The real story of John McCain
There is a mythology built up about ‘maverick’ McCain the war hero that is simply not based on fact. Recent probes into various aspects of McCain’s personal history tear aside the curtain and reveal a very different person than that presented in the MSM.
The first area that bears investigation is McCain’s military record. On Huffington Post, Jeffrrey Klein lays out what is known about McCain’s Navy career and points out disturbing gaps. What he finds is that McCain graduated in the bottom 1 per cent of his Annapolis class — and then got a plum assignment as an aircraft carrier pilot — perhaps because both his father and grandfather were four-star admirals. After the Naval Academy his performance was less than stellar. Klein quotes an otherwise highly favorable biography of McCain by Robert Timberg:
[A]fter a European fling with the tobacco heiress, John McCain reported to flight school at Pensacola in August 1958…. [H]is performance was below par, at best good enough to get by.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-klein/mccains-secret-questionab_b_107409.html
Most stories of McCain’s career as a Navy flyboy mention the fact that he was shot down over Vietnam and held prisoner by the North Vietnamese — and barely mention the fact that the plane that he was flying was also lost. However, most of the public is not aware that John McCain crashed four other planes over the course of his career, making him a very expensive Naval pilot for the taxpayers to maintain. He was very crash prone.
Another aspect of McCain’s history is laid out in the Daily Mail (UK) in an article by Sharon Churcher entitled “The wife John McCain callously left behind.” http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1024927/The-wife-John-McCain-callously-left-behind.html
There is no reason to discuss here the personal details of McCain’s dalliance with his current wife Cindy while still married to his first wife who was crippled in an auto accident while awaiting McCain’s return from a Vietnamese POW camp. But the entire episode of McCain’s divorce does shed light on McCain’s character and his attitude toward marital fidelity that would be of grave concern to many members of the Republican base.
Another part of the historical record that raises concern about McCain’s fitness to be president is the fact that he is collecting $58,000 in tax-free disability payments every year. This amount was revealed in the course of financial disclosures by the campaign. Most Vietnam era vets are not receiving such a high disability payment. It suggests that McCain was judged to be completely disabled and unable to work by the Navy. But the nature of his injuries and resulting disabilities have never been revealed. Does McCain suffer from PTSD? Does he exhibit long-term psychological effects from his imprisonment as a POW? Do his well-documented anger outbursts have anything to do with the long term effects of PTSD? How severe are his physical injuries? We are told that he cannot raise his arms above his head but not what caused this condition. Is his condition deteriorating? Is McCain at 71 up to the rigors of the Presidency?
McCain campaign advisor Mark Salter says he is “technically disabled” — “tortured for his country” but refuses to provide any further details or corroborating evidence.
Without full disclosure of both McCain’s military records and medical history there is no way for the voting public to know what the answers are to these and similar questions about McCain’s health and fitness.
The American public has the right to know. John McCain should make the records public that would settle these concerns once and for all. And the sooner he does it the better. A full discussion of McCain’s disability payments can be found at http://www.americablog.com/2008/06/why-is-mccain-getting-58000-year-in.html#disqus_thread
Explore posts in the same categories: John McCain, politicsTags: 2008 election, John McCain, McCain's disability, McCain's first wife, McCain's military record, politics
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Bluebanshee's Weblog 
July 12, 2008 at 8:04 pm
I urge everyone who reads this to contact the MSM and ask them why they aren’t giving full coverage to some of the bizarre remarks and strange flip flops of John McCain. In just this last week, McCain’s major economic advisor, Phil Gramm, stated that Americans are “whiners” for complaining about the economy. McCain called social security a “disgrace” and seemed ignorant of how this program actually works. He claimed the support of a number of economists who, when contacted, denied that they were supporting him. He joked about killing Iranian civilians, and denied statements he had made in the past that are recorded on tape.
I contacted AP and asked them to keep their reporting “fair and balanced.” I can just imagine the coverage all these things would have received had Obama done any of them.