Fineman: McCain Is Trivializing His POW Past

Once a remarkable and respected aspect of his biography, John McCain stands on the brink of "trivializing" his past as a prisoner of war, which has become a "crutch in the campaign," Newsweek's Howard Fineman declared Thursday.

"I think they are going to it way too many times. It's the original story that defined John McCain, that still when you read it in his book 'Faith of my Fathers,' when you read about it in 'The Nightingale's Song,' you can't help but have admiration and respect for the guy. And I think he wisely for many years stayed away from it as a political tool, he really did. But now it not only defines him, it's become a crutch in the campaign. And I think he is in danger of trivializing it. By the time they get to the convention in St. Paul, there might not be much of it left to use."

Fineman's remark, made during a segment of Countdown With Keith Olbermann, came after McCain was criticized for being elitist for not knowing how many houses he owned. An aide to the Arizona Republican hit back at the accusation by evoking McCain's service in Vietnam.

"This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years -- in prison," said spokesman Brian Rogers.

As the Huffington Post documented earlier, Rogers' statement is just one of several recent instances of the McCain camp playing the POW card.

Earlier this week, for instance, amidst speculation that McCain may have received advance notice of questions at a values forum, spokeswoman Nicole Wallace declared, "The insinuation from the Obama campaign that John McCain, a former prisoner of war, cheated is outrageous."

When Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former Senator John Edwards, ridiculed McCain's health care policy, his aides didn't respond with a substantive retort. Rather, they declared that their boss knew what it was like to get inadequate care "from another government." Even earlier, when the topic was about earmarks, McCain criticized Sen. Hillary Clinton for proposing funds for a museum celebrating Woodstock. He didn't know what there was to celebrate, he said, because he was "tied up" during the music festival.

Comments

[drlarrymitchell]

08:16 AM on 09/07/2008

ynot4tony2: Too bad people can't flag a comment for "Stupid."

[Flash-349846]

05:23 PM on 08/27/2008

So how many houses do the other Vietnam POWs have? Does he think they also have seven?

Maybe the answer should actually be eight since he should also include the house that his first wife lives in after McCain dumped her for his rich trophy wife. I guess her serious injuries from her traffic accident only entitle her to one house.

So who is the real hero: The pilots that were good enough to evade the missles coming at them and return to the carriers after successfully completing thier missions successfully or the ones that were either not good enough to evade the missiles or had just bad luck?

There are thousands of soldiers and marines that volunteered and fought in the unnecessary war in Iraq or the justifiable war in Afghanistan that are all heroes, but McCain was against Sen. Jim Webb's Veterans benefits bill. Clearly McCain does not think they deserve access to education, much less seven houses and a rich trophy wife....

[ynot4tony2]

03:59 PM on 08/26/2008

If McCain is trivializing his POW experience...then Barack Obama is trivializing the entire civil rights movement.

Remember, he was born in Selma when he was a pre-schooler in Hawaii.

[northcan]

05:29 PM on 08/22/2008

I'm sure many soldiers in Iraq now, would spend 5 yrs as a POW, that kill, or be killed. The horrendous the present troops must endure is so much more than McCain suffered or seen. This war in Iraq has had nothing left to proud of when they see the fraudulant use of an administration to pre-empt a military 'shock and awe' campaign, robbing their country of services so control in that part of the world is granted.

The soldiers are suffering from physical, mental health, financial trauma, while the fat ass's in Washington decide which house they want to live in or what elite means to the ordinary Americans. They are so removed Iraq is not mentioned nearly as much anymore. The surge apparently worked, their considering a timeline for withdrawal, while the young men and women are just trying to stay safe, obey orders, and hope and pray someone will see the light and bring them home.

The victims in this war are the Iraqi civilians and soldiers and the American soldiers. How they hate being lied to, to get close to honor. John McCain was a vocal advocate of the war, before it began and he did have the national security documentation and fraudulant expose'. War crimes should be a shared plan of action.

Human life is not expendable. McCains POW experience was 'soft' because of his father, and not as bad as he has claimed. According to his fellow POW.

[pfc1369]

03:34 PM on 08/22/2008

Obama has got to stop prefacing his every remark on McCain with "I respect his honorable service...blah..blah...blah."

