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

[WillPower]

Generally speaking, Presidents who have seen combat are the most hesitant to use military force. Ike is a good example of restraint while LBJ is not. I think McCain would be judicious.

[wyldthings]

I'm confused LBJ was awarded a silver star by Gen. McCarthur for service in WW11. This is the third highest award for combat. Now I understand he was never in combat but was awarded this for flying over the Manilla.

[wmfor]

Golly, have there been eleven World Wars already? And I slept through nine of them! :-)

[TheHandyman]

Johnson was a desk jockey. From his Presidential website here is what he got his silver star for. Proof that smetimes these medals don't mean jack!
"For gallantry in action in the vicinity of Port Moresby and Salamaua, New Guinea, on June 9, 1942. While on a mission of obtaining information in the Southwest Pacific area, Lieutenant Commander Johnson, in order to obtain personal knowledge of combat conditions, volunteered as an observer on a hazardous aerial combat mission over hostile positions in New Guinea. As our planes neared the target area they were intercepted by eight hostile fighters. When, at this time, the plane in which Lieutenant Commander Johnson was an observer, developed mechanical trouble and was forced to turn back alone, presenting a favorable target to the enemy fighters, he evidenced marked coolness in spite of the hazards involved. His gallant actions enabled him to obtain and return with valuable information."

What kind of information, how scared one gets before your evacuate your bowels?

[humuhumunukunukuapuaa]

Yeah, that worked really well for John Kerry, Didn't it? I was amazed at how the conservatives embraced him because of his proclaimed "judicious" stand on war. Yeah right.

Listen, the GOP die-hards wants to see dead bodies, the more the better. If McCain promised that his first act as President would be to nuke the entire middle east, the conservatives would go on a frenzy not seen since Hitler lured Germany into WWII. Alas, most Americans are sick and tired of the GOPs warmongering thus McBombMcCain actually needs to show "restraint" only until he is safely elected.

[new logic]

I seem to remember McCain singing" bombbombbombb bombbomb Iran"

[iPolitics]

What are the Dems waiting for to define him? Now he's going to define himself. Thanks, Hillary. How about slamming him instead of the party nominee Obama. DNC needs to spend some cash 100 years in Iraq, War with Iran, no knowledge on the economy, McBush

[NewJerseyMike]

Completely understandable, seeing the number of wars he went through.

WWI
WWII
Korean
Vietnam
Grenada
Iraq1
Bosnia
Iraq2
Afghanistan
War on turr

Did I miss any?

[ColoradoDan]

The War on American's Sanity?
The War against our Constitution?
The War for Orwellian Doublespeak?
The War against Brown People?
The War against the American Taxpayer?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keating_Five

[leburg]

Yeah, the failed wars on poverty and some drugs.

[thegreatgiginthesky]

War of 1812

[NewJerseyMike]

I wanted clarification on that and the civil war, thanks.

[suekzoo]

War of 1812
Civil War

LOL

[Rotcod]

...Revolutionary War...

[wmfor]

War on Drugs,
War on Terra... (stop making fun of Bush--he's pronouncing it correctly, all right!)

[JulieSA]

Terra? That's a Southern thing pronunciation. Texans don't drop their R's, except in East TX. Bush emphasizes the R's, so it actually sounds more like " tearrr".

[WHATISTHIS]

THIS GUY NEED A SICKO EVALUATIONS!!!

HE THINK HE IS STILL IN WORLD WAR 1&2

YES THIS WORLD IS ALL ABOUT WAR MR. MAC

GO BARACK OBAMA 2008

[CommieKazi]

obombas a good speaker
he can use it whenhe calls pres elect MCCain in nov to give him congrats!!

[NewJerseyMike]

Pres elect of the AARP?

[wmfor]

Congratulations! You finally found the Shift key! In our next class we will discuss when to actually use it.

[Steamboater]

That photo makes Mcain look as ridiculous as Dukakis in that tank. What a silly old man McCain is, still playing the warrior at his age. He probably needed a teleprompter, as he does with all of his speeches, to direct him to the nearest toilet.

[davesideas]

Not for McCain, but he's doing a pretty authentic job of connecting his chin strap...

[Steamboater]

The question is: What's in the chin strap?

[JulieSA]

I went to a McCain rally, and he spoke for at least 30 minutes without teleprompter or notes.

