This is just another sad chapter in the tragic descent of John McCain.

Tragic, yes, but I fear that it's enough to sway the lizard brains, who are a huge percentage of the American voting public, to vote for him. After the past eight years, it shouldn't even be close. It's looking like 2004 all over again.

There would be more wars, my friends. so don't worry about the POW. as you may know more wars means more POW. McCain needs people to feel the same.

By the way, did anybody read the article about his Vietnamese captors rooting for him now? They want to see him elected. That article didn't last long on main pages, and never been posted here on C&L.

But...but...he KNOWS how to win wars! We must elect him before he reveals his war winning plans. He's not holding out because he's selfish or putting his party before his country or anything like that. It's just straight talk and stuff.

He can't help himself; it's extended post truamatic stress syndrome. He obsessively buys more homes to make up for the five years he spent in just one.

"By the time they get to the convention in St. Paul, there might not be much of it left to use."

seriously, when was the last time any repube
A) tired of repeating the party line,
B) looked closely at the motivating factors of their candidates when they hide behind the party line that they alone are the true patiotic americans,
C) questioned the integrity of one of THEIR war heroes.

Repubes and their kind eat this great american hero and patriot stuff up. any actions after their time in the service is unimportant. Look at Ollie North, selling arms to our enemy and still lauded by the right as one of america's greatest military minds. all becasue he wore his old uniform to the congressional hearings. so all they have now is hiding behind past glories and the cross. and in my mind, that story about the cross in the sand tells alot more about the guards courage and convistion of faith than McCain's. but that is just my humble opinion.

No matter what it is, you can only go to the well so many times before the well runs dry.

It appears that by taking his elitist vacation in Hawaii Obama in reality gave the McSame camp the opportunity to display the big guns.
Obama certainly isn't a legacy student thrust into the limelight by a disproportionate sense of entitlement.
Multiple dwellings in gated communities can certainly lead someone to believe that it's necessary to have $5 million to be rich.
McSame is not a healthy person. Dunkin Donuts and Coke isn't going to get it.

i don't find it tragic at all. I think it's hysterically funny.

my friend @ 7:
Wait until he picks Rudy 9-11 9ui11any 9-11 of 9-11 America. did I mention 9-11 my friends? .

Woah I was off.. it took 6 comments before someone made the obvious 9u11ani anaology.. I was guessing at 5-or-under.

If Guilliani is picked as McCain's VP -- I suggest that Obama start parading what is left of the 9/11 first responders on stage, who are suing this SOB. They don't show any of the Widows, Firemen, or other people involved anymore -- Guilliani and his cohorts just want to talk about the dead -- because they don't have questions.

McCain can put his illustrious past in a book, and that is fine. But if he uses it as a platform in a campaign, such that he can never be questioned on "I'm the go-to guy for warfare," he leaves it up for grabs as to critically analyze his past experience in war.

From what I've heard, he got to captain a boat, even being last in his class, because his dad was an Admiral. Affirmative action for the country club set came to the rescue.

The boat he was commanding was almost destroyed -- something to do with his drunken behavior and not properly securing explosives. Though I haven't seen that but on one site -- it's worth looking into.

Reportedly, he crashed 4 planes. I don't think that is typical and still be flying. It might mean he wasn't too serious. The 5th plane crash, probably led to him being a POW.

He did not "Stay to be with his men" -- he couldn't leave because his Dad was involved with shelling the crap out of Vietnam.

His nickname was the Canary, because he sang either 3 days or 3 hours after mistreatment. After that he made 30 or 40 videos for the Viet Cong propaganda -- would they mistreat their star?

I'm not 100% sure about any of this, because really -- we don't KNOW what happened. There was more proof of Kerry's heroism than McCains. But getting shot at, while a service to the country (if the country would actually get involved in wars that weren't for resources that is), doesn't tell me beans about character and the ability to guide a country.

The important thing to note, is there is no evidence of McCain having any intelligence in warfare. He's been against Veterans benefits at every turn, and wanted a 12 year requirement for Vets to get education -- that's like saying NO. He was in the way of Ross Perot trying to find POWs left in Vietnam. And, when looking deeper into this "Maverick Moderate" since he started kissing the hands that beat him in the Bush administration -- he seems to be a Class A Asshole and womanizer.

