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We’re at the McCain Town Hall event in Alexandria. It’s at Episcopal High School and the bleachers behind the podium are stocked with sparkling white, youthful Republican faces. I’m here with Matt Stoller and he says they all look like the kids of trophy wives who decided not to go to Choate.
I wonder how many high schools McCain is visiting? In the Republican era where Backdrops Are Everything, it was obviously a choice to parachute McCain into the middle of an abstinence-only club.
There’s creepy new age music playing in the background. Keep him calm, I guess.
McCain went here for high school, graduating in 1954. It was an all-boy’s school at the time. He’s being introduced with a lot of elitist, "upholding a code of honor" boarding school crap.
Makes me want to go light up in the can.
Some guy is talking about how he knew John McCain from wrestling. Paging Jesus’ General.
Okay McCain’s here now, and he’s talking about his "youthful indescretion" and how much he’s learned over the course of his life. Obviously trying to get out in front of all the womanizing and temper outbursts.
Can I just say how empty the parking lot was? There are more people in line for the bathroom at an Obama event.
He’s talking about how so many black and hispanic students don’t graduate from high school, and how we need to empower parents with choices about where to send their kids. I’m sure all the white people in this crowd appreciate the reassurance that they can keep their kids away from all of that.
We talked to Ana Marie Cox about campaign finance reform before the event began, and she was talking to Mark Salter of the McCain campaign about it afterwards. He agreed to talk to us about it, but between the time she asked him and the time we caught up with him he changed his mind and decided to put us on with their campaign finance lawyers.
I guess he used The Google.
The student questioners are quite consumed with asking whether the values he learned at Episcopal have influenced his conduct as a public official. None of them seem to have heard the words "Vicki Iseman."
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you both have a much stronger stomach than I. HT for doing this and keeping an eye on that dog and his lobby express.
St. John urgh.
lol, that photo is like: Bring Out Your Dead. Bring Out Your Dead.
Jane: How can you use McCain and “live” in the same title?
Uh, this is for real, right? Not an April Fools? I was sure until I got to the “wrestling buddy”… …the right wing has become such caricatures that I am never really sure when I am seeing parody anymore!
“Braaaains. Braaaaaaaiiiiins!
‘
Episcopalians?!?! Not so much, judging from my youth!!!
lol, yeah, even more apt. McCain the zombie that eats brains.
Did he just say “Protect yobs for teachers..”…I swear I heard him say that…
“…behind the podium are stocked with sparkling white, youthful Republican faces…”
That just about says it all.
There are more people in line for the bathroom at an Obama event.
I love it!
Of course, in McCain’s wrestling days, the combatants were naked…
Sorry for the visual…
Ok, I’ll play popcorn vendor while Jane waits for the dead to speak.
Git ur McCain Poster!
Git ur McCain Poster!
Jane, you have my sympathy for your ordeal. But maybe some student will ask him an inconvienent question when he’s done bloviating.
Boxturtle (Kids say the darndest things)
I’m not watching this one. Are McCain’s butt-monkeys Lieberman and Graham there with him?
Jane, you are so brave.
Has St. John commended the President on his third term yet?
if your afaid now ,, wait till you see his pick as VP .
He’ll be dead soon his pick of VP whats matters.
i’m curious to see if anyone tries to kick jane and matt out of the event.
I don’t know, Jane. The people in that crowd might not like it if all those “other” kids tried to choose to come to a place like theirs. It is theirs, after all.
Jane, how was security to get in there? Did they ask for credentials and party affiliation? How’s the Koolaid?
(((Jane))) bless you for taking one for the team. Sounds like what I imagine hell to look like
noooooo! don’t drink the koolaid!!!111
He’d better be dead before then. Except for his POW experience, he doesn’t have a thing that can carry him until Novemeber.
Boxturtle (And we should be having fun point that out, rather than eating each other)
Ye gods, don’t taste the Koolaid… That stuff is poisoned with some sort of will-sapping stuff that turns you into a zombie… See the picture above? He drinks Koolaid. Hell, he manufactures the stuff…
Perhaps you can sing him Beach Boys songs, since he seems to like them so much:
“Help Me, Ronnie…Help! Help! Me Ronnie.”
or in honor of Jane’s petition…
“I’m pickin up good violations…She’s giving me FEC-citations.”
