McCain's Military Bullshit
Anyone here who reads my stuff knows that I support veterans and rant against those who don't. I feel that they all deserve a healthy dose of our respect and honor. Granted, some of them screw up. A horrifying number of them commit suicide. Many many more are homeless. These are problems that need to be addressed by a new administration because the current one just doesn't care about it.
But fact is, I'm really getting sick and tired of listening to John McCain try to make out that he is a better man, a smarter man, and most of all, has more foreign policy experience and is better fit to be president, simply because he is a vet and was a prisoner of war. It's bullshit.
Being a pilot in the military and being a prisoner, especially in solitary confinement does not make one more savvy when it comes to foreign policy. Indeed, grunts on the ground working in and around foreign soldiers and civilians have a much better chance of broadening their perspectives than do pilots flying thousands of feet above it all.
On the other side of the coin, while having military experience can certainly add a dimension of understanding that goes beyond the borders of the US, not having that experience does not mean that anyone who does is better equipped to make tough decisions and to lead.
This whole vet/prisoner of war/officer/pilot thing that McCain exploits every chance he gets is crap. It doesn't mean anything if its not backed up with sound judgement, consistency and a moral code that transcends the greed and quest for power. In McCain's case - well, it ain't the case. He's old, he's utterly dependent upon others to tell him where he stands today and then he changes that tomorrow. He's inept and just not up to the job.
Ask yourself this. If you were the CEO of a huge, ultra complex, multi trillion dollar company, and you were looking to hire a manager to run the whole show, and John McCain was not any better known than any other applicant, would he be your choice? Of course not. Why? Because he has no qualifications. You're not going to hire anyone because they knew how to fly and spent years in a cell. It's honorable, but it's not what's needed for the job.
Another Mac, General Douglas MacArthur said, "Old soldiers never die, they just fade away." Listen up, John. He's calling your name.
But fact is, I'm really getting sick and tired of listening to John McCain try to make out that he is a better man, a smarter man, and most of all, has more foreign policy experience and is better fit to be president, simply because he is a vet and was a prisoner of war. It's bullshit.
Being a pilot in the military and being a prisoner, especially in solitary confinement does not make one more savvy when it comes to foreign policy. Indeed, grunts on the ground working in and around foreign soldiers and civilians have a much better chance of broadening their perspectives than do pilots flying thousands of feet above it all.
On the other side of the coin, while having military experience can certainly add a dimension of understanding that goes beyond the borders of the US, not having that experience does not mean that anyone who does is better equipped to make tough decisions and to lead.
This whole vet/prisoner of war/officer/pilot thing that McCain exploits every chance he gets is crap. It doesn't mean anything if its not backed up with sound judgement, consistency and a moral code that transcends the greed and quest for power. In McCain's case - well, it ain't the case. He's old, he's utterly dependent upon others to tell him where he stands today and then he changes that tomorrow. He's inept and just not up to the job.
Ask yourself this. If you were the CEO of a huge, ultra complex, multi trillion dollar company, and you were looking to hire a manager to run the whole show, and John McCain was not any better known than any other applicant, would he be your choice? Of course not. Why? Because he has no qualifications. You're not going to hire anyone because they knew how to fly and spent years in a cell. It's honorable, but it's not what's needed for the job.
Another Mac, General Douglas MacArthur said, "Old soldiers never die, they just fade away." Listen up, John. He's calling your name.
posted by Libby Spencer at 5:22 AM
8 Comments:
Sooner or later, his sneer and infamous temper will be his undoing ... hopefully before November.
Somehow, sneer and temper never undid George. I think a lot of people like to be condescended to. It feeds our inherited instinct to grovel and obey.
Someone needed to bring up this nonsense about McCain's military experience. How many of our best presidents were soldiers and how many were not? Yes, had he been on the Joint Chiefs or something at a very high level, I would consider it a plus, but as it is I don't think his Viet Nam experience taught him much or made him a better candidate.
It would be a little more credible a narrative if McNasty actually demonstrated some knowledge about the area and didn't need to ask his people, or his lap dog Holy Joe, what he thinks he means he said.
Among those presidents who had no military service experience are:
* John Adams
* Thomas Jefferson
* John Quincy Adams
* Grover Cleveland
* Woodrow Wilson
* Calvin Coolidge
* Herbert Hoover
* Franklin Roosevelt
* Bill Clinton
I'd vote for any one of them before I would vote for McCain.
Back up for a second. Take a common sense look at John McCain.
This is an old man from a multi generational military war command family. He gets his facts muddled. He loves to say we're winning. He loves command. He loves war. He has no goal for leaving Iraq.
Leaving Iraq is the goal Mr. McCain. Reducing the sounds of battle and reducing the adrenalin rush to old warriors is America's goal.
You can ignore or muddle the facts in your drum and fife vision commander McCain, but winning in Iraq is to leave.
Leaving is only surrender if fighting is your blood call intruding on common sense intelligence.
Thanks for your years of service; your ability to lead clearly has passed.
Very well said.
Being a tough sombitch in the 60's doesn't mean McCain has the juice or the global awareness to lead this country in THIS century.
Having been in the Army and around a lot of tough sombitches myself, I can assure you that a person's military service by itself doesn't assure us of ANYTHING. And a lot of tough guys, including John McCain, are crazy bastards who can think up all kinds of exciting machine-gun-taking adventures for OTHER guys. Screw John McCain. He'll use the military as political Viagra just like Bush and Chaney did and get a lot of wonderful American kids killed for nothing.
Sorry...it's CHENEY. Never could spell worth a damn.
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