Another Republican phony.

New campaign slogan: "Vote McCain and We'll All Be POW's." (:>

Nobody is going to vote for or against McCain because he's an ex-POW. That's just more irrelevant bullshit to argue about. The neocons are going to vote for him because he's the lesser of two evils.

We're going to vote against him because he sucks donkey nuts.

Rusty The One Shackleford @ 23:

You can't criticize John McCain for over-exploiting his POWness. The man was a POW, for christ's sake!

________________________________
Oh ya ! Well your last name is Shackleford, right ? Well, Mr. Rusty Shackleford --of course you think that way about POW-ness because the first part of your last name is Shackle(s).

(tongue in cheek sarcasm)

I highly doubt he’s comfortable with the depths he’s now forced to sink to

You seem to be free-falling into a previously-established, very-convenient-for-McCain narrative. The harsh realities of politics have laid another good man low. Poor McCain, good hero daddy elect daddy good.
Nobody forced him. He hired the people who slimed his own family.

V&A @ 20 Check out the Wikipedia for the 1968 USS Forrestal Fire to see how our patriotic flyboy behaved. Or google Vietnam Veterans against John McCain. This guy is a real piece of work. But you could probably have a beer with him as long as you buy it from his wife.

Joe Bourgeois @ 28:

I highly doubt he’s comfortable with the depths he’s now forced to sink to

You seem to be free-falling into a previously-established, very-convenient-for-McCain narrative. The harsh realities of politics have laid another good man low. Poor McCain, good hero daddy elect daddy good.
Nobody forced him. He hired the people who slimed his own family.

I would bet money that the GOP made a deal with McCain to allow him to be the nominee. And it went something like, "Only if you know how to be a puppet, John." And he said, "OK".

Ryko @ 33:

CafeenMan @ 24:

Nobody is going to vote for or against McCain because he's an ex-POW. That's just more irrelevant bullshit to argue about. The neocons are going to vote for him because he's the lesser of two evils.

We're going to vote against him because he sucks donkey nuts.

The neocons won't vote him as the lesser of two evils. They'll vote because he's supportive of neocon policies.

Yeah, but he's not as crazy (by sane people's definition) as the neocons want him to be. Their first choice is somebody not nearly as left-wing as Coulter.

my friend @ 15:

3-When faced with torture, sign a pledge.

Nothing wrong with that in my book. What's foolish, IMHO, is his refusal of early release because it was 'out of turn'. As if others wouldn't have jumped at the chance. But that's a no-go for the Admiral's Son. There's a fine line between being a martyr, which is admirable, and making yourself one, which is plain stupid.

That's okay though. If McCain decided in Vietnam to follow macho pride and refusal to lose face, even over bullshit propaganda, that's okay. Because ultimately McCain was the only one to suffer for that decision.

What really scares me, is the fact that he's brought this same attitude into his politics. And that's dangerous because as President, McCain is not the one who suffers over that kind of decision. America is. It'll be American lives and American tax-payer's money that will continue to be spent on a war in Iraq that neither Americans nor the Iraqis want. A war based on lies, with no clear 'victory' or definition thereof in sight. A war which according to many, is simply unwinnable. There are limits to what the USA can hope to achieve there.

We must win it. We'll "never surrender" (whatever that would mean). And for what? Ultimately, to save face. It's telling that McCain holds the same attitude towards Vietnam. He firmly believes the USA could have won that wildly unpopular war. Even though it's almost as hard to envision what 'victory' would have meant there.

It's frightening. And it's a continuation of the failed foreign policies of Bush, which will go down as the worst in US history, I believe. Even Kissinger was better! For all his Machiavellian traits, at least his policy were based on reality. Not pride or wishful thinking.

I think they've already jumped the shark on this one, when they claimed that John McCain can't remember how many houses he owns because he was a POW!!!! It's made it seem not only silly, but did being a POW damage John McCain so mentally that he can't remember things and he imagines things that never happened????

Being a POW can be heoric, but it can also just be sad and pathetic.

I've noticed that they are starting a new line of defense though. Everything is Cindy McCain's fault. She is the rich one, she owns the houses, and she made up the lie about Mother Theresa and the adoption. They are now throwing Cindy McCain under the bus in an attempt to save John. So John is a victim of Cindy as well as the Vietnamese.

