McCain: I 'Didn't Love America' Until Held Prisoner (VIDEO)

Republicans have hammered Michelle Obama for her remarks in February that she was proud of America "for the first time in my adult life." Tonight, however, Dan Abrams showed footage he uncovered of a Fox News interview with John McCain on March 13, 2008, in which McCain said, "I didn't really love America until I was deprived of her company."

Abrams thinks McCain's comments could undermine the "right wing's steady attacks against Michelle Obama."

[WATCH]

Comments

[NatteringNabobs]

Thank God McCain was a POW.

He definately wouldn't be a Senator nor running for president. Because he wouldn't love his country.

He'd be John McCain the 72 year old angry tenant of space 334 at the Tempe Arizona Mobile Home Park "The Villages 55 and over". He would be the womanizing old guy that would get drunk at the local VFW and spew stories about all the gooks he shot down.

I can see it now. :-)

[tschlak]

Correction: he did not qualify for fighter pilot (didn't even qualify for bomber, if you want to get technical) because he did so miserably at the Naval Academy. He just napalmed villages.

Of course, he wouldn't let the truth get in the way of some good ol' drunken ramblings...

[Fremon]

During the 60's we carried the A4s(McCains type attack bomber) as Carrier Air Patrol (CAP) on an Anti Sub Carrier. These A4 were to fend off any air attack should they arrive (cold war games and mentality). Basically they went up to photograph long range Russian large aircraft that came out to photograph our mission group. Everyone knew these A4s could not ward off any real threat to the carrier group. If that were the case we hoped that those Russian pilots were the equivalent in ability to McCain and Bush 2.

[gage]

YOU are not qualified to comment on this, apparently, since everything in your comment is incorrect.

[crossoverwriter]

I am so sick about hearing how noble McCain was to have been a POW. As if that justifies worshipping the ground he walks on. He was in the wrong place at the very wrong time!
Being a POW does not make him brilliant, a good politician, fit to run the country.
Let's get real here.

[djh1]

ROTFLMAO!! Good one Nabobs. You pegged him.


"Hey! C***! Bring me another beer! So where was I? Oh yeah, I says 'you gooks ain't getting nothin' outta me.' I'da killed 'em all, but I knew I couldn't walk out the jungle with any more than two of those other weak-a** POW's on my back, and I didn't want to leave the others behind. C***!!!! Hurry the F*** up with that beer! Somethin' besides Budweiser! If I see another f***ing can of Budweiser I'm gonna go Deer Hunter up in here!"

[NatteringNabobs]

LOL..."Hey C**t, bring me another beer."

Classic...

[ApolloSpeaks]

IMAGINE OBAMA IN A VIETNAMESE GULAG

Imagine a gentle, soft, sensitive soul like Barack Obama in a Vietnamese gulag undergoing the torture and brutality suffered by John McCain? He would have quickly perished in the experience.

Imagine Obama meeting with Gorbachev at Reykjavik? He would never have walked out of that meeting like Reagan did-a move that proved crucial for ending the Cold War.

A weak foolish man like Obama meeting with our enemies would be dying for a deal, any deal, a bad deal, a Chamberlain deal.

Tell me do any of you Obamerites think that your hero would have faired any better than JFK at Vienna with Khrushchev? A meeting that set the stage for the Cuban Missile Crisis which nearly triggered a nuclear war? Khrushchev would have completely flattened him. Obama can't hold up a candle to JFK. He may have JFK's youthful vitality, a bit of his coolness and a dash of his charm, but nothing else.

What most Americans will look for in a presidential candidate on Election Day is a real rock solid iron ribbed patriot with the courage and character to lead them in war time. Not a weak, naive, inexperienced, dissembling, pretentious fool whose patriotism is questionable and is unfit for command.

[qdog112]

Is mental illness a family trait or did you acquire it along the way?

[robodweeb]

"I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences." - Weak, foolish man.

"I Believe that success will be fairly easy." - Experienced "expert".

[Thron]

With you appolo with are safe. Thanks for your insides. It did help a lot.

[LuvDaH8ters]

Up until ANYONE is put in a situation as harrowing as torture, or until anyone actually faces such adversity.. NOONE knows how they are going to act. You might THINK you might act in a certain way, but you dont know... just like you dont know that Obama is naive, weak, or how he would act under the same circumstances as McChancla. He did say lets not go to war, it might be a bad idea... one of the few who did when it was s political disadvantage.... That does not sound too naive or weak, speaking against the masses and group think ideology that was being purveyed at the time... really all your doing is name calling... pretty weak, naive, and pretentious... I think, but i could be wrong.....