[Steamboater]

He probably had some kind of device like Bush used when in debates. Remember the photo and the bulge?

[filo]

"imperfect servant of my country," indeed

[midwestvoter]

Isn't McBombIran's daughter young enough to follow Dad's footsteps in their glorious victory in Iraq?

[majormoderate]

his son is in iraq

[sarchasm]

After reading Kristol's piece on "McCain's Resume" in the Times, I had to go wash my face because I felt my eyes burning from even having looked at it.

[Colmore]

Well, Kristol being the "war hero" himself (yeah, right) he knows what he is writing about. McCain was a prisoner of war DECADES ago. Since then he has been involved in a lot of shady deals, S&L, etc. Is that a barf bag he is clutching in his hands, or does he travel with his childhood stuffed toy? He is too old, too forgetfu;, too CROOKED for the job. After Georgie, we had better be careful with what is left of the country.

[bikerdude]

Wouldn't it be great if we could get an independent group of shrinks to give each candidate a check up from the neck up and then publish the diagnosis...Kinda like their tax returns becoming public...

[NoahVail]

Biography tour, or memorial tour?

McSame had his chance to be a hero on the USS Forrestal.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Forrestal_(CV-59) If you had to categorize his service record- he was pretty good at crashing his airplane- eager, but inept. Its hard to believe that he would have made it into flight school (or out of it) if he had not been an admiral's kid.

Why being tortured in a POW camp would make someone MORE qualified to be president is mysterious to me. Lets get a guy who suffers from PTSD with his finger on the button- yeah, that's reassuring! Why not give him the retirement in Cottonwood that he deserves, and he can amuse himself by chasing kids off his yard, like most geezers in his cohort.

Look for him to bomb his own aircraft carrier, but if he somehow gets elected look for him to bomb Iran.

[piranhica]

Is JMcC holding red panties? Whose? I demand to know!

[wadenelson1]

>that his errors were responsible for the fiery deaths of 93+ sailors on board an aircraft carrier?

There's really no evidence for that. Spend 20 minutes with Google. Most likely cause of the fire was a Zuni rocket accidentally launched from another plane, not McCain's.

It's fine to dislike a candidate. Accepting unsubstantiated stories about them isn't fair game.

[zizi]

it is not dislike. Granted, his culpability in that fiery blast may be subject to debate but there is nothing else in my posting that is not true. Care to dispute anything else I said?

[bobdevo]

What about the three planes he crashed before seeing combat: First time he tired to land - CRASH!! Assigned to Spain: Violated regs, flew too low, hit power lines . .. CRASH. Stationed in Jacksonville, wanted to be a big shot and fly a jet up to the Army Navy game in Philadelphia . . . CRASH!!!!

Any pilot NOT the son and grandson of admirals would have been cashiered at that point . . . not John Sidney McCain III!!

[JulieSA]

It's not subject to debate. His plane was hit by a rocket from a plane on the other side of the deck.

[wayoutleft]

unless the stories are about john kerry. then it's fine to accept them

[IndependentMeans]

He has been in a military family always, he cannot see beyond his myopic views, he scares the s**t out of me.

[nick1936]

How about some men like general Clark who didn't get shot down like Bush senior or shot down and captured like McCain. How does being a prisoner of war qualifies you to be president.
maybe just singing the song Bomb bomb Iran gets the job done. Americans killed in the Green Zone so repeat after me THE SURGE IS WORKING

[swift goat pet for truth]

The MSM gives him a free pass, no matter what idiotic thing he says. They did the same thing with Bush. McCain counts on the American people equating years as a prisoner of war with wisdom on foreign affairs. They will not equate the current financial situation with GOP incompetence in handling the economy. And the MSM will help the American people do this.

It just does not matter what McCain did or has to say.

[wayoutleft]

mccain has a lot of flaws- but he must not be allowed to vault into the white house on his military record. he must be ridiculed and made fun of for his mindless bombing of a nonbelligerent country- instead of facing the immorality of the viet nam war like so many real heroes did by refusing to be pushed into killing people for another dumb hick from texas in the white house. bush must be associated with johnson in the absurd mccain drama- and mccain must be linked to the overall insane disaster of the viet nam war. the killing fields and french footage of north vietnam under the bombing should be used.

[Taan]

There are just causes for military action and foolish ones. Our leaders don't seem able to distinguish between the two.