Hi Jane,
The costume store called and they want to know when you’ll be returning the two high school student costumes. ;-)
somebody better tie mccain’s shoelaces, he keeps tripping on them.
(he can’t tie his own shoelaces)
Veepstakes… are we seeing the launch of the Colin Powell campaign with the report out from his foundation for American youth? The sorry state of education in America’s major cities by drop-out rates. Not exactly something to point to as a successful endeavor, tho it wouldn’t be the first time failure got spun as a reason to pick someone.
And there is all that steady-as-he-overwhelming-force-goes military experience.
I can see the campaign now…you don’t have to worry about the Prez ’cause look who’ll be his veep/minder. ’cause that’s turned out so well the last eight years.
If this is the route they go, they’ll be counting on the Alzheimer’s effect…in the voters.
Jane, more important things to watch……. Markey’s got the “oil boys” today on the hot seat! I will not waste my time watching the “infirm” attempt to further eviscerate my country! I still respect McCain for “his service and duty” in spite of my disagreements with him and the war back then as now!!!!!!!!
Yep. I can’t believe they got in. Republican thought-police are not what they used to be.
Although it does sound like there is still time for them to be pepper-sprayed, tazered, and arrested.
Was Chuck Hagel’s appearance on The Daily Show last night an audition to be Obama’s running mate? As a veteran, he could cancel a lot of McCain’s “life story” BS and as a recovering Republican he could fight the “Obama is the most liberal Senator” lie. I’m not sure how I feel about this. I would prefer someone like Edwards or Dodd for the slot, but if it makes the difference between winning and losing, I’ll at least listen.
a wise, ancient man called in to the local radio show the other day and said a phrase i have never heard-
mccain keeps it up ”’till hell won’t have him”.
thought that was better than ’not worth the powder to blow him up’ another saying around here from way back.
(mccain, in his world every day is april fool’s day-april fool’s! i was just kidding! not what i really meant!)
Jim Webb could also cancel out McCain’s life story.
tw3k at 3
toooo funny!
no, the photo is showing his skills as a faith healer…….
bbl
(jane, i really enjoyed reading your post, most excellent)
Ack!
We’ve got to stop this one before it gets too much traction. Hagel has been one of the most reactionary Repubes there is. He’s been getting a pass because of outspoken opposition to the Iraq Invasion, but do not be fooled.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/1/16/185310/186
My thought, Obama should strongly consider Hagel for SecDef.
That picture should be captioned “Whoa flashback”. Youthful indescretion indeed.
Yes an Irish-Scotch…….. remember the “whiskey rebellion” and America’s first tax, on spirits, to pay for war. Today we pay energy taxes to pay for governments existence and borrow millions waging war to secure future oil reserves, instead of a war on energy! STUPID!!!!~!
What if African Americans and Hispanic kids got to be in schools that spent the same amount of money per student as White kids?
What if we studied whether there is a link between going to an all boys schools and a higher rate of negative attitudes toward women? What if we studied private and public schools with less than 10% dark kids and later links to racism. Plus by studying the Dark kids who went to these schools well Clarence Thomas, Michelle Malkin, Condi Rice? They all seem like they hate their own race and want to be Republican race hater White.
What if we looked at Liberty University Private school grads who can’t seem to testify about the illegal and immoral things they have done working for Bush.
Does any parent want their kids saying I can’t recall on CNN?
Episcopalian ?!?!?!
but, but, he’s St John the Baptist
btw, an unimmersed baptist – what will Pastor Land say ?
I agree. I’m blanking on the name of the Iraq vet who was elected to Congress from Pennsylvania. I think he’d be a better pick than Hagel or Webb. He has the military experience but seems less reactionary on other fronts.
“empowering Parents” means public support for private schools. McCain’s doin the voucher thingee.
