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Tag(s): 2008 Republican Natl Conv; Bush Lies; Democratic National Convention; McCain And Hagee; McCain-John; Media; Military; Obama-Barack; Reporters; Story; (more...) Torture; Torture (less...)
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September 5, 2008 at 01:28:01

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Headlined on 9/5/08:
McCain's heroic story isn't the whole story; questions need asking

by Don Williams Page 1 of 2 page(s)

www.opednews.com

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Sen. John McCain’s story is so heroic in the telling as to be almost mythic, and he shared that story Thursday night in prime time. As a brash young pilot descended from military officers, McCain found himself shot down by the North Vietnamese after arrogantly over-reaching during a flight. Suffering broken limbs, imprisonment and torture, he resisted his captors’ demands that he confess to war crimes. By resisting, he brought the wrath of enemies down on body and soul. They tortured him with a vengeance, finally breaking him, so that he told them what they wanted to hear. Then they threw him, ashamed and broken, into a cell, where he was saved by tap-tap-tappings from a fellow POW.

“Through taps on a wall he told me I had fought as hard as I could. No man can always stand alone,” McCain told delegates attending the GOP Convention as millions more watched on TV. “And then he told me to get back up and fight again for our country and for the men I had the honor to serve with. Because every day they fought for me. I fell in love with my country…”

At one point, McCain dramatically compared his own body to Barack Obama’s. “I have that record and the scars to prove it,” he said pointedly. “Senator Obama does not.”

This was not a metaphor, and Americans will find it tough to resist such a comparison in coming weeks. Just watch how quickly mainstream media fall in line. After all, who can resist a hero?

Still, immediately after McCain spoke, many talking heads seemed oblivious to the dramatic story they’d just heard. Several on CNN, MS-NBC and PBS commented on how McCain had criticized his own party during the speech and spoke as if urging voters to “throw the bums out,” oblivious to his own culpability as a long-standing Republican who voted with Bush/Cheney more than 90 percent of the time.

They missed the point. If McCain were running as a critic of Bush, where was his indictment of torture, kidnapping and spying on Americans? Where was his criticism of Bush’s infringements on our civil liberties? Where was his contempt for the president’s cover-up of global warming and Bush’s manifest disdain for every reasonable remedy? Where was McCain’s contempt for the mishandling of Katrina?

No, without embracing the Bush name, it’s clear McCain is running as McBush Lite–patriotic, pro-life, pro-nuclear, pro-oil and coal, pro-gun, contemptuous of those who advocate peace. Will mainstream media let him get away with it? Probably.

After all, they let Bush run in 2000 and 2004 without really plumbing his beliefs. Even during debates the questioning was hardly flesh deep. As I pointed out in my last blog, recent history would be far different had more reporters asked George W. Bush questions such as, “Do you believe America is fulfilling Biblical prophecy?” That question alone might’ve cost him many thousands of votes no matter how he answered, and it’s a question Americans deserved having answered. It isn’t too late to ask Sen. John McCain. I wonder. Are there any takers? It won’t be easy to challenge this man who is rapidly becoming a living icon of military heroism. Still, here are a baker’s dozen pertinent questions–plus corollaries–that should be asked before it’s too late for our nation and the world.

1. Sen. McCain, you have said repeatedly the Surge succeeded in Iraq. Does it follow that the success of the Surge redeems the entire War in Iraq and the way it was initiated? If that war has worked so well, which other countries would you be inclined to bomb, invade and occupy pre-emptively? Iran? North Korea? Russia? What about Pakistan? Saudi Arabia? Do you favor a military draft?

2. Do you believe in End-Time prophecy such as that taught by your running mate Sarah Palin’s former pastor? If so, which specific Biblical prophecy do you believe God intends America to fulfill in the Middle East? Do you believe in the Rapture, as many fundamentalists do? And that Jews who do not embrace Jesus are bound to spend eternity in hell?

3. Do you believe in a woman’s right to choose? If so, why select a running mate who opposes such rights? Do you believe in abstinence-only sex education? If not, why would you choose a running mate who does? One who drastically reduced funding for teen moms, according to the Washington Post, as well as aid to children with special needs, according to CNN?

