A Noun, A Verb and POW
McCain has jumped the POW shark. As Rudy Giuliani is to 9/11, John McCain is to POW. To paraphrase Joe Biden, "There's only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun, and a verb and POW."
As Sam Stein has already pointed on Huffington Post, McCain has gone to the POW well over and over. His healthcare plan is challenged -- POW! Cheated at Saddleback Forum -- POW! Woodstock Museum -- POW! Can't remember how many houses he has -- POW!
But this isn't the first campaign that McCain has played the POW card. He used it masterfully when he was accused of carpetbagging in his first run for Congress in Arizona (he's not originally from Arizona, he moved there to run for Congress in his new wife's hometown). When his opponent asked him what was the longest he ever stayed in one place, he said, "The place I lived longest in my life was Hanoi." If he had left it there, it would have been perfect.
But the man who claims to be humble about his service in Vietnam has gone on to exploit his war record for the rest of his career. A Washington Post reporter once wrote that John McCain is so gracious in that he never mentions his service in the war, as he was quoting John McCain's book which revolves around his service in the war. Even the press didn't get the irony of all this -- until now.
Now, he's jumped the shark and played the POW card one too many times. People are beginning to see through the false modesty and see how he uses this as an excuse whenever he gets into trouble. If you don't have an answer for something, just pull it out. If you're caught doing something wrong, pull it out. Well, this could only go on for so long. The media can't let McCain keep using this as a crutch anymore to avoid any topic he doesn't like.
Being a POW is a tough thing and it requires heroic perseverance. But it is not a substitute for having the right answers on all other issues. Just because you were a POW doesn't make you an expert on healthcare or beyond reproach on energy policy. Not every POW has a spotless record on ethics (as McCain's involvement in the Keating Five clearly demonstrates). And, as General Clark pointed out, not every POW is even an expert on war and national security. Some POWs are just average guys who happened to be captured by the enemy. They might be decent folks but they weren't all qualified to be president just because they were taken prisoner.
These things are logically easy to understand. But it's hard to get beyond the emotional pull of the POW status. You know logically that McCain being a POW has nothing to do with his nine houses (or whatever the number is today). But every time he pulls out that card, you can't help but back away a little bit. It's time to get beyond that. And McCain has helped to get past this issue with the way he has overused this play to our emotions. Now, instead of seeming poignant, it feels cheap and exploitive.
Follow Cenk Uygur on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TheYoungTurks
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"You know logically that McCain being a POW has nothing to do with his nine houses (or whatever the number is today)."
I also know logically that being a POW has nothing to do with... whether or not someone would be a good president. Or any issues relevant to the year 2008.
The presidency is too important and powerful simply to hand out to someone because we collectively feel social guilt for having given Vietnam vets the short shrift back when. The presidency is not an award.
One of the more attractive aspects of Barack Obama's candidacy is the prospect of electing a new generation of Americans for whom the "what did you do during Vietnam" question is completely irrelevant.
Being POW is not a voluntary status. It was a situation Mc cain found himself in. There were many others. He had a rough time for that period of 5 plus years. However, there were many more POWs, and even more soldiers who never returned at all. His heroism is passive; he survived. It's that simple: he survived captivity. What else was he going to do?
His only legitimate excuse now is that being a POW is the basis for his PTSD. The latter is only ONE reason that he is unfit for the presidency.
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Agape, dap
The American people and the Democratic party should pull the POP card and use it on McSame.
POP?
Why it means. I am a Prisoner of Poverty!
We must ask our Repubican candidate questions about life with not enough money to keep up with daily life.
There are many of us that do not make 5 million dollars per year!
We do not have to decide what home to live in each day.
We do not even have a private jet to use in case Amrica will not pay for our plane trips.
We actually have to pay for gas for our automobiles to travel around whatever state we live in.
We do not have Congressional free health care.
Just as Mitt Romeney has shown, We do not all need to make 5 milion dollars per year to be rich in many ways.
We can all marry rich wives that steal from chairity to support their drug habits.
We can afford to be pro war and not send our children to die. This is exactly what McSame, McRomney, and McBush have done.
McRomney said his children would be in the military but they are busy helping him run for President.
God I am so much better than these sleezebag anti-American Old pols!
Almost makes me proud to be a POP!
Loved your clip and the post here, Cenk. But, I think I have two words when put together portray the real paradox of John McCain's playing the POW card.
RECKLESS OPPORTUNIST.
If he'd just left it alone that one time, I think he could have gotten away with it. Perhaps it's a god thing. The reason this deal with his homes, his playing the POW card, and his cavalier attitude about the middle class is so resonant is that it speaks to his character.
He reminds me of myself when I was drinking. I had a girl friend who once said, "you toss things around, you lose them, then you get bitter".
When McCain is called on his s%*t, and tries to change the subject to "I'm a POW... stop picking on me" it seems like he's just unwilling to be responsible for his own mistakes.
He served honorably, but now uses that service, dishonorably, for political gain.
Reckless opportunist.
jmac: I was a pow. Rudy: 9 / 11 jmac: pow Rudy: 9 / 11 jmac: pow. Rudy: 9 / 11 jmac: pow Rudy: 9 / 11
jmac should pick Rudy as his running mate. Together they would managed to turn everyone off.
jmac: I was a pow. Rudy: 9/11 jmac: pow Rudy: 9/11 jmac: pow. Rudy: 9/11 jmac: pow Rudy: 9/11
jmac should pick Rudy as his running mate. Together they would managed to turn everyone off.
McCain is sure milking his POW experience to the maximum! I wonder how other POWs feel with McCain trying to gain sympathy votes by exploiting his POW past? I also wonder if he would even be considered for President, really what makes him special to run for President? His POW status?
There were almost 800 American POWs in Vietnam with approx 700 of them comning home. While some have died, many are still alive.
Why aren't these former Vietnam POWs all out on the campaign trail with McCain?
Also, where are all of the McCain supporters who survived the USS Forrestal "accident"?
I just heard McCain say: "Yeah I lie, I lie every single day to the Ameican people. Edwards don't have anything on me with his 99% telling the truth, I tell the truth only 5% of the time and that's on a real good day"
but that's okay because he spent 5 1/2 years in a POW Prison!
"If you don't have an answer for something, just pull it out."
That kind of behaviour could get a military man thrown in the brig.
You NAILED IT!! About time this was brilliantly laid out! I, like many are sick of it!!!
Don't you people understand? Without the POW story McCain has nothing to run on. That is why he cannot ditch that theme. Fer chrissake, even Rove used it against him in 2000, saying that the POW experience made mentally scarred.
MSM has been told by their corporate owners (who have a lot invested in war and military machinery) that they want McCain because he is good for their business. So the midget brains that make up the MSM ask questions slanted towards McCain.
Time to be a maverick, it's called propaganda instead of MSM.
And the McCain POW propaganda takes advantage of our national unresolved guilt about Viet Nam from any point of view.
The reason Rove could use it against him in 2000 because he has control of the propaganda machine.
He also says 'my friends' entirely to often. I and a whole lotta other people are not his friends!
this guy is no maverick,hes a typical republican and all hes got is the pow card.the media is afraid to go after him cause it was them who labeled him with the maverick monicker and hes not.keating 5 keating 5 keating5 keating 5,come on theres alot of new voters who have no idea what happened.the media needs to scrutinize the pow like they do obama.keating 5
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