The Myth of "Warrior McCain"
Today is Tuesday, 1 July 2008.
Would born-privileged John McCain have been admitted to the Naval Academy, absent a father and grandfather who were four-star admirals?
McCain graduated in the bottom 1% --- yes, 1% --- of his class: 894 out of 899.
Some say it was because of his arrogance, contempt of regulations, insubordination, addiction to partying, and poor academic performance.
Perhaps hard to say. In 2004, John Kerry released all his file of military service. In 2008, John McCain has refused to release all but a tiny fraction of his file.
What has John McCain to hide?
Despite his abysmal performance, reflecting his gratitude to the taxpayers who gave him a free ride to a college degree, McCain was not assigned to duty reflecting his documented super-mediocre abilities and qualities. Oh, no.
McCain was awarded one of the most coveted billets in the Navy: carrier fighter pilot. No matter that, during the next few years, he crashed two planes and ran another into power lines. Perhaps he should have studied more and partied less.
In 1968, on merely his 23rd mission, McCain was shot down over Vietnam. Not much return on the taxpayer investment. Definitely should have spent more time learning how to “serve the country”.
After five years of detention, McCain returned home, underwent physical rehab, attended the Naval War College, and zealously promoted himself as an ex-POW celebrity. His superiors endorsed his high opinion of himself, not by assigning him a front-line combat command, but to supervision of a training squadron in Florida.
Then, in recognition of McCain’s gifts as a political hack, he was assigned as a Navy lobbyist of Congress. After several years, and realizing he would never make admiral, and having acquired a taste for the high political life, McCain resigned from the Navy, deserted his wife, married a multi-millionaire, and entered electoral life.
The rest is history.
McCain boasts a vastly undistinguished career, entirely at inferior levels, and completely devoid of service at strategic and foreign policy levels.
For once, I agree with a general: riding in a fighter jet and being a POW are hardly foreign policy qualifications for executive office.
But then, McCain also purports to believe that supporting a mass-murderous and failed attempt to conquer Iraq is also a sterling foreign policy qualification for executive office.
Would born-privileged John McCain have been admitted to the Naval Academy, absent a father and grandfather who were four-star admirals?
McCain graduated in the bottom 1% --- yes, 1% --- of his class: 894 out of 899.
Some say it was because of his arrogance, contempt of regulations, insubordination, addiction to partying, and poor academic performance.
Perhaps hard to say. In 2004, John Kerry released all his file of military service. In 2008, John McCain has refused to release all but a tiny fraction of his file.
What has John McCain to hide?
Despite his abysmal performance, reflecting his gratitude to the taxpayers who gave him a free ride to a college degree, McCain was not assigned to duty reflecting his documented super-mediocre abilities and qualities. Oh, no.
McCain was awarded one of the most coveted billets in the Navy: carrier fighter pilot. No matter that, during the next few years, he crashed two planes and ran another into power lines. Perhaps he should have studied more and partied less.
In 1968, on merely his 23rd mission, McCain was shot down over Vietnam. Not much return on the taxpayer investment. Definitely should have spent more time learning how to “serve the country”.
After five years of detention, McCain returned home, underwent physical rehab, attended the Naval War College, and zealously promoted himself as an ex-POW celebrity. His superiors endorsed his high opinion of himself, not by assigning him a front-line combat command, but to supervision of a training squadron in Florida.
Then, in recognition of McCain’s gifts as a political hack, he was assigned as a Navy lobbyist of Congress. After several years, and realizing he would never make admiral, and having acquired a taste for the high political life, McCain resigned from the Navy, deserted his wife, married a multi-millionaire, and entered electoral life.
The rest is history.
McCain boasts a vastly undistinguished career, entirely at inferior levels, and completely devoid of service at strategic and foreign policy levels.
For once, I agree with a general: riding in a fighter jet and being a POW are hardly foreign policy qualifications for executive office.
But then, McCain also purports to believe that supporting a mass-murderous and failed attempt to conquer Iraq is also a sterling foreign policy qualification for executive office.
posted by HH at 3:07 PM
2 Comments:
You certainly have a gift for distortion.
You mention none of the good that Senator McCain has done, which is a lot. He is a good example of bipartisnship in the Senate.
You judge others' actions from a distance. Have you not partied? Have you always excelled in acedemia? Who are you to judge another man's personal life without knowing all details related to it? So Senator McCain married a multi-millionaire. Are you, too, not living off a rich wife? I suspect you are.
You, sir, are angry at the world about something. I suggest you do a little inward repair of yourself.
Actually, HH left out a really ugly, sordid detail re McCain deserting his wife for the heiress.
I can't say it better than this, from an article in The U.S. Veteran Dispatch, Nov. 2007:
When McCain returned to the United States in 1973 after more than five years as a prisoner of war, he found his wife was a different person. Carol McCain, once a model, had been badly injured in a car wreck in 1969. The accident "left her 4 inches shorter and on crutches, and she gained a good deal of weight." Despite her injures, she had refused to allow her POW husband to be notified about her condition, fearing that such news would not be good for him while he was being held prisoner.
But, just a couple years later, McCain, while pondering a future in politics, met Cindy Hensley, an attractive 25-year-old woman from a very wealthy politically-connected Arizona family. While still married to Carol, McCain began an adulterous relationship with Cindy. He married Cindy in May 1980 -- just a month after dumping his crippled wife and securing a divorce.
more at link Betrayal, deceit, corruption and John McCain
Now there's fine character for ya. Maybe I need more details, Jamison, but it looks pretty clear to me what happened.
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