4. Given that you’ve sponsored legislation to combat climate crises, how do you explain selecting a running mate who does not believe in curbing greenhouse gases and whose energy emphasis is on drilling for and burning more fossil fuels? Why have you voted against money for windmills and other alternative fuels?

5. Do you believe other species, such as the polar bear and wolf, have a right to exist? If so, why would you select a running mate who opposes putting polar bears on the endangered species list and who advocates shooting wolves from airplanes?

6. Do you believe in talking to our enemies? If not, do you support ending negotiations with North Korea, Iran, Syria, Venezuela and other purported enemies?

7. Should we be worried that you publicly sang “Bomb-bomb-bomb, bomb-bomb Iran?” to the tune of the Beach Boys’ “Barbara Ann,” and once suggested that selling cigarettes to Iranians would be a good way to kill them?

8. Should we be worried by a candidate who’s developed a reputation for cussing out opponents as well as reporters who ask reasonable questions and displaying other signs of agression against the powerless?

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www.KnoxVoice.com

Don Williams is a prize-winning columnist for "Knoxville Voice," professional blogger at Knoxvoice.com and a contributing editor to Media With Conscience (MWCnews.net). He is a also a short story writer, freelance journalist and the founding editor and publisher of New Millennium Writings (see www.newmillenniumwritings.com), an annual anthology of literary writings. His awards include a National Endowment for the Humanities Michigan Journalism Fellowship, a Golden Presscard Award from Sigma Delta Chi, and the Malcolm Law Journalism Prize. He is finishing a novel set in his native Tennessee and Iraq.

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8 comments

Sandy Sand began her writing career while raising three children and doing public relations work for Women's American ORT (Organization for Rehabilitation through Training). That led to a job as a reporter for the San Fernando Valley Chronicle, a weekly publication in Canoga Park, California. In conjunction with the Chronicle, she broadcast a tri-weekly, 10-minute newscast for KGOE AM. Following the closure of the Chronicle, Sand became the editor of the Tolucan Times and Canyon Crier newspapers...

to see more of bio, click on member name
Sandy SandSandy Sand began her writing career while raising three children and doing public relations work for Women's American ORT (Organization for Rehabilitation through Training). That led to a job as a reporter for the San Fernando Valley Chronicle, a weekly publication in Canoga Park, California. In conjunction with the Chronicle, she broadcast a tri-weekly, 10-minute newscast for KGOE AM. Following the closure of the Chronicle, Sand became the editor of the Tolucan Times and Canyon Crier newspapers...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Yawn

McCain's "heroic" story is becoming a monumental bore, and doesn't qualify him to be president.

What should be looked into is McCain crashing five planes while on his way to Vietnam. Subliminal trying to get a Purple Heart pass to come home?

by Sandy Sand (175 articles, 0 quicklinks, 223 diaries, 1505 comments) on Friday, September 5, 2008 at 9:35:30 AM

Retired university professor.
francineRetired university professor.

And the Forrestal

Have you seen this very interesting article on OEN linking McCain to a fire that started aboard the Forrestal when a plane made a ''wet start'' while taking off? This fire killed 134 men + wounded, and the pilot of this plane was John McCain.

Next January, it's not just planes, or even an aircraft carrier, that this reckless man could wreck, it's the US of A. Wouldn't you feel safer with McCain at the helm?

by francine (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 370 comments) on Friday, September 5, 2008 at 12:30:53 PM

Registered voter in West Chester, Ohio
sbakerRegistered voter in West Chester, Ohio

wet start

What the hell is a "wet start"?

by sbaker (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 137 comments) on Friday, September 5, 2008 at 3:08:14 PM

Midwesterner, veteran of VietNam era naval service, I still feel an obligation to defend the Constitution against "all enemies, foreign and domestic."
John Sanchez Jr.Midwesterner, veteran of VietNam era naval service, I still feel an obligation to defend the Constitution against "all enemies, foreign and domestic."

