The POW “Card”

it’s more of a shield than a card isn’t it.

it was a sacrifice for our country not a “card”.
Is that all Biden can do is mock people.
noun,verb,hair plug -how’s that?

Yes, McCain has played that POW card a little too often. He risks turning his suffering into a joke.

Only people who never serve mock someone who to this day can’t lift up his arms.
It isn’t a card his injuries left him disabled Jake Tapper.
It isn’t a card when you can’t lift up your arms to comb your hair.
McCain can’t go golfing in Hawaii like Obama.
McCain has lived with being disabled for 35 years.
McCain raised his two sons to join the military.
McCain never talks about his two sons.
Jim Webb brought up his sons service. Duncan Hunter brought up his sons service. Tim Johnson used his son’s service.
McCain’s 19 year old son found out McCain won New Hampshire when he was digging himself out of a ditch in anbar province.
On one trip to Iraq the dems were bashing McCain he could have mentioned that he had lunch with his son and his son was over there.
Imagine if Obama had a son who served in Iraq that is all we would hear about it.
McCain has shown great honor not talking about having two sons in the military.
The McCain’s are a family of service and Biden and Obama who never served and play golf love to spit on McCain.
I guarantee you Maureen Dowd can lift her arms over her shoulders unlike McCain.
It isn’t a card when McCain’s arms were hung from a ceiling and tied behind his back with rope to break them constantly.
McCain’s arms are like wood. They are stiff.
McCain has that weird smile because he had his teeth knocked out.
McCain suffered so decades later liberals like Obama and Maureen Dowd could make fun of him.
I have had it with this election.

To Kevin:
The torture left him disabled. Have you ever seen his arms.
He can’t comb his hair. He can’t go bodysurfing in Hawaii like Obama.
He can’t play basketball like Obama.
He can’t go play golf in Hawaii like Obama.
It wasn’t just suffering he has to live with every day for the rest of his life.
You never hear him complain that his torture left him disabled.
Shame on people like Biden and Obama who never served to mock McCain.

I am so tired of the meme that because John McCain fell from the sky and spent 5 years as a POW he is beyond the pale as far as criticism. All you people who bleed for him, who use his experiences as a shield or try to make us feel guilty (can’t raise his arms–good grief!) should just stop.
By the way, did each and every one of you who is protesting so loudly vote for Bob Dole?
Did you protest when the Republicans went after Max Cleland (sp)?
If service is your grail, did any one of you protest the swift boating of John Kerry?
Or would any of your oh-so-defensive people have voted for John Kennedy and his bad back, which he received during war.
Didn’t think so.
Give it up.

McCain is no fiend to the veterans. We won’t forget it either.

Exactly!
‘It isn’t an attack of McCain’s service; it’s an attack on his willness to prostitute that service.’
And by that act, he cheapens it and himself/

58,000 dead in that war who can’t even vote.
He will play it for all it’s worth, but it is no excuse or reason to vote for the man. It gives him no special qualifications to lead.

A lot of POW’s were left in Viet Nam thanks to McCain. Ask Ross Perot how he feels about McCain.

and McCain’s kitchen tables is not a “campaign controversy” -it is a cheap personal attack by a desperate opponent.

again the problem is…using it as a shield against…every single issue we face…is sad and unseemly at best.
But incredibly reckless, disingenuous and discrediting is probably more of an apt description.
To use it to highlight who he is is one thing…
to use it every single question that they have no good answer for…
shows the choice we need to make in voting away from Bush and Mccain and Cheney…and these policies…
and these pu;; your eyes away from the issues tactical “thing” that they did in the last two elections…
where we get the last 8 years.
how’d the last 8 years work for ya with these same policies?

