The late great Colonel David Hackworth, who received 78 combat awards in the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, including the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Bronze Star and eight Purple Hearts:

John McCain is being hailed by the press as a “genuine war hero.”
But is he a war hero in the conventional sense like Audie Murphy
and John Glenn? Or is his “war hero” status the creation of a very
slick publicity campaign that plays on flag, duty, honor and country?

On a purely medal-count basis, McCain outweighs Murphy and
Glenn, who both for years repeatedly performed extraordinary
deeds on the ground or in the air against an armed enemy. Yet in
McCain’s own words, just four days after being captured, he admitted
violating the U.S. Code of Conduct by telling his captors, “O.K. I’ll
give you military information if you will take me to the hospital.”

The facts are that McCain signed a confession and declared himself
a “black criminal who performed deeds of an air pirate.” This
statement and other interviews he gave to the Communist press
were used as propaganda to fan the flames of the antiwar movement.

The United States Navy says two eyewitnesses are required for any
award of heroism. But for the valor awards McCain received, there
were no eyewitnesses [of him being tortured], less himself and his
captors.

McCain refused an early release. An act of valor? Three former
POWs told me he was ordered to turn it down by his Anerican POW
commander and he “just followed orders.”

McCain certainly doesn't appear to be a war hero by conventional
standards, but rather a tough survivor whose handlers are
overplaying the war hero card.


Phillip Butler, a Navy pilot and U.S. Naval Academy graduate who spent more than eight years in North Vietnam as a prisoner of war, from his article published in June 2008 by Military.com:

I believe that having been a POW is no special qualification for being President of the United States. The two jobs are not the same, and POW experience is not, in my opinion, something I would look for in a presidential candidate.

I can verify that John has an infamous reputation for being a hot head. He has a quick and explosive temper that many have experienced firsthand. Folks, quite honestly, that is not the finger I want next to the red button.

John is not a religious person, but he has taken every opportunity to ally himself with some really obnoxious and crazy fundamentalist ministers lately. I was also disappointed to see him cozy up to Bush because I know he hates that man. He disingenuously and famously put his arm around the guy, even after Bush had intensely disrespected him with lies and slander. So on these and many other instances, I don’t see that John is the “straight talk express” he markets himself to be.

In short, I think John Sidney McCain III is a good man, but not someone I will vote for in the upcoming election to be our President of the United States.

Enough said.

Hugh E. Scott, Vietnam veteran (for the benefit of new AlterNet visitors)
Seven reasons to vote against Unfit McCain

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I spoke to a friend of mine - ex secret service guy. We were talkijng about his presidential details. He said Clinton was a nice guy.. treated everyone real good. Bush Sr. was probably the best..a real gentlemen. Current Bush was also a great guy...friendly and concerned for the people around him.

He said he wasn't sure about McCain. Seemed he could be a real hard guy to work for but it was just feeling based on limited exposure to him.

As for the mansions and money, I'm sure they are on par with Clinton, Gore, Pelosi. Romney etc.. no big deal for someone who has married well! It doesn't come from his money. Just ask Kerry how that works!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

This is an OK video that scores some cheap points ($500 shoes? Heck, some sneakers now cost nearly $200).

The real point is that McCain is out of touch with ordinary Americans. Son of an admiral, he lived a life of privilege within a military setting until he was shot down and made a POW. Yes, he suffered for that. But after splitting from his first wife and marrying an heiress, McCain has been a FAT CAT senator, living a life of privilege for nearly 30 years. In a way, he's somewhat like Kerry, who the Republicans successfully painted as elitist and aristocratic and somehow un-American.

Meanwhile, the man raised by a single parent in America's heartland, the man who passed on a high-paying corporate job to become a community organizer for America's forgotten, is painted in the media as "elitist." Yes, that's Obama.

What's wrong with this picture?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I have had the honor of spending time with my preferred presidential candidate on several occasions. The first time I ever pulled up in front of his home in a small mill town in Connecticut, I was tickled to death that his house (a very nice but also very modest middle class home by any working class standard) was in dire need of a paint job! We can certainly debate the merits of the two rich elitists currently running for Chief Sales Rep of these here United States of Military Industrial Complex OR we can vote for and support real human beings who aren't full of shit. Its a choice. This is a democracy. Why would we waste time debating which ruling class candidate is MORE ruling class? I don't understand the relevance. A millionaire is no better a representative for 95% of us than a billionaire would be. Who cares what the exact amount is? If their greed and wealth are obvious then they take too much. Enough said. I don't know about you but I want a president who has worked in retail, in a warehouse, waited tables, shoveled sh*t. I want them to have done these things because they needed to pay bills and NOT because they were building some resume to help them pretend they had been workers in their former lives. This is what matters. Where is the working class candidate? There are plenty of them out there but too frequently they cannot be found in the mainstream media. It is sad that they are also not to be found in the narrow two party discussion taking place here either. Lets be progressive and alternative and also discuss the wealth and merit of Ralph Nader and Bob Barr and Brian More and Cynthia McKinney. I thought that Alternet was an ALTERNATIVE to corporate media, not just alternative DISCUSSION being steered by corporate media. Lets talk about the REAL candidates!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

This is why Obama will lose. You guys are fighting the wrong battle. Elite isn't talking about wealth, education, supriority. Come-on! Get your stupid heads out of the sand. Elite refers to "Uppity N-----" as in Muslim, revolutionary, dangerous, to abused and mistreated by our system to be trusted. Was just a story on the radio about a green card eligible "illegal" immigrant, who ICE picked up tortured and then let him die slowly from his injuries, claiming that he was faking his injuries, and faked it up to and including his own death.

