I was interested to read about John McCain’s experiences as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Back in the late sixties and early seventies while I was blissfully living my own life of going to college, meeting RT and beginning our life together, John McCain was living the life of a prisoner of war. In thinking about who I would want for our next president, the choice is clear. Who better to make wise decisions for our country than someone who has experienced first hand the brutality of war - someone who knows intimately the depths of depravity to which people can stoop - but someone who also knows the importance of honor, patriotism, courage and the very true sense of freedom.
In reading about him, I learned why his hair is so white. I learned that when he was faced with hard decisions, he sided with integrity and honor.
Of course being a POW doesn’t qualify a person to be president. However, it DOES mean that McCain has had unique experiences that enable him to see beyond the particularly sheltered life of the average American. When I see all the Democratic sheeple chanting for “change” and chanting “Yes we can!” (yes, we can WHAT?) I’m appalled at the lack of depth and thought in their politics. A smooth talker and promises of handouts have them enthralled. They have this warped sense of entitlement that has no consideration for the cost of all the things they feel they’re entitled to. Billary and the Obamanation are so deep into their own world of liberal delusions that it is scary to think what a presidency by either of them would do to the foundation of our country. Sure, we would survive a presidency by either of them, but we would come out of it decidedly more socialist - the exact opposite of the intent of our founding fathers.
While the worst experiences of Clinton’s or Obama’s lives are likely related to anxiety over a spouse’s lack of fidelity (in Clinton’s case) or having to defend oneself aginst charges of inexperience (in Obama’s case) or lack of sleep as a result of having to fight each other for the Democratic nomination (in both their cases), McCain has dealt with some REAL worst case scenarios in his lifetime.
Here is some information about what McCain has been through.
John McCain’s capture and imprisonment began on October 26, 1967 . . . when his A-4E Skyhawk was shot down by a Soviet-made SA-2 anti-aircraft missle over Hanoi. McCain fractured both arms and a leg, and then nearly drowned when he parachuted into Truc Bach Lake in Hanoi. After he regained consciousness, a mob gathered around, spat on him, kicked him, and stripped him of his clothes. Others crushed his shoulder with the butt of a rifle and bayoneted him in his left foot and abdominal area; he was then transported to Hanoi’s main Hoa Loa Prison, nicknamed the “Hanoi Hilton” by American POWs.
Although McCain was badly wounded, his captors refused to give him medical care unless he gave them military information, beating and interrogating him. Only when the North Vietnamese discovered that his father was a top admiral did they give him medical care and announce his capture. His status as a POW made the front pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post.
McCain spent six weeks in the Hoa Loa hospital, receiving marginal care. Now having lost 50 pounds, in a chest cast, and with his hair turned white, McCain was sent to a different camp on the outskirts of Hanoi in December 1967, into a cell with two other Americans who did not expect him to live a week; they nursed McCain and kept him alive. In March 1968, McCain was put into solitary confinement, where he would remain for two years. . .
In August of 1968, a program of severe torture methods began on McCain, using rope bindings into painful positions, and beatings every two hours, at the same time as he was suffering from dysentery. . .
Hi injuries left him permanently incapable of raising his arms above his head. He subsequently received two or three beatings per week because of his continued refusal to sign additional statements. . . .
McCain refused to meet with various anti-war peace groups coming to Hanoi, not wanting to give either them or the North Vietnamese a propaganda victory based on his connection to his father. From late 1969 on, treatment of McCain and some of the other POWs became more tolerable after disclosures to the world press of the conditions to which they were being subjected. . .
Altogether, McCain was held as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for five and a half years . . . McCain was finally released from captivity on March 15, 1973.
When that phone rings at 3 A.M., I’m hoping it’s McCain who answers it and handles whatever is going on.
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March 10th, 2008 at 6:45 am
AMEN!!!!
March 13th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Very well said!!!
March 14th, 2008 at 4:10 am
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