Mcain is no friends to veterns our troops he doesnt care about them really odd coming from military and being pow i respect mccains war service BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN HE WILL BE A GOOD POTUS do the right thing lets get our country back vote obama/biden08

“Why I Will Not Vote for John McCain”
A post by Dr. Phillip Butler who attended the U.S. Naval Academy with McCain and also was POW in Vietnam with him.
An excerpt:
“John was awarded a Silver Star and Purple Heart for heroism and wounds in combat. This heroism has been played up in the press and in his various political campaigns. But it should be known that there were approximately 600 military POW’s in Vietnam. Among all of us, decorations awarded have recently been totaled to the following: Medals of Honor – 8, Service Crosses – 42, Silver Stars – 590, Bronze Stars – 958 and Purple Hearts – 1,249. John certainly performed courageously and well. But it must be remembered that he was one hero among many – not uniquely so as his campaigns would have people believe…”
“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…”

Let McCain remind us as often as he needs to what it means to sacrifice for one’s country and to make sure everyone know that he understands what war is. One of the chief reasons I can’t vote for Obama is I can’t find an instance where hs demonstrated his committment and willing to sacrifice for anyone other than himself. He uses the phrase “same old politics” to prevent his opponent from asking legitimate questions about his backgroun. If Obama wanted this to be about the issues than he should have taken McCain’s offer to do joint townhalls. Instead he refused, except for one on the July 4th weekend.
As a resident from Illinois, Obama’s candicacy offends me in so many ways. The idea that anyone is so gifted that they don’t have to demonstrate any instances of working and succeeding on behalf of their constituents as a prerequisite to higher office is too much for me.

I think through the years Sen. McCain has been pretty restrained. His POW experience effectively counters the homes gaffe because Sen. McCain has certainly not lived his whole life on easy street. Indeed, he never did until he married Cindy McCain. Looks of folks in the media will contort themselves into pretzels to attack McCain and help Sen. Obama.

I thought the exact same thing when I saw the CBS interview. It gets redundant after a while. And there’s also a controversy brewing about McCain time as a POW and what really went on during that period of time.
A similar group that went after John Kerry in 2004 is setting it’s campaign for McCain this fall. Very convincing stuff

I am voting democrat – but everybody has their tag lines. How many times before November will you hear how Obama comes from a single parent home and how Biden took the train home every night (bet you he had an apartment in town).

Obama is allowed to bring up the fact he’s black at will, but a POW isn’t allowed to do so?
McCain’s character is being attacked. He is simply rebutting that.

McCain’s POW experience has been trivialized by being brought up so often in his defense or as a qualification for president. His own rather frequent emphasis on in it also raises the question as to whether he’s laid this experience, which happened 40 years ago, to rest for himself. Other veterans have been through recent, equal and worse experiences. Ask a young American soldier of the Iraqi war who has had his or her face or limbs blown off.

geevil, there is a right sacrifice and a there is the wrong sacrifice. McCain was not successful at school and not in the Navy, he was POW and that is not qualifying anybody to be president, no, his bad judgement has pushed him to be captured early on by the Vietnamese soldiers during the war, another miscalculation from his side. God save America from McWBush.

Any McCain gaffe excuse is he was once a POW. Okay that was years ago. This is now. It’s as Sean Hannity claiming it was okay for McCain to cheat on his first wife b/c he was a POW.
The truth will come out this fall. Democrats are not the only ones who can get swift boated.

I honor and respect the service of John McCain. I recognize and applaud his time spent as a POW. I am having difficulty seeing him use his POW experience as political tool. I have seen him use POW from time his whole political career began. And just recently McCain has used POW extensively – even there was no relevance to subject topic.
John McCain’s reputation is tarnished by continuing to use POW as an excuse. I feel sorry for all other POW’s.

S-”"No self respecting woman should wish for or work for the success of a party that ignores her sex” Susan B. Anthony
_________________________________________________
So you would rather vote for the candidate that responded “That’s an excellent question” to the person at a town hall meeting asking ‘How do we beat the b***h?” referring to your candidate? The man with the worst voting record on women’s issues? Your voting against your candidates wishes? “Country First” If you mean Big oil, Haliburton and tax breaks to those shipping jobs overseas? That’s the “country first” you are voting for? Not buying it – sorry.