Patrick Murphy or Joe Sestak – both of whom are set to sign on to Shuler’s SAVE Act, btw
Warren Christopher is also a good choice. He’s old, but he’s still VERY active.
Boxturtle (Not many good choices out there for that position)
Hey america- you wanna pick up the tab fer all the parents who want to send their kids to christian schools while the public schools everyone pays for rot?
The Episcopacy teaches Duty, Honor, Education & Discipline.
These values served our country well over the last few hundred years.
people just don’t get it sad!!!!!!
Jane,
I found a clearer shot of St. John.
-G
Hey Jane; did you see what rude pundit said about you after seeing you at EschaCon08?
“Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake and Eric Boehlert of Media Matters are really fuckin’ hot in person…”
Oh my!!
http://www.rudepundit.blogspot.com/
Do you mean Patrick Murphy?
Howie Klein had some thoughts about Hagel a while back. Chucky’s not a good guy:
http://downwithtyranny.blogspo…..sh-or.html
Hagel actually ran a company that made and controlled the voting machines being used for the elections he was running in. I love this country!
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0131-01.htm
That would be Vice Admiral (Ret.) Joseph Sestak (PA-07)
Aw, too bad Mark Salter won’t talk to Jane! That’d be fun hear.
I’m anxious to hear what the lawyers have to say…
McCain/Maliki 2008.
-G
Wait till the public finds out that McBush wants em ta pay ta send kids to Moslem schools!!
Given McCain and Bush’s academic records you would think parents would run from them when they talk about education.
You know George Bush could cancel out McCain’s life story. They are both after all two entitled white guys who were born on third base and think they hit a triple.
I assume the the Stepford atmosphere won’t effect our stalwart bloggers. They should be careful about drinking any proffered liquids.
Otherwise referred to as
Murphy is a vet of the Iraq war.
Good point. Considering that he graduated fifth from the bottom at the naval academy, the meme should be do we really want another C- president?
As the debates at the Raygun Cathedral showed, McCain will run on his war experience and his years as a POW … and Obama is going to hang him out to dry with it …
ok, my link above doesn’t work @^#%!$!&$^!
last september in SC(wink wink), he announced to his base he’s been a Baptist “for years”
funny that, he’s failed to be Baptized
flippity floppity
((((( Jane )))))
Isn’t it ironic that McCain’s public address is on April Fool’s Day ?
… he musta thought getting baptized was like being waterboarded …
Oh, someone please ask him if he “abstained” in high school.
Spinning one’s religious beliefs is very Bush-like.
He got that as an Admirals son I wonder so I wonder if McCain got Gentleman’s C’s like Bush did or just show up for class and you pass status.
We need to ban special promotion for the already special.
We can only hope.
My very sentiment (not to mention it would make a great bumper sticker)
The pimping of this vietnam obsession is lost upon millions of new voters
who do not care and do not need to care about all that waste, there are
plenty of new problems to be dealt with that have no analog with that
experience even if McCain was intelligent enough to use it right.
If that happens, AC360 will be flipping burgers at Mickey Dees …
So McBush has established that he attended a religious school and understands why parents want to send their kids there and have the govt. pay for it. Good start for him eh?
No white kids left behind!
apology for the
OT
This hearing is just getting started
Select Committee Hearing Hosts Execs from Largest 5 Oil Companies
WASHINGTON (March 31, 2008) – Today the national average for a gallon of gas hit a new all-time record of $3.28 per gallon, according to a survey done by AAA. Tomorrow Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming will host top-level executives from the five largest oil companies at a hearing intended to probe the causes and solutions to America’s oil dependence.
“This new gas price record is a perfect example of why we need these oil companies to go on the record with the American people to discuss our dangerous dependence on oil,” said Markey. “These companies are defending billions in federal subsidies needed for renewable fuels and clean energy while reaping over a hundred billion dollars in profits in just the last year alone.”
Executives from BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Shell will testify before the Select Committee, where their stance on defending tax breaks totaling $18 billion, and their commitment to delivering alternative fuels to the market will be tested by the committee. Along with the Bush administration’s help, the companies are fighting to keep $18 billion in tax breaks that Congress is attempting to shift towards renewable energy incentives for wind, solar, biomass and other climate-friendly sources. The House recently passed the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2008, but President Bush and the top oil companies are currently fighting to defeat the measure in the Senate.