Just stop with that! You may be convinced that it's necessary, but it no longer is, considering the vile crapola McCain is serving up these days.

[ThinkAgainMyFriend]

01:27 PM on 08/22/2008

I totally agree, isn't McCain living in the past, this election is suppose to be about the future!
If he keep using his prison stories, he needs to release his military records, proof.

[circusfifthfloor]

12:01 PM on 08/22/2008

He will self destruct before October. Better now, than in the middle of a major global crisis.....CFF

[realtalk]

11:48 AM on 08/22/2008

John McCian is pathetic! He seems to have forgotten that there were about 300 POWs in Vietnam. John McCain acts like he was the only one.

There were even POWs in Vietnam YEARS before John McCain ever got there. The difference is that these OTHER men have integrity, and do not use their experience to get ahead, or to manipulate people into feeling sorry for them.

[Reine]

11:41 AM on 08/22/2008

It's part of his past & he probably lived there longer than some of his homes. Fineman doesn't know about this type of life he had to endure. There is nothing wrong for McCain to use it because it's part of his past period.

[molsongrrrl]

11:51 AM on 08/22/2008

Certainly it is a part of his past ... but should it be used to answer every question? Especially ones he is trying to avoid? Saying he was a POW is not an answer to questions about how many houses he currently owns (and his inability to actually remember the number). Further the idea that a POW wouldn't cheat (cone of silence questions) is ridiculous ... considering he did just that in regards to his first marriage! I know McCain is a POW - I respect his service ... but he's using it as a crutch.

[Crog63]

12:44 PM on 08/22/2008

Cheating on his injured wife is part of his past too but when anybody brings that up they are told that it happened a long long time ago so it doesn't matter.

[cayuse1]

11:39 AM on 08/22/2008

I realized the WORD tricksters abound with the Reickwing, But the only concern for a POW was to bring them home.

Pushing a button to kill thousands was never high on my list of Hero anyway

Outlaw gunslinging Military Attitude needs to be in a box and unleashed only in a time of emergency. Sending the hounds to other countries after people exerting our 2nd Amendment does not make sense

[PuppaX]

11:34 AM on 08/22/2008

From a top McCain aide:

"Howard Fineman's claim that a hero like John McCain would misuse his history like his captors misused him is reprehensible. He should be ashamed that he impugned John McCain's sacrifice for our country. A sacrifice which, I might add, Mr. Fineman did not feel it necessary to make."

[OuterBoroughPrincess]

01:31 PM on 08/22/2008

You know what's sad, I can't tell if the above is a real response from McCain's campaign, or a spoof.

[CtJean]

02:06 PM on 08/22/2008

Yes, it is reprehensible that John McCain is using his former POW status from eons of time ago, as the answer to everything that is relevant today.

For Howard Fineman to call him on it is patriotic. McCain should release ALL of his service and health records. We can take it.

[duchessdorleans]

02:03 PM on 08/22/2008

That's just comical.

[loax]

11:33 AM on 08/22/2008

Everybody is sick and tired of the POW crutch. He can't stand on his own two feet without using this as a ploy for sympathy. He was not the ONLY POW, there were men more heroic than he was! I, for one am sick of it!

[zeezan]

11:12 AM on 08/22/2008

Everyone should read the article written by Dr. Phillip Butler, a 1961 graduate of the US Naval Academy who spent 8 years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. See www.alternet.org/story/95825/ for this piece.

[Tom95134]

11:05 AM on 08/22/2008

McCain will do or say anything to get n the White House, even to the extent of trivializing his host honorable hour.

McCain is as bad as Rudy Gullianni, a noun, a verb, and then "John McCain, a former prisoner of war".

[FirstShirt]

11:46 AM on 08/22/2008

McCain has experience in war and Congress. Obama has 3 years in Congress and no wartime experience or even service to his country. He was busy.

The republicans will nominate a man who has stood the test of the Bushies and the democrats and the communist torturers in Hanoi. Obama has stood no personal test and has no experience in being tested.

[CtJean]

02:08 PM on 08/22/2008

It's time - give it up troll. How many brownie points for your latest post?

[JoeBlough]

11:00 AM on 08/22/2008

I agree that every other sentence out of his mouth has a noun, a verb and POW.
Maybe being a celebrity POW is all he really has got going for him. He can't seem to remember anything else.