Leave John McCain and his POW horror out of this conversation, he can use it as often as he wants.
Five years is a long time to be isolated from the world, let alone having your body brutally abued…these kinds of events are with you forever, each waking moment.
Ever have a horrific car accident, lose a child, this doe not come close to what Mc Cain endured.
He has earned the right to talk about his service any time he feels like it.. He does not use it in a distasteful way. Some here have no idea what sacrifice means. Imagine being in his place for one day…let alone five long years.
some of you people make me ill.Where is your compassion…????????????????

Jake, you forgot one more instance where McCain benefitted from using the POW-get-out-of-jail-free-card: during the Keating Five hearings.
Then it was his buddy Bob Dole who invoked it: “He has been held hostage before under very difficult circumstances. So let us not keep him hostage here in the Senate,” according to the New York Times on October 23, 1990.

Dear Mr. Tapper,
Someone needs to ask Sen. Obama what his definition of “rich” is, since he keeps blasting McCain for saying $5million makes one rich.
You see, if Sen. Obama gives a much lower figure:
a. Someone who makes that amount will come out say, “I’m not rich, I have tuition for my kids, etc.”
and more importantly B. Obama has said that he will only raise taxes on the rich, so if he thinks everyone making a lower figure is rich, guess what, THEY WILL BE TAXED FOR SURE (when in reality, we all will be).
FOOD FOR THOUGHT, Mr. Tapper. I’d ask the good Senator next time you see him.

Astute Student wrote:and more importantly B. Obama has said that he will only raise taxes on the rich, so if he thinks everyone making a lower figure is rich, guess what, THEY WILL BE TAXED FOR SURE (when in reality, we all will be).
Go read Obama’s tax plan for yourself instead of trying to play with the truth. Who knows, after you spend some time ACTUALLY reading his plan you might live up to your name.

SZimmerman,
How often are we reminded, by the media and Barack Obama himself, that he’s black? That the Republicans will try to scare people for voting for him because “did I mention”, he’s black.
Get over it. Obama has run on three thigns:
1. “Change” – of which we still don’t know what he has in mind
2. Voted against Iraq
3. Being black

The veterans that I know–all of them honest, responsible husbands and fathers–really don’t like to talk about their war experiences.
McCain seems a braggart in comparison with them.

Astutestudent-watch the Saddleback Forum and you will have your answers. Warren asked this of both candidates.

Well, McCain should be able to use his background at least as much as Obama cites his oh so difficult years as a community organizer…

Upset because true patriotic Americans respect McCain’s service? Especially when compared to draft evader Biden and drug user Obama?

McCain is using his POW status like an addict blaming having had a miserable childhood for his addiction – he thinks it gives him a free pass no matter what he does. People have to look at who he is *NOW* and not who he was then or before because it his approach to *NOW* that is what his presidency would be about. I do not think he is a bad man, I do think his “handlers” are disrespecting his – and veterans in general – service and sacrifice for this country though unlike most of the other talking points they are rehearsing him on, using this one seems to bother him less.

Outside of cheapening the most relevant portion of McCain’s bio, I’m astounded that NO ONE in the MSM has questioned the logic of pressing the POW issue on voters over and over again. Of course people see it as a heroic episode, but I seriously question whether the issue comforts voters regarding McCain’s presidential sensibilities. First, it only adds to the “old” narrative, and second, it conjures up questions about what kind of impact such an episode has on one’s emotional and mental stability. Anyone considering this portion of his bio would have to ask themselves, how would such a thing impact my own decision making abilities were it to happen to me? Not to mention, anyone who actually knows a POW would have a good idea of the type of negative impact torture and imprisonment has on a person. Again, it’s not just a question of heroism and patriotism, it’s a question of competence and stability. I’m just not convinced that the public considers this as a positive part of his resume when it comes to actually running the country.

Hey geevil, Biden has a son in Iraq RIGHT NOW. Not to mention, he has a pretty dire personal history himself which I’ve NEVER heard him exploit. If the GOP wants to use personal struggles as a get out of jail free card, they should more carefully consider the episodes their opponents could just as effectively exploit.