[kohoutek]

Nice string of hypothetical conclusions with nothing to support them but your own fear and paranoia. Which, of course, is the Republican stock in trade.

[EvtheBev]

Patriotism - the last refuge of the scoundrel (Oscar Wilde).

[Burkelbile]

amen ev

[lykitis]

McCain started loving this country when he married Cindy's billions. As horrible as his POW time and torture must have been, he came back to a crippled wife...he left her. Although his ex-wife supports him (probably because of the financial support she's received) she has stated that John couldn't handle mid-life and that drove them to divorce. Correct me if I'm wrong, but within months of returning...he was hooked up with the billion dollar babe. I don't think he meant he didn't love American until he was deprived of her company, I'll take it he started loving American when he married the money. That money should help him through old life crisis. Bottom line, if the right wants to use Michele's "really" statement...the left just heard John's "didn't love..." statement.

[gage]

"Correct me if I'm wrong,"

You are. It was several years later, in 1979.

[OSUStudent]

Actually, he did indeed start fooling around with her within months of his return, it just took a couple years until he divorced his wife and married her.

[ApolloSpeaks]

Would you say the same about John Kerry's marriage to T. Heinz?

[bosshogg]

this is so delicious it has to be fating...................................

[gladys46]

LOL!! Decadent! I still think RNC will yank him out in September!! Last ditch effort with another repub! Mc is soooo tainted!

[OregonCoaster]

Will this end the right wing's out of context quote attacks? Of course not. The logic of the comparison is fine, but the right wing doesn't care as long as they can seem to have the authority of a quote or a quick video loop.

Lars Larson is like most of the local radio right-wingnuts: he attacks based on any snippet his producers can find that support his off the edge of the flat earth politics. He is interested in context when it is a McCain quote and he distorts the meaning of context when he's talking about Michelle Obama. All's fair in swift boating is their game.

Of course the context of the Michelle O quote is a whole speech in which she attests to her great good fortune and the wonderful opportunities affored by our great country. Lars will never listen to that because the quotes and the gotcha are all he's interested in. Definitely not context or reality.

Lars has been a creepy uncivil voice in Oregon broadcasting for years. It is a shame that he gets a wider voice on Dan's program.

[robodweeb]

Kinda like that loon Chris M made a fool of who was shouting "appeaser" without knowing what it meant.

[wellinformed08]

i listened to Lars one day and got physically sick to my stomach. I try to listen to all sides to make informed, educated decisions but some some people make it impossible to do that. Hannity, OReilley and Lars are some of those people.

[ApolloSpeaks]

Then how do you explain her 20 year membership in a profoundly anti-American church that has more love for Africa than the US.. No one who truly loved their country would go within a hundred miles of that toxic hate filled place

[editrix66]

I understand the need to call McCain on his hypocrisy, but let's do it and move on. Of course, both Obama and McCain love their country. The entire attack by the Republicans is a smokescreen to detract voters from the horrible condition of the country. We can point out the hypocrisy of McCain while also pointing out that McCain's comment could be miscontrued to mean that he did not love his country until he was captured. Luckily, we as intelligent people understand nuance, and we understand McCain meant that his love for his country was underscored after he was captured. We understand that he always loved his country. Now, we can say, could we please have the same courtesy for the Obamas? If people are terrified to talk at all for fear of every comment being picked apart, Americans will get nothing but canned speech.

[Jellybelly]

Didn't you learn anything from the past elections when the Republicans pounce on the Democrat's candidate's record? TV advertisments made up of lie after lie. If you don't come back against them and fight them, you all but lose. John Kerry never opened his mouth against the Swift boat group.

[GiveUsFree]

I don't know if I agree with everything you said. Have you ever been beaten and tortured to a point where you broke - just broke mentally and physically? How do we know that his mind isn't warped? I could care less how the media attempts to sell John McCain, like he's apple pie. He made 32 anti-American propaganda videos while in Hanoi Hilton. 32! WTF! I could see one, maybe two after you beat my a** constantly. I don't know, I might have just said kill me you SOBs. But 32 videos is a lot of damn cooperating with the enemy for a WAR HERO.
I don't know. Maybe he didn't want to be in the Navy, but felt he had to because of his family. Maybe he blamed them for being captured, locked up, and for lost time. Who knows what this guy thinks now. Hell, he changes his mind by the minute. He has an anger problem. The media can give him a free pass, but I won't. I will not vote for this phony. Damn that! You have to be INSANE to vote for McCAIN!