It was described in the article...

as analogous to lighting an overfilled Zippo type cigarette lighter. the uncontained fuel ignites on the outside. You wouldn't want to return it to your pocket at that point.

by John Sanchez Jr. (6 articles, 0 quicklinks, 13 diaries, 1301 comments) on Friday, September 5, 2008 at 4:14:58 PM

Registered voter in West Chester, Ohio
sbakerRegistered voter in West Chester, Ohio

Thank you

Thank you for the explaination. Never did find it in the article.

by sbaker (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 137 comments) on Saturday, September 6, 2008 at 5:05:44 PM

60 yr old mother of 2, grandma of 3.
I believe that all commodities should be nationalized. All of the oil that is pumped in the U.S. comes from public lands. Therefore, all profits from that oil should belong to the citizens and NOT to a few corporate CEO's. That should have never happened.
I firmly believe we need a single payer health care system. It makes NO sense AT ALL to pay insurance companies to deny health care to people in need instead of paying the doctors who provide the...

to see more of bio, click on member name
weslen160 yr old mother of 2, grandma of 3.
I believe that all commodities should be nationalized. All of the oil that is pumped in the U.S. comes from public lands. Therefore, all profits from that oil should belong to the citizens and NOT to a few corporate CEO's. That should have never happened.
I firmly believe we need a single payer health care system. It makes NO sense AT ALL to pay insurance companies to deny health care to people in need instead of paying the doctors who provide the...

to see more of bio, click on member name

I have the question no one will ever ask.

Ask John McCain just exactly where, when and how he LEARNED to WIN WARS, since he's never been IN a WINNING WAR and during the ONLY war he was IN, he NEVER set FOOT on a BATTLE FIELD. He FLEW over civilian targets and dropped BOMBS on them. Then his PLANE got shot DOWN.

Does he also not KNOW that Iraq is NOT a WAR? It began as an illegal INVASION, for regime change, with the SOUL purpose of taking power from Hussein and gaining control of Iraqi oil, Specifically forbidden by our Constitution AND has become an illegal OCCUPATION.

So where exactly does McCain get the IDEA that he KNOWS HOW TO WIN WARS?

by weslen1 (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 48 comments) on Friday, September 5, 2008 at 3:11:49 PM

Forrestal

In June 1967, Forrestal departed Norfolk for duty in waters off Vietnam. As the huge ship cut a wake through the calm waters of the Gulf of Tonkin on 29 July 1967, the hot, tropical sun beat down from a clear sky. Forrestal had been launching aircraft from her flight deck on strikes against an enemy whose coastline was only a few miles over the horizon. For four days, the planes of Attack Carrier Air Wing 17 had been launched on, and recovered from, about 150 missions against targets in North Vietnam. On the ship's four-acre flight deck, her crewmen went about the business at hand, the business of accomplishing the second launch of the fifth day in combat.

It was just about 10:50 a.m. (local time). The launch that was scheduled for a short time later was never made. Lt. Cmdr. John S. McCain III, later a prisoner of war in Vietnam and still later U.S. Senator from Arizona, said later he heard a "whooshy" sound then a "low-order explosion" in front of him. Suddenly, two A-4s ahead of his plane were engulfed in flaming jet fuel — JP-5 — spewed from them. A bomb dropped to the deck and rolled about six feet and came to rest in a pool of burning fuel.

The awful conflagration, which was to leave 132 Forrestal crewmen dead, 62 more injured and two missing and presumed dead, had begun. The entire nation felt the tragedy, and Life magazine reported that "in five minutes, everyone became a man." The ship returned to Norfolk for extensive repairs.

by weslen1 (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 48 comments) on Friday, September 5, 2008 at 3:19:48 PM

We have guided missiles and misguided men.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Donna N.We have guided missiles and misguided men.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

John McCain -- Answer these questions!

We shouldn't have to vote without first having answers to these questions. PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE ORGANIZERS--TAKE NOTE--put these questions on your lists. The American people have a right to know the answers--BEFORE the election!

by Donna N. (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 4 comments) on Saturday, September 6, 2008 at 1:27:23 PM