What did McCain think they were going to do, throw spitballs at him? Or that they'd want to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for their attackers?

He's lucky his treatment was like a college fraternity prank that stacked up naked men. I'm talking about people having a good time, these people, you ever heard of emotional release? You ever heard of need to blow some steam off?

Yeah, but he’s not as crazy (by sane people’s definition) as the neocons want him to be.

I disagree. It seems more and more clear that McCain fits the primary qualification for neoconhood: He never saw a war he didn't like.

It's the social cons, the Bible-thumpers, who are holding their noses and voting for McCain. The neocons will be pulling the lever with enthusiasm.

If McCain wins, I'm actually afraid we will be saying "we're all POWs now"...

...in Russian.

Or to sum it up, McCain seems to think that you can 'win' simply by refusing to 'lose'. I guess that's why he ended up 894th in his class at the Naval Academy.

Had he been a better student, maybe he'd have paid attention to his Sun-tzu..

Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.

McCaint Remember @ 43:

foolme1ns @ 38:

I think they've already jumped the shark on this one, when they claimed that John McCain can't remember how many houses he owns because he was a POW!!!! It's made it seem not only silly, but did being a POW damage John McCain so mentally that he can't remember things and he imagines things that never happened????

Being a POW can be heoric, but it can also just be sad and pathetic.

I've noticed that they are starting a new line of defense though. Everything is Cindy McCain's fault. She is the rich one, she owns the houses, and she made up the lie about Mother Theresa and the adoption. They are now throwing Cindy McCain under the bus in an attempt to save John. So John is a victim of Cindy as well as the Vietnamese.

Yes, but if that bus mangles Cindy McCain's face and limbs, John McCain will dump her faster than his opposition to bush's tax cuts for the wealthy.

The power that wealth creates will save the marriage under all circumstances.

Harry R. Sohl @ 44:

If McCain wins, I'm actually afraid we will be saying "we're all POWs now"...

...in Russian.

I'm thinking of running for president in 2060 or 2064 so this may come in handy.

(crashes plane into Moscow, deeeep in enemy territory)

McCaint Remember @ 50:

Ron @ 48:

McCaint Remember @ 43:

foolme1ns @ 38:

Yes, but if that bus mangles Cindy McCain's face and limbs, John McCain will dump her faster than his opposition to bush's tax cuts for the wealthy.

The power that wealth creates will save the marriage under all circumstances.

what if McCain finds a young twenty-something worth TWICE what Cindy is worth ??

buh-bye Beer Baroness

Hands off--she's mine!

dennis @ 52:

Know what you call a doctor who finished last in his class at med school?

A doctor.

But also, on occasion:

A malpractice suit. :)

StirFry @ 54:

Alexdem @ 18:

my friend @ 7:
Wait until he picks Rudy 9-11 9ui11any 9-11 of 9-11 America. did I mention 9-11 my friends? .

Woah I was off.. it took 6 comments before someone made the obvious 9u11ani anaology.. I was guessing at 5-or-under.

Between Guili, Mittens, and McMansions , the RNC will sound like "911, Reagan, POW, 911, Reagan, POW,911, Reagan, POW,911, Reagan, POW,911, Reagan, POW,911, Reagan, POW, 911...." with some squeeking from Lieberman.
Man, it's gonna be great.

RNC convention drinking game:

1. Take a shot if Reagan is mentioned

2. Take a shot if Sept. 11th is mentioned.

3. Take a shot if McCain being a POW is mentioned.

Be ready to call 911 in case someone gets alcohol poisoning.

dennis @ 52:

Know what you call a doctor who finished last in his class at med school?

A doctor.

True. But when he kills five of his patients you'd probably think twice about trusting him with your life.

This Crazy Grandpa victimhood predicament falls totally on the lap of the Vietnamese.....they're the ones who let this fucker go.

dennis @ 60:

Rusty The One Shackleford @ 57:

dennis @ 52:

Know what you call a doctor who finished last in his class at med school?

A doctor.

True. But when he kills five of his patients you'd probably think twice about trusting him with your life.

The guy at the top of the class can just as easily do the same thing, Russ. Both at med schools and the Naval Academy.