Jake,
The question is whether McCain is devaluing the experiences of other POWs and military men/women for his own political gain and ambition.
By repeatedly citing his POW experience as a reply to ANY critique of his actions, he does 3 things: (1) emasculates any criticism because the media is afraid to push back, (2) plays to Americans’ tendency to worship all things military, and (3) he makes a mockery of the experiences of other POWs by politicizing the experience.
Imagine if a Holocaust survivor did the same thing.

Hype Bites – When people call into question McCain’s repeated political use of his POW experience, they’re not mocking it. I, for one, don’t think it should be used to get ahead politically, and to do so, trivializes the equal and greater horrors young Americans have recently been through.

I don’t understand how McCain can constantly talk about being a POW. I have several freinds that were in Vietnam and they have never spoken about their experiences. They said the horrors were so unspeakable that things were better left unsaid. And they weren’t even POW’s. I’m not trying to minimize what McCain went through but geeze. How was he not traumatized by it.

I can certainly understand why superior beings like Maureen Dowd, Jake Tapper and Andrew Sullivan, who haven’t sacrificed jack for this country, would be embarrassed by Senator McCain’s superior record of service to this country.
But I think most Americans will see that for the bitter jealousy that it is.

Well, that’s all he has. That’s how he defines himself – POW. Can he get away from it? I don’t think so. My own husband served under horrible conditions and he still suffers from PTSD, so I am pretty sure McSame has his spells. What meds does he take? Invoking his POW experiences for even a hangnail serves only to diminish his service. What about his judgement…should have been more observant, maybe he wouldn’t have got shot down.
POW: Prisoner of W.

The problem is that McCain has said he doesn’t like to talk about his POW experience.
Yet he has used video footage and images from that experience since the beginning of his campaign. And now his campaign is using it to avoid criticism of his gaffes.
It may help him in an election but not so much if he becomes President.

Geevil, you are obviously a Republican through-and-through. You’re no Democrat. Go ahead and vote for McSame.

McCain is a hypocrite. He voted against every bill that has come forward in the last two years to increase veterans health services. He spoke against the new GI Bill, then did not bother to show up to even vote on it. He voted against a mandatory rest period for troops between deployments. He voted against armored vehicles and flak vests for Nat’l. Guard and Reservists. I am one disgusted vet who is not buying the BS that he supports the troops and veterans.

McCain is a fraud.

Paige said: “As a ‘resident from Illinois’ I would expect you to know that Obama gave up a very lucrative career to come back to Chicago as a community organizer to help re-build the south side from closed down plants.”
You mean Barack came to Illinois to make political connections, living in a luxury condo nearly the entire time, all the while never had worked one day at a real job at any point in his entire life.
Obama and Reverend Wright…play off disadvantaged minorities while they live in luxury in white neighborhoods.

Biden is one to talk, lets see how many homes does Obama’s hero the Drunk Ted Kennedy own, or Pelosi, or Gore or Kerry. It is not a sin in this country to own more then one home, hey Obama wants to bail out those people who foreclosed on there 2nd or 3rd or more house. And as pointed out John McCain does not own those houses, hi wife does. So now the Obama camp is going after wives huh?
As far as the POW, only the libs think he is saying it too much, because hey they do not know what a real hero is.
Jake – you should do a blog on the Biden who was instrumental on Clinton getting us involved in a civil war in Kosovo, which is why Russia is mad at us now and in Georgia!
Anyone But Obama in 08′

Pink Elephant, you have got to be one of the most reasonable posters I’ve read in a long time.

spock, what was all the Repub hoopla about Michelle Obama, if they aren’t going after wives? You’re being a just tad bit, a little hypocritical aren’t ya? And it’s just silly to think that McCcain doesn’t share in his wife’s wealth; but, you’re missing the point. That’s not really even the issue. The issue is that earlier in the election, he said that the economy was “fundamentally sound,” that his economic policies want to continue the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy (which would benefit him and NOT the majority of the middle class), that he hs reversed himself from his former 2000 moderate maverick brand to embrace Bush’ policies (which would only continue our current economic situation), and that his own mocking definition of who’s wealthy is those making $5 million a year (which would exclude Obama by his own definition, as he made $4 million on his book sales, and who, btw, answered the question at the Saddleback Forum, to include those in the $200k bracket, as being part of the upper 5%, considering the relativity of geography of course). It goes beyond the pale that he wants to help those who could afford seven homes as he has, when so many are struggling to hold onto one. That’s what makes him out of touch – not that he CAN afford that many, but that he seems utterly unwilling to help any but those who can also afford that many. He even has the man responsible for the housing/mortgage crisis and banking failures through deregulation, in his trusted circle of advisors, Phil Gramm.

