no evil. You must never criticize them, you stupid civilians! /sarc
The GOP isn't drinking Kool-Aid; it's drinking hemlock.
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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.
Absolutely not; but his comportment during that imprisonment is a clear sign of the kind of qualities you want in a leader.
Don’t forget the thoroughly detestable Clark was also involved in the glorious armored assault on the Branch Davidians.
He never claimed it was, it's just part his lifetime of experiences that formed his character.
Never, unlike the lying coward John Kerry, did he claim himself a "war hero" whose war experiences made him most qualified to be CIC.
McCains experience, -all of it- his years in congress, whether you like the decisions he's made or not, make him far more qualified that Barry Obama, who has no experience at all in anything except Marxist philosophy and the power of forced totalitarian rule has over people.
“His imprisonment in Viet Nam is not enough of a reason for him to be President.”
That is obvious. But you are missing the point. I certainly find myself in disagreement with many of McCain’s positions, such as immigration, ANWR, etc., but, he is infinitely more preferable than his counterpart. That many Americans would consider electing a man who is basely dishonest, dangerously naive, lacks any foreign policy experience, uses the race card to deflect criticism and discussion of his real qualifications, says more about our citizenry than McCain or Obama. I find this disturbing, but in the end, we will get the representation we deserve. Unfortunately, Republicans squandered their opportunities when they controlled the House and Senate and had their behinds kicked in the 06 elections. With much of the MSM in Barack’s tank, Obama is likely to be elected. All branches of government under the thumb of the DNC. The price we will pay for this will dwarf Jimmy Carter and 9/11.
Look’s like its owl medicine time...
The whole point of the article is his leadership ability. He was not saying because he was a POW he had the credentials to be president...it’s his leadership abilities. The man witnessed this for years as a POW with John McCain.
I think you have some misinformation about the first wife. She says that it was she that asked for the divorce. She and John have an amicable relationship to this day. His cruel treatment of his first wife is a myth and this lie has become a ‘fact’ through constant repetition by the press. You can vote for whomever you wish or not vote at all. I think Obama will win the election and his National Security Force (to be as strong and well funded as the military) will give us more than something to think about.
Has he established an Obama Youth organization yet?
Best of luck!
Reality Check:
You have a choice of McCain, Obama, a third party candidate, or you can choose not to vote. Deal with it and make your choice. And I thought it was mainly the left that was full of utopian crap...
In which case, it is perfectly logical that you support him.
For those who think Amnesty is wrong and destructive to this country, that his cap-and-trade program will destroy the economy and subject us to international law and taxation, that he will successfully advance liberal causes faster than a democrat (LOST, green initiatives, etc) and destroy the gop in the process, it would be illogical to support such a man.
The spoiled Bubba’s got that right . . he’s never known much about anything but feedin’ off the fat of the land. The taxpayers have been feedin’ his fat gut and payin’ his light bill for most of his life. - Bubba’s full of it, and whatever Bubba says, one can usually do the opposite and do well. - Watching him what little one can stand, his sideways gazes during another of his hour-long gaseous dispersions (speeches), one is struck by the vision of someone making it up as he goes. - Still wishing the Clintons would just take their filthy millions and retire.
Care to offer a citation? Every article I've read says the exact opposite... HE filed for divorce.
McCain's broken marriage and fractured Reagan friendship
(snip)An examination of court documents tells a different story. McCain did not sue his wife for divorce until Feb. 19, 1980, and he wrote in his court petition that he and his wife had "cohabited" until Jan. 7 of that year -- or for the first nine months of his relationship with Hensley.
Although McCain suggested in his autobiography that months passed between his divorce and remarriage, the divorce was granted April 2, 1980, and he wed Hensley in a private ceremony five weeks later. McCain obtained an Arizona marriage license on March 6, 1980, while still legally married to his first wife.
Until McCain filed for divorce, the Reagans and their inner circle assumed he was happily married, and they were stunned to learn otherwise, according to several close aides.
"Everybody was upset with him," recalled Nancy Reynolds, a top aide to the former president who introduced him to McCain.
... more
I will not vote for a democrat- and since there are two running, I wil only vote R across the board for congress, and not cast any vote for pres.
There are 4 scenarios:
1)Obama/Dem majority in congress
GOD HELP US
2) McCain/Republican congress
almost as bad because they will give him every liberal thing he wants ‘for the good of the party’
3) McCain Democrat congress... marginally better than 1)
4) Obama/Republican- STALEMATE - possible the best we can hope for this election
POWs can do no evil. You must never criticize them, you stupid civilians! /sarc
The GOP isn't drinking Kool-Aid; it's drinking hemlock.
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There is only one scenario under which I can vote for McCain, and that is to accelerate the suicide of the Republican Party. Let’s not forget how the GOP formed in the aftermath of the death of the Whig Party, one hundred and fifty years ago, give or take. If it can’t be saved, then put it out of its misery, and start fresh.
When someone chooses to slime Carol McCain just to prop up Johnny boy, I think it deserves comment to set the record straight.
As to whether his marriages and divorce are anyone’s business, I would suggest that the *character* of a presidential candidate is everyone’s business.
Will you be voting for Obama?
McCain has proved he has courage when put to the ultimate test, as he demonstrated in the Hanoi Hilton. Now, if only he exhibited that sort of courage in the political realm.
Such things as ANWR, for instance. For him to compare drilling in the Grand Canyon to the North Slope of Alaska is incredible. I have worked on the slope, by the way.
I have a hard time understanding this man. WHY is he such a Rhino? WHY does he stab conservatives in the back every chance he gets? Is he just stupid, or is he a liberal in Republican clothes?
We know he has courage, obviously then, the reason he does not exhibit courage for conservative issues is because he does not believe in them.
I know, but look at the alternative. I’ll probably vote for him for that reason and that reason alone. It really goes against my grain. Knowing that he is going to continue his back stabbing ways if he gets elected.
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