Could be, could be. But McCain actually did wreck five planes. I don't have the info at hand but I'll wager you the guys who graduated at the top of his class were far more competent than McCain turned out to be. Maybe if they had known how beneficial to one's career and pocketbook being a fuck-up could be, they would have gone McCain's route. Who knows?

McCain's primary political weakness was in not taking the moral high ground during the entire Bush administration. Instead, he chose to be the butt boy for George and Karl, the same George and Karl that f'd him in the a when he was running in 2000. How could McCain expect anyone to respect him, when he behaved so shamelessly by befriending his true political enemies. Tsk. Tsk.

Left&Left @ 64:

dennis @ 60:

Rusty The One Shackleford @ 57:

dennis @ 52:
True. But when he kills five of his patients you'd probably think twice about trusting him with your life.

The guy at the top of the class can just as easily do the same thing, Russ. Both at med schools and the Naval Academy.

Wow Dennis. A stroll into apologyville. Maybe we should disregard any form of statistical achievement indicators. Slackers like Grandpa would just love you.
Go ahead and be the first to say it....were picking on the old man.

LMAO!!!
dennis...true they are both capable of screwing up and costing someone their life...but WHICH is more likely to screw up? The one who graduated top of the class, or the one who graduated 5th from the bottom?

Big Russ, Left², and libNmod-

Carter graduated 59th at the Naval Academy out of a class of 820, Russ. I won't criticize him here but his Presidency will not go down in history as being stellar. Not top 7%, anyway. Unfortunately for Dems, they like to cling to the meme that Republican presidents and candidates for president are dumb fuck-ups, but the examples of the last two Dem presidents and their respective class ranks hardly makes a compelling argument that we should be concerned by that number.

You guys want to make the case that he was a fuck-up in his early years, so therefore he must be a fuck-up throughout his life. While at the same time you argue that he was once a maverick and a decent politician, but he's somehow now lost his way. Because he may now possibly be the next President, the decency he once possessed is now gone, but the negatives he had in his youth are forever. Am I getting that right? Funny how that works when someone runs for office.

JasonS @ 66:

Oh, you think THIS is a sad chapter in John McCain's life? Well, let me tell you about ANOTHER sad chapter in John McCain's life...the five years he spent in Vietnam!

So, you see that your criticism is totally invalid and you should be ashamed of yourself.

Noun, verb, POW.

5 1/2 years as a POW is a dreadful experience! Sorry though, POW status alone isn't a qualification for President. In fact it it's the opposite. It scares me think how that will affect McCain's judgment in time of crisis. 8 years ago I thought it would make him a pacifist. After the "bomb bomb bomb Iran" song and dance, it scared the hell out of me that McCain (and not George W) would be the one to start nuclear war. McCain WILL lead us into WAR and millions of people will lose life and limb for what? The fight for freedom is here and now in America. Not in Iraq or Iran or some other country that we've blown back into the 16th century.

dennis @ 67:

Big Russ, Left², and libNmod-

Carter graduated 59th at the Naval Academy out of a class of 820, Russ. I won't criticize him here but his Presidency will not go down in history as being stellar. Not top 7%, anyway. Unfortunately for Dems, they like to cling to the meme that Republican presidents and candidates for president are dumb fuck-ups, but the examples of the last two Dem presidents and their respective class ranks hardly makes a compelling argument that we should be concerned by that number.

You guys want to make the case that he was a fuck-up in his early years, so therefore he must be a fuck-up throughout his life. While at the same time you argue that he was once a maverick and a decent politician, but he's somehow now lost his way. Because he may now possibly be the next President, the decency he once possessed is now gone, but the negatives he had in his youth are forever. Am I getting that right? Funny how that works when someone runs for office.

McCain HAS been a fuck-up throughout his life, just like Bush has been. This is amply demonstrated by his inability to keep even the simplest facts straight throughout this campaign. That doesn't concern you, fine. But it should. Unless you have enjoyed the quality of the Bush administration, in which case there's really no hope for you.

As for your swipe at Clinton: if I'm not mistaken, lil' d, you occupy some lilypad in the financial sector swamp. I don't even have to ask you which recent president exercised the most fiscal restraint, and presided over the most economic prosperity, because I know you know. And it hurts, doesn't it? Because you guys just hate him so much.