[thinklib]

Well said.

Nice to see a level-headed person posting here.

[billkarwin]

The attacks on Michelle Obama were senseless to begin with, so why should this revelation have any effect on them? It's all just politics, it has nothing to do with rationality. As long as it gathers them more donations than they lose for being "negative", both sides will use any perceived weakness to attack (emphasis on _perceived_).

And to prove I'm not being partisan on this issue, I think the left should lay off of Cindy McCain too. It's in poor taste to attack the candidate's family. Besides, there's no need to stoop to that level, because John McCain is doing a great job undermining his own candidacy by aligning himself with George "28%" Bush.

[vaughan]

Thanks to Dan Abrams for putting some excellent context and common sense to these stupid smears.

[alieninvader]

And here I thought ALL military people joined for their love of country. All but one, I guess.

[mhmruf]

To the Republican Morons:

Isn't it comical that you guys have to come spread your smears on these primarily democratic message boards! Where is the open dialogue BOARDS on FAUX NEWS? They don't even value your OPINIONS over there at FAUX NEWS thats why all their shows and talking heads don't hear you and TOTALLY screen you out!!!!

People who really have truth and facts don't fear the OTHER SIDE'S views and opinions. FAIR and BALANCED my A$$! and all you repubs share alike. Just try to dalogue with a right wing republican MORON and see how far it goes!

[Fremon]

Never met a repo that I couldn't out argue with the facts. Like Reagan/Bush 1/Bush 2 indebted this country more than the balance of the presidents combined. Or that the economy faired just as well under the demos if not slightly better than under repo stewardship. And how many older repos take social security which the hate or say they do. didn't Kennedy stand up to the russians in the cuban crisis and reagan leave lebanon??? etc etc. I bet we had fewer chicken hawks than the repos during vietnam. Give me a break repos. You don't have history on your side just smears/pro life/evangelicals (we are a secular society) and most of the racist south. You don't stand for anything that is good for the common man witness the tax breaks that were suppose to create a great economy. Where is that economy now. Clinton left a surplus and Bush, well we all know the crap he will leave. Obama has education and intelligence which most of the right wingers can't recognize.

[leburg]

Wow, Lard Larsen is quite a tool.

Cindy is a ... rich lady and proud of her country...right. Did anyone mention she was a drug addict. How far would Michelle get if she had such a troubled past? Would we sweep it under the rug?

[Sparty1]

Oh my goodness. If Michelle had broken any laws, the right would've found that out months ago. It would've been plastered all over the news. I hope she doesn't have a jaywalking ticket out there. Then she'd be the angry, bitter, jaywalking, anti-America black woman.

[bluestatelib]

Haha. I love it. Let's see the right-wing hypocrites and closet racists wiggle their way out of this one.

[Ashera]

What else is new with the Right broken wingers????
First of all them are running with their tales between their legs in circles! Or like my grandparents use to say, Chickens with out their heads!
The only way they can ever try to win something, using lies and deceptions!

Now this New Age of Politics, Senator Obama comes in to Focus! WOW! The Right Broken Wingers, got ZAPPED! Also, some Dems., who got their hands cut off at the beginning of the Campaign Trail!

What a concept? Someone the likes of Senator Obama and Michelle Obama, showing All Americans, no matter how you work with all the odds against them, who can still walk with Truth, Honesty and Dignity and still be a HUMAN BEING!

Are we THERE YET? Yes WE ARE! President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama! YES YES YES

[mhmruf]

To Vsign and Other Republican Morons:

Your right wing republican attacks really prove who's the racist and IT'S YOU! And you can stop it with the whole BLACKS hating WHITEY CRAP! You wanna make issue with Trinity United Church and it's members THATS FINE! However Blacks including the members of that CHURCH have overwhelmingly supported WHITE candidates for POTUS. FACTUALLY speaking Blacks have supported Democrats regardless to color more so than any other demographic in America. WHERE IS YOUR PROOF THAT YOU EVER SUPPORTED ANYONE WHO DIDN'T LOOK LIKE YOU?..............
Just What I THOUGHT! !!!!!!!!!! U Cowardly Racist Hypocrites!

PS. Keep up the GOOD work Republican MORONS your slander of people of color will soon decrease your supporters down to ANGRY WHITE MEN ONLY in which I don't think bodes well for your FUTURE as a POLITICAL PARTY!

[thinklib]

mhmruf-

your comments give liberals an even worse name.

for the sake of liberals, please stop the inflammatory, hateful comments.

try reason instead.