Tuesday, April 22, 2008

JOHN MCCAIN

McGovern To McCain: I Wasn't Shot Down.

George McGovern, much more of a jerk than I ever expected:

Let me tell you what I would say to John McCain: neither of us is an expert on national defense. It's true that you went to one of the service academies but you were in the bottom of the class. It's true that you were a pilot in Vietnam, that you were shot down and spent most of the war in prison and we all sympathize with that and honor you for your courage. But you and I both had these battle experiences, you as a Navy fighter plane, I as an army bomber. I am not going to criticize your war record and your knowledge of national security but I don't want you criticizing mine either.

If I'd be allowed just one little dig at Senator McCain, since he gave me. I would say, 'John, you were shot down early in the war and spent most of the time in prison. I flew 35 combat missions with a 10-man crew and brought them home safely every time.'

Yesterday, spurred by Dean and Obama's comment-halving attacks, and the inane "John McCain is so old" web ad, I wondered aloud if the Democrats were throwing every attack against the wall and seeing what sticks. This would appear to be another step in that effort.

By the way, several Campaign Spot readers wonder if the increasingly unhinged and obnoxious attacks on McCain are an attempt to goad him into losing his temper, to create a "macaca" moment they can use to define the Republican candidate from now until November.

UPDATE:  From a reader:

I can tell you that what you are surmising meshes with a comment I heard at a dinner party recently.  One of the guests was a PR person for MoveOn.org and he told the a few of guests that the Dems were planning to go after McCain on his war record.  Specifically, they wanted to hammer home that he graduated at the bottom of his class and that he crashed a few planes and wasn't really the hero he claimed to be.

They saw it as a return favor for what they perceived as the unfair "Swift Boating" of Kerry.  The McGovern remarks and the Rockefeller remarks do appear to be trial balloons for such a strategy.

I did manage to hide my amusement and mention to the guy that this might not be the wisest course of action against McCain, but he was really sold that this was a great idea.

Interesting. Not long ago, I was shooting the breeze with a Democratic consultant, and he said something along the lines of, "if it's up to me, this election will be about John McCain making propaganda for the North Vietnamese." I presumed he was joking, but apparently there are e-mails circulating charging that McCain is "the Manchurian Candidate."

I find this striking defense of McCain from, of all places, MediaMatters.org (this was during the debate on interrogation techniques):

"Demands for military information were accompanied by threats to terminate my medical treatment if I did not cooperate," he wrote.

"I thought they were bluffing and refused to provide any information beyond my name, rank and serial number, and date of birth. They knocked me around a little to force my cooperation."

The punishment finally worked, McCain said. "Eventually, I gave them my ship's name and squadron number, and confirmed that my target had been the power plant."

Recalling how he gave up military information to his interrogators, McCain said: "I regret very much having done so. The information was of no real use to the Vietnamese, but the Code of Conduct for American Prisoners of War orders us to refrain from providing any information beyond our names, rank and serial number." ...

Eventually, I gave them my ship's name and squadron number, and confirmed that my target had been the power plant. Pressed for more useful information, I gave the names of the Green Bay Packers' offensive line, and said they were members of my squadron. When asked to identify future targets, I simply recited the names of a number of North Vietnamese cities that had already been bombed. [Page 194*]

I'm only half-joking when I say John McCain is as close as we'll ever get to President Jack Bauer. 

04/22 09:27 AMShare