He would not last a day, nobody’s shoulder to cry on.
My thoughts ran in the same direction. He only graduated because nobody wanted to piss off the commander of the Pacific fleet.
Man, I swear, every time i flip past cnn lately they have an ad for jesse ventura for prez. what is up with that?
AC360?
They don’t call CNN Clinton News Network for nothing.
He finished 5th from the bottom, with a dad who was a very prominent person in the military(Navy I believe) at that time. Makes you wonder what grades he really deserved, doesn’t it?
Why won’t the press ask him that question then? They know we don’t need another Moron and Chief!
That would be AC/DeeCee, aka Anderson Cooper
Ding!!!!
“Makes me want to go light up in the can.”
Thanks Jane -
After a morning of battles with PhotoShop, the image of you hiding out in a stall in the girl’s bathroom, lighting up, has me laughing again.
Now to read the rest of it.
they should just get the “left behind” series, homeschool and save taxpayer dollars.
Thus illustrating Digby’s point yesterday that bloggers’ “aggressive attitude” is what’s needed to overcome in the public’s mind the slough of despond known as the MSM.
Jesse Ventura … wasn’t he supposed to be Nader’s running mate ?
I would have to say “neither.” Remember, the VP could end up President if something happened to the Prez. Hagel is all GOP except for the War. Not a good bargain. We need Webb in the Senate. Better keep looking.
This:
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/p…..4609990001
Is bound to get the Freepers all fired up. I wonder if OxyCotin man knows yet.
gah, i dunno, i just roll my eyes and change channel.
teehee
but, but, but I thought bush _is_ a puppet.
I’ll take that as a rhetorical question. Big business doesn’t want a leader, they want another puppet.
FWIW and at the risk of being flamed, even fourth or fifth from the bottom at the US Naval Academy, is still the holder of a damn fine education and is far superior to the “Gentleman’s C” from Yale. Although being an Admiral’s son and grandson did help him get into the Academy and may have helped keep him from being kicked out, that does not counter the fact that he DID make it through one of the toughest engineering programs in the US.
As has been stated by others, there are far better things to go afterr in his record.
OT but today’s top mover on the Stock charts according to Google is a firm that shorts stocks. When you short stocks you bet that the price of the companies stock you short is going to go down. This is a very tricky game I don’t do it.
But when a stock is up 30,513.36% that bets against higher stock prices I’m thinking the herd is voting with their
feetDollars that they do not believe in the Bush economy.I wonder how pawnshops and payday loan companies are doing.
Top movers
Price | Mkt Cap | Vol | $Vol | Popularity
Gainers Change Mkt Cap
PROSHARES TR ULTRASHOR… TLL 30,513.36% 3.28B
Jane attending a McBush “town hall” event is like a Sex Ed. Professor wading through reels of bad porn with her PhD students. She does it so that once they enter clinical practice, they won’t laugh or cry in front of their patients.
Morning Joe ran it over and over all morning….good way to get hateful Americans to further hate the people they hate…and get ‘em all puffed up for more war…
Sorry I should have got that.
I’d buy a BigMac just to watch him give that faux studied squint as he mumbles … “D’ya want fries with that ?” *g*
you mean something like not knowing the difference between Sunni and Shi’a?
No worries, Republicans are only interested in giving people a “choice” so they can pull their kids out and undermine public schools, not giving them enough money to go to a place like that.
What kind of engineering?
Big Business wants another Bill Clinton to boost their stock price what good is power without more wealth?
It’s getting old having to do this everyday. I guess we just have to stick with it.
Right. I was raised Episcopalian and they were pretty liberal for a Christian crowd. However I MUST say that my entire family has slid to the right and are looking more like Evangelicals every day, and SOME of them converted to Baptists. I don’t know, don’t ask me, just go figure. I can’t relate to any of them any more and haven’t for many years.