I’m sorry, don’t vote for McCain if you don’t want to. But I’m never going to tell a guy who spent 5.5 years in the Hanoi Hilton (ironic, Hilton :-) that he’s mentioning it too much. Frankly, he’s luckly to be alive. He’s done something that 99.99% of us can’t even fathom, and all for our country. If you don’t think it’s a qualification for POTUS, God bless you, don’t vote for him. But he can bring it up all he wants IMO.

“I can’t recall the last vet who constantly and UN-HEROICALLY repeats the events of his service”
You forgot John Kerry that soon?

>>>sheribaby | Aug 25, 2008 1:02:08 PM
Right!
The race card never showed up before McCain’s entering as B O’s opponent!
Never is South Carolina!
Never in regards to Jeremiah Wright!
Never in respect to his “typical white grandmother”!
Never from the pens of his ultra-pro BO bloggers!
Never!

I know a man who proudly wears his dress shirts with short sleeves, even in the dead of winter in New York. Why? He is a survivor of the holocaust and is displaying his serial tattoo for all to see. He is willing to share his experience It is only one reason I admire him. He is also a traditional Democrat who will be voting for John McCain in November.

I think McCain has overplayed the POW card..I did the math…the 5 years he spent as a POW was 7% of his life.
I KNOW what he went through, I HONOR that service…
but what has he done since?
left the first wife because an accident disfigured her
was involved in the Keating 5 scandal
he speaks disrespectfully to his current wife
he gets so ANGRY
I used to like him..I have heard it said the 2000 McCain wouldn’t vote for the 2008 McCain
his record on veterans legsilation is AWFUL
his colleagues speak of his temper
his humor is inappropriate: “Bomb,bomb,bomb Iran”???
frankly he scares me
perhaps 5 yrs as a POW should be viewed as a negative

Ted plays the dead brother “card” again.
The moon?

mccain was o pow by choice as vietnamese did not want him—he stayed by choice as it was a safer place for him———-I THINK WE HAVE A NAME FOR THAT KIND OF BEHAVIOR.————–REMEMBER THE USS FORESTAL.

I was in WW2 i’m proud of my service to my country the U.S of A.
Great men are made of the experience life gave them and McCain is that person I trust. Im a Democrat and to trust our country in the hands of Obama is not getting my vote, if it were Hillary she would get my vote. If he would get elected, Obama will divide this country BIG TIME. Tony

And don’t forget his tying his love of the group ABBA to being a POW. I’m not joking. He was being teased by a reporter for loving ABBA, and he brought up being a POW. The article pointed out that ABBA didn’t release their first record until a few years after McCain was released.
I used to respect McCain’s honorable story, but it has truly become ridiculous. I cannot believe he doesn’t have to answer any questions regarding his policies or record, and has been allowed to just repeat, “I was a POW.” over and over. Why would being held captive make someone a good president anyway? By that measure, we should elect Elizabeth Smart.

I think I would rather vote for a person that made it through the conflict without getting shot down and being a POW. Sorry, but we have so many qualified pilots that did make it back, paid attention and didnt get caught that we might want to look to them for advice on how to handle a war since you spent most of it as a POW. With all due respect, I go for the logical thinker, and the one who made it. It’s all been handed to you since then. Not to mention your previledged family. Go Obama, lets get some common sense in D.C.

Joe Biden is a confirmed thief. He took another’s words and ideas for his own and had to withdraw from is last national run for that reason. Do we forget?