June 30, 2008

More On McCain's War Record

By Ron Beasley

"Who started this rumor that [John McCain] was a war hero? Where does that come from, aside from himself? About his suffering in the prison war camp?" ~Gore Vidal

McCain gets a pass because is supposedly “a hero.” I’ve never been sure why he is a hero. He graduated 4th or 5th from the bottom of his class. He wrecked three of his own aircraft (if I remember correctly) and he was captured in Viet Nam. Unless I missed the part where he jumped on a grenade to save the lives of his fellow servicemen, I don’t know where the hero part comes in. ~ John Cole

This is a follow up to Cernig's post below. It just goes to show how broken our system is that it's OK to Swift Boat a real war hero, John Kerry, but it's not OK to ask legitimate questions about John McCain's military record. The corporate media was at best enablers and more likely supporters of the effort to lie about Kerry's record but become indignant when anyone even asks questions about St John's war record. I have already asked a few questions myself on these virtual pages a few days ago.

I am a Vietnam era veteran I a knew some heros. They were not fighter pilots who dropped bombs on people they couldn't see from several thousand feet. They were the points on long range patrols, they were men like Chuck Hagel who spent a year wading through rice paddies and jungles, they were the men like John Kerry on the swift boats in the delta and in the air it was the helicopter pilots who put their lives on the line everyday to get soldiers in and out of the fight.

As Jeff Klein reminds us we deserve to see McCains military record if he wants to be Commander In Chief.

Some of the unreleased pages in McCain's Navy file may not reflect well upon his qualifications for the presidency. From day one in the Navy, McCain screwed-up again and again, only to be forgiven because his father and grandfather were four-star admirals. McCain's sense of entitlement to privileged treatment bears an eerie resemblance to George W. Bush's.

Despite graduating in the bottom 1 percent of his Annapolis class, McCain was offered the most sought-after Navy assignment -- to become an aircraft carrier pilot. According to military historian John Karaagac, "'the Airdales,' the air wing of the Navy, acted and still do, as if unrivaled atop the naval pyramid. They acted as if they owned, not only the Navy, but the entire swath of blue water on the earth's surface." The most accomplished midshipmen compete furiously for the few carrier pilot openings. After four abysmal academic years at Annapolis distinguished only by his misdeeds and malfeasance, no one with a record resembling McCain's would have been offered such a prized career path.

If John McCain was not the son and grandson of admirals who would have not had the opportunity to get shot down.

And yes Wes Clark was right