It’s not my mother’s Episcopalian church.
hehe
The Episcopal High School McCain attended is a private school, right? Its not a public school. Neil Boortz calls public schools – government schools. Now the private school parents and Republicans and the tax exempt Religious institutions want public funding for private schools. They’re sneaky about it (vouchers), but that’s what they are after. Defund Public Education for the masses and fund private schools for the wealthy. That would make them government schools, too, no?
Genetic engineering … all his ladies have been cloned … *g*
Has McBush released his service record? Is Obama above swiftboating McBush?
Bottom of the class is still bottom of the class. Few commandants would have failed the son and grandson of admirals, for the same reason Bush got into and “earned” his degrees at both Yale and Harvard.
McBush obviously learned not to say “front” or “back” when speaking of ships, as he later learned not to crash most of his aircraft. But as with Supreme Court nominees, given the job description and the stakes of not being competent, nobody should make even the short list, much less be appointed, if they’re not at the top of their class.
Why does the GOP put belief in oppressing the poor and dark over making a dollar?
Obama won’t swiftboat him, he will turn his record against him though …
Students from Navy families, especially ones that includes Academy grads, benefit when trying to enter the Academy. It’s been that way for decades. As you say, there’s nothing to ‘get’ McCain on here.
He’s being introduced with a lot of elitist, “upholding a code of honor” boarding school crap.
Hilarious.
So his kids are Undead Zombie Clones? Noooo!
Because it’s the only way to take what’s rightfully theirs back from those who stole it in the first place … /s
ACADEMIC PROGRAM 1930′S-1966
The program was a “one fits all curriculum” where all midshipmen followed the same curriculum for four years with the only variable being the foreign language selected. In summary, each midshipman had to successfully complete the following academic program:
two years of math through differential equations
one year of chemistry
one year of physics
two years of foreign language
many courses over four years in English, History and Government, Electrical Engineering, Marine Engineering, Ordnance and Gunnery, Seamanship and Navigation, and Leadership–too numerous to list here
There were no provisions for validating courses for those who had previous college level education and those who successfully passed Calculus, and advanced Chemistry and Physics, in High School. As a result, those who had passed certain college and some high school level level courses were required to retake the same courses at USNA.
Common exams in each subject were administered classwide at the end of each semester. Daily recitation grades in each course were the norm. Those who failed a course based on a combination of daily grades and the final exam, barring a reexam offered by the Academic Board, were dismissed from the Academy for “academic reasons.” A reexam, if offered, was taken within a few days after appearance before the Academic Board. Failure of the reexam, barring the granting of a re-reexam by the Board, resulted in dismissal also. In some instances, midshipmen who were deemed to be so deserving, were “turned back” to the USNA Class behind them.
Since the course content was uniform for all classes taking that course, the course was pitched in level of difficulty to the average midshipman, often leaving the more academically gifted without a significant academic challenge in that course.
All midshipmen who successfully completed the four year program (three years for Classes of 1942 through 1948A) were conferred a Bachelor of Science degree (undesignated) as authorized by an Act of Congress.
Management and oversight of the academic program were in the hands of senior naval officers, usually a Captain, holding positions as Secretary of the Academic Board, Department Heads for MATH/ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING/MARINE ENGINEERING/ORDNANCE&GUNNERY/SEAMANSHIP& NAVIGATION/ENGLISH, HISTORY&GOVERNMENT, and FOREIGN LANGUAGES.
Per wiki, they currently offer 21 majors but I think they had far fewer when McCain went through.
What they want is the government money without the reqirements and regulations placed on public schools.
Trying to get McCain on his service record is a losing proposition. He was a POW! His military service should be honored. Doing otherwise plays into his hands. Get him on his Senate record. It’s more relevant and more troubling.
Oh, so the commandant issues the degree huh? jesus
Yea, you DAMF’s!
Also children of MoH recipients.
There’s so, so much to go after McCandyCain about without having to bring up military records. For instance, what did he know and do about his wife’s criminal activity to obtain prescription drugs to which she was addicted. Fair question and investigation IMO. Are these the kind of “family values” you as a voter support?
