John McCain's Biography Tour To Show How War Dominates His World View

AP writes about McCain's biography tour:

Republican Sen. John McCain opened a new chapter in his presidential campaign on Monday, casting himself as an "imperfect servant of my country," descended from a family of U.S. warriors devoted to honor, courage and duty.

In remarks both personal and philosophical, McCain recalled ancestors buried at Arlington National Cemetery, and mused about "the honor we earn and the love we give when we work and sacrifice with others for a cause greater than our self-interest."

Bloomberg says the tour will "underscore how war dominates his world view":

John McCain's weeklong "biography tour" to showcase his half-century of public service will underscore how war dominates his world view.

"McCain's record of noble service is almost a singular asset in his campaign," said David Gergen, a professor of public service at Harvard University who advised four presidents. "The question is whether he can convince people that he will not only keep us safe but also be cautious in using military power."

Comments

[GingerM]

Is there anything in the tour about his first wife? A supermodel who was in a car accident, which disfigured and disabled her while McCain was a P.O.W. When McCain got back home, he divorced her and married the wealthy new girlfriend Cindy .

[Gordon]

Is Clinton crazier than McCain?

McCain doesn't have paranoid delusions about being shot at, as far as I know.

Nutcase advantage: McCain

I am going with Obama by default: he's sane. The others are not.

[sebocd]

What a picture! Who's red pantys is McCain clutching? His wife's or the lobbyist's?

[johnmorgan]

In the photo, is McCain holding red panties?

[Benny59]

Wonder what the caption under that helicopter picture should be? My entry is: "No Senator, the teddy bear has not made it through customs yet. Hold onto this for awhile."

[Benny59]

or..."No Senator, don't worry. That thing about bin Laden being here was just a joke the Blackwater guys made up in the messhall."

[Benny59]

or..."What do you mean the pilot is from Arizona and on his 6th deployment."

[Benny59]

or..."We only threw them out of the helicopter in Vietnam if they didn't talk. Don't worry, we don't torture anymore."

[Kundera]

HOWARD DEAN ENDORSES MCCAIN

Even though he didn't really mean to.

Howard Dean 2004: The Medals Matter

"The real issue is this," Dean said in March 2004, when endorsing formal rival Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., "Who would you rather have in charge of the defense of the United States of America, a group of people who never served a day overseas in their life, or a guy who served his country honorably and has three Purple Hearts and a Silver Star on the battlefields of Vietnam?"

McCain, by the way, has been awarded the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, two Bronze Star Medals, a Purple Heart and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

[CarlsV]

Not to mention the vc's friendship medal and a big hug from ho chi!

[Mojane]

It's the great American romance, the warrior with big, huge, giant guns and monstrous weapons and bombs. The John Wayne of it all. The seduction of power, of BIG everything. Whopper this, giant that, strongest this, baddest that. Big monster trucks, monster muscle building, extreme fighting, SUVs, fast bad-ass muscle cars, racing to oblivion, defiant to the end. Middle finger to the anti war, peace-loving, environmentally-conscious, commie, socialist suckers (read weakling pussies).

So much fear, deadly dangerous fear-driven bragidocio, chest-pounding, my country right or wrong, thick-headed, ignorant, hateful energy.

It's ironic to me that the all of the above is driven by chicken-shit fear. And now we find ourselves in a Roman Empire spiral with Mighty-Mites running the show. What the hell is the next administration and Congress going to do with the giant, morbidly obese war machine we have hung around our necks? How many people are employed by the military-industrial complex? Their lives, their economy is dependent on the "defence" machine. McCain is their savior. Is he going to transform our economy from a warrior nation to one that can sustain, maybe save the planet? (O, yeah) Is there anyone who can at this point?

I see Obama and become excited that maybe we have a chance, and then I just sink into a deep funk thinking of the huge obstacles ahead ..... the biggest romance of all.

[Benny59]

You left out the Viagra warning about calling a doctor if you have an erection lasting longer than 4 hours.

I really like what you said and could not agree more. Maybe there needs to be more audacity in the "Audacity of Hope". We got by other wars and times of testing...maybe all we have left is hope? This is the most important election since Hoover, and for many of the same reasons.

Peace to you and your family.

[UNCLEJOE]

McCain War Hero?
Six and a half years as a communist POW; no medals, not even a Good Conduct Medal and he is propped up as a hero.
58,000 American soldiers died in Vietnam;
12 million men and women served in WW II;
If 'serving your country during a war' makes you a war hero, then count me in.

But than that does sound absurd! We serve as our patriotic duty and to call all servicemen and women heros just for doing what is expected of them demeans the title of "Hero'.

And calling McCain a War Hero because he was a POW demeans that noble title WAR HERO.
So let's stop this BS of calling of a soldier who never even won a Good Conduct Medal a 'WAR HERO.

[Kundera]

what makes him a hero is he was allowed to leave the POW camp and chose to stay with his men. Talk about loyalty! I don't know anyone including me who would do such an amazing thing.

[CarlsV]

that "story" has never been corroborated!!