When bigots like McCain looks at Obama that is what he wants for Obama. Uppity N----- can't be presidents because they can't be allowed to voted, can't be allowed American citizenship because they are subhuman. We've got to fight the right battles in the right war in order for Obama to win and change this sort of bigotry, hatred, and evil.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

This doesn't show anything we don't all know, or in the very least suspect. Show me any politician that doesn't own at least one very nice home. They all live in a different world. Health insurance, retirement benefits, great pay. They don't live like us. It used to be that politicians became politicians to represent the people of their area, now it's to represent special interests and live the good life. So duh!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

John McCain can find his way around even some of these houses? His Secret Service entourage can help now, but unless Grampy LacLuster becomes the president, he'll have to pay people to lead him around these dumps until total dementia kicks in.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

'Mr. Greenwald's company, Brave New Films, which has made films castigating Wal-Mart and Fox News, said that it planned, with the help of the A.F.L.-C.I.O and service employees, to distribute McCain's Mansions to more than 500,000 voters. It offers the effort as a sort-of-chain Web video, imploring viewers and supporters to send it along to five friends.'

And I wonder if the SEIU and AFL-CIO will be putting their union labels on this film by the so-called Brave New Films? This is a prime example of how absolutely sick the unions' current leaders really are, not how they are engaging in doing healthy pro- building The Labor Movement work. As a worker I certainly don't want member dues going to shill for the Democratic Party, which is a corporate funded and run political party. The SEIU is in pathetic company with 'Brave New Films', propaganda promoter for Fox News and Wal-Mart.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

John McCain should find it very agreeable to have eight houses and condominiums, a private jet, lobbyist pals and advisers who push the interests of foreign countries and corporations rather than the national interest, etc. etc. Life is fine. Besides, there are too many whiners in America.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

for me was McCain advising people who were in danger of losing their homes to cancel their vacations and/or take another job. What an asshole! I'd like to see HIM do that. Why isn't anyone talking about that comment? Show how indifferent he is to people who are suffering.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

John Sidney McCain III is and was and always has been a privileged brat and a phony war hero and a philandering wife abuser. As for his wife, she is an idiot who would not know a real life event if it rose up and smacked her in the face.

I have lived in Arizona for nearly 30 years of my 56, and I have been to just about every nook and cranny of that state for various reasons, from work to vacations to just plain getting away from it all to save my sanity trips, and NEVER ONCE DID I NEED A PRIVATE PLANE! There is not one place that cannot be reached by car if you are campaigning, and those that are unreachable by car are definitely not reachable by plane. The woman is nothing more than a spoiled little rich girl too stupid to even know when her husband is offering her up for a contest that is repulsive to all decent, unabused women.

They may use the term "uppity" and "elitist" in the same context, but they learned that from the Clintons and the Roves of this world. Unfortunately, for most Americans, say 95% to 99% of them, the difference is unknown because they have not learned to use a dictionary or their personal biases against the wealthy do not let them distinguish.

Recently in the meeting with Rev. Rick Warren, both candidates were asked what being rich meant. Well, they both blew it! According to the Wall Street moneylenders and the SEC, any person who earns over $200,000 per year is considered wealthy, and are eligible for high risk investment opportunities. Anyone under that level of income is ineligible for the kinds of investments that lend themselves to profiteering or get them tickets to Inaugural Balls. This is considerably less than McCain and his wife get each year, and until the last few years, was considerably more than Obama and his wife received. Both men overstated what it meant to be wealthy, one because he has never known poverty and one because he is still uncomfortable with his sudden wealth.

Personally, I think I would rather have a president who is uncomfortable with his sudden wealth making economic decisions, than one who has never been poor or whose wife thinks of buying a plane the way most of us think of buying a car. Real world economic understanding versus delusional (even elitist in its true meaning)economics based on corrupt corporate talking points to me is a saner choice. However, I have an advantage over most people, I have put myself in over $100,000 in debt to obtain a PhD. and to learn how to change this nation so that the likes of Mrs. Gillis and others who are not corporate shills like McCain can stand a fighting chance of turning their lives around and having hope for a better future. Part of that change is education and part of it is changing our government. We start by not electing rich, senile, delusional old men to office, but rather electing someone who has a vision forged in poverty and hard work to take on the challenge of not only undoing the Bush years, but of creating an environment where change can actually take place because of the hard work of Americans who have been deprived of their rights and their futures. It starts with us, and it will end with us if we do nothing except continue to elect rich playboys and dilettantes to the White House and to Congress.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

That for all of his talk about what he understands Sen. McSame hasn't a clue about the average working person. As a member of the Keating 5 S&L debacle of the 80's, he never apologized nor was held accountable.

At this stage he appears to suffer from the early stages of dementia, yet no one wants to talk about his "forgetful" episodes! Isn't this a repeat of what Reagan went thru before we were told he had alzheimers! His supposed heroism during VietNam as a POW does not, I repeat, does not qualify him to hold the office of the President.

His "temper" episodes actually frighten me, and as he is the hand that will be on the button it should frighten everyone else also.

This is a man that has voted against funding for a military that he supposedly supports, voted against most womens issues(pay equity, healthcare, childcare, etc.), voted against the minimum wage bill, etc. In most areas that concern the 90% of Americans affected this man has voted against everything that this country is supposed to stand for!

McSame for president, I think not!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Go, Brave New Films! It's about time. Let's get the Swiftboat ads out over and over. Although I must say I don't understand why it takes so much effort to make a point that is already obvious (just look at your wallets, trickle down victims!). But if this is what it takes, I say get on with it and keep hitting. Elitist, indeed. BTW any candidate today must be wealthy to move in the stratospheric realm of candidacy - that's just a fact. It is simply a matter of what he understands to be the common man's experience - and at 7+ houses, Mr. McCain could not possibly understand the day to day life of the common man.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]