Of course, some folks of the Liberal persuasion could also start email and whisper campaigns about questions involving McStain’s military record, and there’s nothing we can do about that. Obama will definitely not “go there.”
Exactly, using his years as a POW against what he has fought for as a Senator/Presidential nominee will pay far greater dividends …
I’d like to see them use their connections to get their asses strapped in an A4.
Right. They want to brainwash the kids to become Republican “faith-based” anti-science robozombies. So they will always vote Republican.
It’s a mixed bag. The Episcopalian Church is under attack by the same big-money wingnuts who funded the takeover of the Baptists (which is the source of the splinter congregations that the media loves to call a “schism.”) That, combined with the aging of many congregations, has produced some local shifts to the right, but the church overall doesn’t seem to have shifted too much. It can be a big problem if your individual church shifts, though — it happens slowly enough that most people don’t notice, and it’s your church, right?
I have a friend, an older lady who is a member of the Falls Church (one of the most prominent ones fighting to break away over gay clergy) and the services she describes sound more evangelical than Episcopalian. We usually just avoid talking about church. But other Episcopal churches in the area are nothing like that.
Hell, I received an appointment to the Naval Academy due to having attended an “Honor Military School”.
At the time, military high schools that received that designation were allowed three direct appointments to each service academy. I accepted the Naval academy one knowing that I would flunk the physical (eyesight needed to be no more than 20/100 corrected to 20/20 and that was with a waiver).
I’ve always respected whoever came up with that meme about, “You, too, can be president having only earned C’s in college”.
It leaves out, oh, that daddy was President, Vice President, Ambassador to the UN, CIA Director, Congressman and general man about the GOP. Not to mention grandpappy’s being a longtime Senator and investment banker. It also leaves out about 150 years of intensely-controlled family wealth – built on steel, guns and oil – so massive that it earned them a seat on John D. Rockefeller’s private train, the equivalent of a private mega-jet.
Everybody with that background and employing a sociopathic political adviser can become president for a GOP taken over by its fundamentalist-courting ReichWing. No problemo. So, go ahead and be happy with those C’s from Fresno State.
I wasn’t implying that those were the only 2 ways.
I’ve always been happy with people that say “meme”. Real salt of the earth there.
McBush is running on his military record. He should produce it if he hasn’t already….
Was he passed over for promotion? Why?
What was the fitness level of his command in Florida?
I know. I was just pointing out one of the more obscure methods of gaining entry.
Going after McCain’s service record is the surest way to make sure people vote for him, IMO.
McCain served. Honorably. He was captured, and conducted himself honorably, even heroically. Trying to diminish or demean that makes people look like ruthless, do-anything-to-win military haters. He’s been a marginal Senator at best, and deeply compromised. Dissect that-that’s where his weakness lies.
Right on target,Ron. IMO
Depends on what his service record actually IS doesn’t it?
… and doing night landings on a Carrier …
Going after McCain’s military record is just not going to work. He’s not some Texas Air National Guard chickenhawk. From Wikipedia:
He lost his flight status because of his war injuries.
Unless he did something truly unspeakable, I don’t think it really does. The specifics, unless they’re truly horrible, would be lost in the perception that liberals who hate the military are digging through the records of an honorable soldier and POW to try and find something to swiftboat him with. Counterproductive.
That’s a valid point- but if I were running against him I’d at least want to look at the record. The biggest question is why he left- his goal was to become an admiral like his poppa an granpa. Why did he quit?
And in addition to that, the GOP gets away with trashing people’s service records because the media believes they’re the “pro-military party.” Regardless of real-world actions, the media believes the Democrats are the “anti-military party,” and any attacks will be interpreted in that light.
(And yes, we need to change these media narratives, but let’s concentrate on changing them to let us do things we actually want to do, rather than to let us do scummy Rovian dirty tricks that we’d rather not do.)
Ditto with going after his school record. Buncha smart ass elitist liberals that want to tell people how to live because they are so goddamn smart.
Quit what?
