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[Prospero]

This week I read a pretty long article (about 30 pages) written by John McCain in 1973 about his years as a POW in Vietnam. It was pretty intense:

I remained in solitary confinement from [March 1968] for more than two years. I was not allowed to see or talk to or communicate with any of my fellow prisoners. My room was fairly decent-sized--I'd say it was about 10 by 10. The door was solid. There were no windows.[...] The roof was in and it got hot as hell in there. The room was kind of dim--night and day--but they kept on a small light bulb, so they could observe me. I was in that place for more than two years.

It was in May 1969 that [the Viet Cong] wanted me to write--as I remember--a letter to U.S. pilots who were flying over North Vietnam asking them not to do it. I was being forced to stand up continuously--sometimes they'd make you stand up or sit on a stool for a long period of time. It'd stood up for a couple of days, with a respite only because one of the guards--the only real human being I met over there--let me lie down for a couple of hours while he was on watch the middle of one night.
One of the strategies we worked out was not to let them make you break yourself. If you get tired of standing, just sit down--make them force you up. So I sat down, and this little guard who was a particularly hateful man came in and jumped up and down on my knee. After that I had to go back on a crutch for the next year and a half.

He has a lot of good things to say in the article about Richard Nixon ("I admire President Nixon's courage," he says.) Which gets to what's unusual about McCain--even though he's pretty clearly very conservative, a lot of liberals admire him, or at least respect him. I think more than a few Democrats would have voted for McCain over Gore in 2000, if the Republicans had run him instead of Bush.

On the other hand, some people these days think McCain is a bit of a political patsy, a tool of the neo-cons.

Sen. John McCain, the president's political pal, showed up the other day on a news program with Aaron Brown, the former Seattle news anchor who now punches the clock for CNN.

Their chat turned from the Republican National Convention to our troops in Iraq.

McCain: The United States will probably be there militarily for a long time.

Brown: What is a long time?

McCain: Ten years, 20 years. [...]

We didn't want this. What we fear -- the terrible ghost of Vietnam -- looms. [...] "Not so bad -- 10 years, 20 years," McCain said, trying to blunt the edge of his own Iraq estimate. "We've been in Korea for 50 years. We've been in West Germany for 50 years. We've been in Bosnia for what ... nine or 10 years."

McCain has his head neck deep in the Bush Kool-Aid. He is quaffing the administration's rationale for engaging in a war we shouldn't be fighting, against an enemy that pales in potential danger compared with North Korea or Iran.

So what's your personal opinion of the guy? It sometimes seems like liberals, who like to believe that McCain is somehow more rational or legitimate than Bush, are trying to say he's a sell-out now that he's lining up behind the Bush administration in this election year. But the truth is that McCain has been a hardline-conservative throughout his life--we really shouldn't be surprised by his political stance. So why do liberals harbor this sort of affection for him? (I'll say, as a liberal, that given the choice I'd prefer him in office to Bush--he gives the impression of being a politician who founds his opinions on rational arguments, as opposed to Bush, who makes his decisions for God knows what reasons.)

On the other hand, it's also unusual that someone who's seen so many of the horrors of war firsthand is accepting of the long drawn-out conflict that the "War on Terror" promises to be. Maybe he just feels like in a time of war, you line up behind your Commander-in-Chief and put politics aside?

 

[DaCocoBrova]

"I think he needs a tan."

That's what came to mind first.

 

[Tommie Hu$tle]

"I think he needs a tan."

That's what came to mind first.

LOL


At anyrate as a citizen of the great state of Arizona I think he comes off as refreshing HOWEVER, I can't see how he can stomach standing next to a guy who allowed his goons to disparrage and slander him as he did. That deserved a public apology. At anyrate this "good GOP solider" role he is playing has diminished him IMO somewhat.

 

[distantmantra]

McCain spoke at my university when he was running back in 2000. Even though I had already decided to vote for whoever the Democrats would run, I went and listened to him. I really liked him. I liked how McCain was not afraid to speak his mind, even if it meant criticizing the Bush administration. Something changed in the last few months.

 

[The Shadow]

Bush absolutely blasted him and attacked him for supposedly leaving other Vietnam vets behind and fathering a child with a prostitute during the primaries and yet he's on stage supporting Bush like nothing. I think that's where all the "sell-out" talk comes from.

Personally I did think he was a decent, stand up guy until then. His integrity took a shot after that IMHO. He ignored his principles to support a guy that absolutely dragged him through the mud when he's only considered a "moderate" anyway.




That reminds me. Kerry isn't the first victim of Bush supporter's attacks on vets. Pretty disgusting when you think about it.

 

[ConfusingJazz]

I think McCain is sucking up a lot of the shit Bush is doing as to not piss off the republicans, and then run in 2008. Poor guy, thats a lot of shit to suck up.

 

[Tommie Hu$tle]

fathering a child with a prostitute....

Note it was a Black prostitute.

 

[Pimpwerx]

McCain is conservative, but that's not a bad thing. Conservative policies aren't all bad, I can't stomach a lot of the social and religious junk, but some of the economics is valid and worth implementing PROPERLY. The reason a socialist liberal like myself likes John McCain is b/c he comes off as honest. He doesn't seem to have a problem giving a straight answer on something, or at least what appears to be a straight answer. Not all the political double-speak you get from most other candidates. I would have voted for him over Gore too, and wanted him to win the Republican primaries pretty bad. Oh well, maybe he can run in 2008. But then again, Obama is cooler, and the Dems look like they want to push him heavy. That and I still like Camejo over everyone, and I'd vote a Nader/Camejo ticket anyday of the week. Camejo gives straight answers and he supports things I believe in. PEACE.

 

[Mandark]

McCain is very conservative on many issues, especially foreign policy. He has not been "duped" unless everyone who agrees with the Iraq war (outside the handful of shadowy manipulators) is an unwitting rube.

He is willing to step outside party boundaries, and is more honest and straightforward than anyone expects a politician to be. He's also a camera hog.

I wouldn't vote for him, but he is a real decent guy.

 

[alejob]

"I think he needs a tan."

That's what came to mind first.

He has big cheaks!

 

[shoplifter]

McCain's black love child hangs out with me, he's pretty cool.

 

[Hitokage]

That reminds me. Kerry isn't the first victim of Bush supporter's attacks on vets. Pretty disgusting when you think about it.

Indeed. During the 2000 primary another "independent group" suddenly appeared and said McCain's POW experience made him mentally unstable. All roads lead to Rove.

 

[Dilbert]

I don't get his appeal, but YMMV.

 

[xsarien]

I still like him, but he lost a lot points with me at the RNC. I would've put him above partisan ass-kissing.

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

like any other politician, he is not to be trusted 100%. at least he is respectful enough to not completely ridicule the other side. but he lost a of points with me when he kissed bush's ass at the RNC. no way would any normal person put themselves through that. but i guess a politico would.

 

[etiolate]

I felt he acted more like a peacemaker during the RNC than an ass kisser. I liked McCain when he was running in the primaries, but they slandered him as an unstable nutjob vietnam vet.

I like McCain and Nader even though they are from different ends of the political spectrum(whatever that is).