Re: Some on left target McCain's war record

On Mon, 30 Jun 2008 07:25:30 -0700, Rita <Rita@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:30:19 -0400, "George Z. Bush"
<georgezbush@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

From the vantage point of being a military survivor of WWII, Korea, and Viet
Nam, I'd like to offer my take on the value of his service.

First of all, on being a POW, I've never confused that status with that of
someone who's performed a heroic act at some level. We need to keep in mind
that he didn't volunteer to be a POW....it was a condition imposed upon him
against his will....and he didn't become one in the process of saving a
comrade-in-arm's skin, so the matter of heroism needs to be discounted as
not being applicable.

I've always viewed POWs as being colleagues who, against their will, were
forced to accept minimal living conditions and basic freedoms as a result of
their service. As such they are certainly deserving of sympathy and
support, but not of veneration for heroism because they underwent that
deplorable experience.

As far as the quality of his service having prepared him for the
all-encompassing duties of the presidency, that's a laughable thought. Both
of us concluded our military careers having made the identical amount of
progress and that's where the similarity stops. He should have been far
more successful if for no other reason than that his father and grandfather
were both Admirals in the U. S. Navy and there should have been a tradition
of excellence in military service in his family. OTOH, I went far beyond
what I thought might have been reasonably possibly, considering that my
father was a self-employed *** metal and roofing contractor who never went
to college and one of my grandfathers (I am told) was a horse smuggler in
the Ukraine who also never went to college (although I couldn't swear that
he never went to jail).

So, if McCain is anything, he's probably an underachiever who would, in a
matter of days if not hours find himself way beyond his depth if the Oval
Office became his workspace. I probably would have as well, but no one
would have ever expected more than that from me.

Gary wrote:
In a nutshell --"... besides being tortured, what did McCain do to
excel in the military?" -- gj

In a nutshell, nothing in particular other than to survive. Does that
answer your question?

(Snip)

George Z.

The issue seems to be "do McCain's particular experiences in the
military taken as a whole give him a big leg up in filling the role
of commander in chief"? Not just the fact he spent a good part of
his early life in the military but at what level and what strategic
decision making was entrusted to him.

I do think it is churlish to criticize, as some do, caving into
torture -- it is a no brainer that is what torture almost always
results in. And why it is an unreliable method of trying to
extract truthful information.

Take that out of the equation and what do you have? A man who was
a fighter pilot along with thousands of others. Who was afforded
the opportunity for a first-class education in military strategies
and failed to take advantage of it.

That is not exactly reassuring to me.

You have a man who chose to be tortured rather than betray his fellow
prisoners and accept an early release. A man who could barely walk
when he was released, and to this day can't raise his arms above his
shoulders, and you sit back and find fault.

Military service is not a prerequisite for service as president of the
United States, but apparently being an obsequious worm is a
prerequisite for being a supporter of Barack Obama.
.

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