Leonardo"s Notebook by Mattheus Mei

I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Swiftboating John McCain

CNN rolls out an article in anticipation of it's behind the scenes biopic of John McCain entitled "The Night that Changed McCain's Life" and as the media playboy gets a freebie from CNN others are calling into question other aspects of his service, his POW tenure, and now his memory. It's a new kind of swiftboating, certainly not as fallacious and pernicious as Corsi, but all the more critical and potentially damning

Andrew Sullivan continues to lead the fight in drawing attention to those who are drawing attention to the inconsistencies in McCain's cross on th ground story about his POW experience. More and more information is coming forth that appears to be revealing this anectdotal piece of endearment and 'qualification of leadership' as subtle yet baseless hagiography. The doors are now opening as more and more questions are beginning to be asked about McCain's record and the inscruitable spin that his campaign ans created around his narrative.

General Wesley Clark isn't the only one calling out McCain's POW tenure as a nonsensical extrapolation as to why one should be President. One of McCain's cell mates wrote a compelling piece in March of this year that is quickly becoming a viral meme as he says that much like your grand pa's "When I was young we had to walk two miles in the snow uphill to school both ways" stories are overly exagerated to show individual heroism. Money quote:

"[W]e motivated each other to endure and succeed far beyond what any of us thought we had in ourselves. Succeeding as a POW is a group sport, not an individual one. We all supported and encouraged each other to survive and succeed. John knows that. He was not an individual POW hero. He was a POW who surmounted the odds with the help of many comrades, as all of us did.

I furthermore believe that having been a POW is no special qualification for being President of the United States. The two jobs are not the same, and POW experience is not, in my opinion, something I would look for in a presidential candidate."

McCain has been complaining about the Media spotlight being shifted away from him and onto the historic candidacy of Barack Obama, one should wonder if he's being careful of what he wishes for as the lens moves back and becomes even more critical.

"He was a conservative. He was an archconservative" - what about being a Maverick?

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The night he was shot down wasn't the night that changed his life...the night he committed adultery with Cindy Hensley was. This was definitely "conduct unbecoming an officer" under the Uniformed Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). McCain got a free pass because his father was an Admiral. What kind of low life character does it take to leave a sick and injured wife (and three children) who waited six years when you were a POW in Vietnam? ....John McCain's defective character!