[johnmorgan]

Yes, and the media never called Kerry a war hero. Quite the opposite.

[gotalife]

Of course, the story about Clinton not paying her bills is a lie. Total bs, as usual.

The corporate media have no shame in their ugly bias and Obama and mcbushie are both frauds.

Americans are consumed with hatred and whacked out on prescription drugs.

Lower your expectations people so you will not be shocked that nothing will change.

Adapt to the new America.

[aquarius2001]

You're delusional, and by the way...this is not the first time during this campaign that she failed to pay her bills.

[Chandidevi]

Here"s the real the real number of dead from the Iraq War 2_ US Dept. of Veterans: 73,846 US troops dead, 1,620,906 disabled

http://quebec.indymedia.org/en/node/28224?%20PHPSESSID=42cf5d64711fa8ffa6d3baa065657e95

[Tubby]

Looks like drugs have fried your brain.

[Nyland8]

We don't need a bio to understand John "INCOMING!" McCain's world view or how it is driven by war.

Any candidate caught singing, "ª "Bomb, bomb, bomb. "¬ Bomb, bomb Iran"©" has already revealed too much about themselves.

8

[drakke]

Completely accurate: just another aging republican psychopath. BTW, in the front page picture of him, whose the roboclone cyborg warrior to his right. Is that a modern version of the SS "deathshead" on his helmet. Very alarming "people".

[FullChat]

If you vote for McCain, you vote for:
100 years in Iraq, and
War with Iran, which leads to
The Draft

[UpstateNYer]

I hope we can keep our troops in Iraq for 100 years, because the only way congress would allow that to happen would be if they weren't getting killed.

I guess it is pretty unrealistic to expect victory though.

When has McCain suggested declaring War on Iran? I've been following this election pretty closely and as far as I remember he has never proposed an invasion. Do you think that Congress would approve such a war?

[johnmorgan]

Hillary's already voted for it.

[johnmorgan]

McCain made it clear when he said "Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran." That's all I needed to hear. For McCain, war is the answer to EVERY problem. The military is all he knows. It's all his family has ever done.

[bronceye]

Another republican from La Mancha. Will we ever run out of windmills?

[conscioushope]

"impossible dream......", sadly.

[neocon43]

Not as long as you keep putting up dog candidates.

[Lysandor]

There are at least 10 "civie" jobs in this country for every military job. The simple facts are this: Our way of life revolves around "going to war" to protect and preserve a policy that requires a greater percentage of the worlds resources then our population needs -- at the expense of others. There is no pretty way out of this bind. Either we take more then our share, or we lower our standard of living until it achieves equilibrium with the rest of the planet. No politician in his or her right mind will ever call for option 2 -- with good reason -- so we are left with manufacturing rationales for "war" that are deliberately deceptive, so that the average American can go on eating at McDonald's and Chili's, while watching 200+ channels of shit on their cable tv. All of this talk about the nobility of sacrifice and honor is just window dressing for the truth. Until we decide to move off this planet we must fight for our share of its resources with everyone else, and our "share" is LARGER then everyone else's.

[alaintex]

Good points.

The Gore thread earlier today showed that too. Gore, and everyone sitting in front of a computer screen reading this is not willing to give up their stuff to average out the worlds "standard of living".

Remember, the meek shall inherit the earth...

... but they're meek, we'll just take it back.

[oneeyedodin]

The insects shall inherit the Earth.

[oneeyedodin]

Oh boy! Did you ever hit the proverbial nail. Good post. One ony needs to read the History of the 'Dirty Thirties' , WWII and its aftermath. The Truman Doctrine has been the cornerstone of American political bullshit ever since it came into being. Eisenhower's phrase and warning of the Military-Industrial Complex has become trite but nevertheless remains true. I truly believe that it is too late to turn your country around. Strange that more Americans cannot see the writing on the wall. Strange also that they remain so ignorant of the history of their own country. Strange that they cannot see that the present presidential candidates are reincarnations of past candidates. Skin colour( yeah CDN) and gender are irrelevant

[Ihaveadream]

Correction - they are NOT civie jobs, they are CONTRACTED OUT jobs and those companies are increasingly not even US companies. As Eisenhower said - beware the military-industrial complex.

Bush and Cheny have seen to it that the military now contracts out most everything that used to be self sustaining: repairing everything from vehicles to radios, mess halls, putting up their own tents, showers and latrines - the list is extenstive. One example - if the military put up their own showers they would ground the electric water heaters properly and they wouldn't be electrocuted. The contractor obviously used unqualified, imported help paid slave wages while charging the US taxpayers millions and will not be held accountable for the murder of the GIs who were electrocuted while taking a shower. They thank their benefactors: Bush/Cheney.

[speakingtruth2power]

JW McBomb's personal history is very similar to our current pResident's.

His father and grandfather were powerful people involved in the industry

of war and just like W, JW was a fighter pilot who went missing for awhile.

Both have connections to the Savings & Loan failures that cost taxpayers

Billion$ and now, want the GWOT to go on for years costing US Trillion$

ST2P