Howard is now doing as other Bushie Journalist have been doing lately turning on the GOP to save their job. Howard has lie/spin/blame others for the mistakes and crimes of the GOP and White House for 7 years now that it looks like a Democrat will get in office their all changing their stories as if they had lied before.

So you highly doubt McCain is comfortable with the depths he’s now "forced" to sink to? You are a trusting soul, indeed. Ever since I've been following politics (30 years now) he's always been a contemptible, power-abusing creep. He's just now less adept at masking it, now that he's reached his twilight years.

dennis @ 68:

Big Russ, Left², and libNmod-

Carter graduated 59th at the Naval Academy out of a class of 820, Russ. I won't criticize him here but his Presidency will not go down in history as being stellar. Not top 7%, anyway. Unfortunately for Dems, they like to cling to the meme that Republican presidents and candidates for president are dumb fuck-ups, but the examples of the last two Dem presidents and their respective class ranks hardly makes a compelling argument that we should be concerned by that number.

You guys want to make the case that he was a fuck-up in his early years, so therefore he must be a fuck-up throughout his life. While at the same time you argue that he was once a maverick and a decent politician, but he's somehow now lost his way. Because he may now possibly be the next President, the decency he once possessed is now gone, but the negatives he had in his youth are forever. Am I getting that right? Funny how that works when someone runs for office.

Come dude, don't use that "maverick" bullshit myth...you know that Grandpa's moniker is for the criminally dumb. The greatest thing Grandpa ever did in his entitled, underachieving life(besides gold digging that beer bitch) was crashing his civilian murdering plane and becoming a POW. McGeezer has played along like a good Repuke soldier(even when those vile assholes totally disrespected him and his family(where was his "honor" then?) and he has benefited from that.
Crazy Grandpa and his pathetic "you owe me America" attitude is hardly any different than one of those Vietnam vets begging for change at the street corner.

John McCain is a maverick....to the truth.

The gop produced a real stinker this election cycle. This old man doesn't have any other redeeming qualities so they try the pathetic "pow" card after Obama rightly identifies him to America as a rich elitist. The guy is toast.

I guess it's not surprising that Mccain doesn't know much about the economy. They probably weren't allowed to carry any money or conduct business in his POW camp where he draws from for most of his life experience.

Oh and it'll be great fun over the next 4 years anytime we face a crisis for the Whitehouse to simply reply, "Don't blame us! The president was a POW. That's a get out of jail free card don't ya know?!" That will work really well.

You watch,tho, it'll work:

John McCain isn't "out of touch" because he can't remember how many houses he has. He's living the American dream?

The REAL question here is why it upsets Obama so much. Why does he hate success? Only an effete, argula-eating, liberal elitist would criticize someone for being TOO RICH.

And then Obama will make some comment about deciding whether to send his kids to private school (or something) and the script will reverse:

Well, it's all well and good for an out of touch, effete, liberal elitist to have "educational choice," I guess. Too bad Barack Obama doesn't want regular, hard working parents to have the same choices he has!

It'll work, too.

I never understood the mystical nature of the veteran status to begin with. All it really says about a person is that they know enough to not get shot in the middle of a war.. and McCain, being a POW, has only shown that he doesn't know that much.

is there a reason the image is of Faux and Friends Mr. Admin?

Aha, so McPOW is in danger of committing 9iu11iani's 9/11 9/11 9/11 mistake.

CafeenMan @ 32:

Joe Bourgeois @ 28:

I highly doubt he’s comfortable with the depths he’s now forced to sink to

You seem to be free-falling into a previously-established, very-convenient-for-McCain narrative. The harsh realities of politics have laid another good man low. Poor McCain, good hero daddy elect daddy good.
Nobody forced him. He hired the people who slimed his own family.

I would bet money that the GOP made a deal with McCain to allow him to be the nominee. And it went something like, "Only if you know how to be a puppet, John." And he said, "OK".

Oh yeah, for sure. I couldn't agree more. Too bad they picked a puppet that can't speak well, but it worked with bu$h too.

Heh, I guess if FAUX NOISE is allowed to "mistakenly" run the William Ayers ad instead of the McCain ad, C&L is allowed to mistakenly put up the William Ayers ad instead of a picture of Howard Fineman. ;)