McCain was bottom of the class, a clown. He was (still is) wreckless. He wrecked a lot of planes. Anyone without such connections to an Admiral father would have lost his wings. That said, with the mentality of the voting public, swiftboating him is risky. It could be done successfully and late in the campaign. That is the key. It must be late in the campaign. Raise some questions, let them linger. McCain must be allowed no time to rebuff the meme.
The navy
He was on active duty for 21 years and 4 in the academy. I know he was a lifer but damn. . .
meme this
I think that McCain has far greater vulnerabilities than his military career. That said, I would guess that one of the reasons that he might have been eased out of the service was because he was banging everything in sight.
IIRC, retirement is a traditional response to being passed over for flag rank.
Give me a break, wtf do you think fighter pilots do?
McCain underwent treatment for his injuries, including months of grueling physical therapy,[56] and attended the National War College in Fort McNair in Washington, D.C. during 1973–1974.[54][19] By late 1974 McCain had his flight status reinstated,[54] and he became Commanding Officer of a training squadron stationed in Florida.[54][19][57] He turned around a mediocre unit and won the squadron its first Meritorious Unit Commendation.[56] During this period, the McCains’ marriage began to falter;[58] he would later accept blame.[58]
McCain served as the Navy’s liaison to the U.S. Senate, beginning in 1977.[59] He would later say it represented “[my] real entry into the world of politics and the beginning of my second career as a public servant”.[54] McCain played a key behind-the-scenes role in gaining congressional financing for a new supercarrier against the wishes of the Carter administration.[60][56]
In 1979,[56] McCain met and began a relationship with Cindy Lou Hensley, a teacher from Phoenix, Arizona.[58] By then McCain’s naval career had stalled;[61] it was unlikely he would be promoted further,[56] because he had poor annual physicals and had been given no major sea command.[61]
His wife Carol accepted a divorce in February of 1980,[56] effective in April of 1980.[23] The settlement included two houses, and financial support for her ongoing medical treatments resulting from the 1969 automobile accident; they would remain on good terms.[58] McCain and Hensley were married on May 17, 1980.[13] McCain retired from the Navy on April 1, 1981,[62] as a Captain.[63]
go check and see how many POW’s made flag.
Fighter pilots maybe, but it is frowned upon in command officers.
There’s a famous picture of McCain embracing one of his Vietnamese torturers. Why would he do that?
Is that a fair question, or does it remind people of his wartime experiences?
Sorry. I’ll have no part of dishonestly smearing anyone.
He thought he was hugging George Bush?
I’m not sure what that means, “there’s nothing to get McCain on here”. He was a legacy at the Academy. His seat there was assured; his graduation was nearly so. It’s no more a stain on the Academy to say that than it would be to point out the way Harvard and Yale treated their own legacies in the 1950’s.
Bush squeaked by in the 1960’s, just as the Ivies began dropping their quotas on Jews, African Americans, women and others, and began admitting and graduating based on merit. Not always, of course – the admission rate for children of alums is still many times the rate for the hoi poloi – but much better than earlier.
His wife Carol accepted a divorce in February of 1980,[56] effective in April of 1980.[23] The settlement included two houses, and financial support for her ongoing medical treatments resulting from the 1969 automobile accident; they would remain on good terms.[58] McCain and Hensley were married on May 17, 1980.[13] McCain retired from the Navy on April 1, 1981,[62] as a Captain.
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Divorced in April and married in May. Now that’s f*cking wreckless!
He may have left the Navy to enter politics. As previously noted, he was the Navy’s liaison to the U.S. Senate.
McCain’s not Bush. He actually served in the military and in combat. He was a POW. Because of that, his military record is unassailable.
Seriously though, McCains treatment of POW/MIA families during his time in the Senate is fair game. He was rather not nice to them, while embracing his Vietnamese counterparts. That alone would result in multiple 527s for a Dem candidate.
could be he committed adultery there, but I wouldn’t want to speculate…
this is ’rich’ with irony-
news announcement that 1,100 lawyers in ohio are volunteering to advise homeowners in financial trouble to help them keep their homes.
then,
usbank commercial advertising for equity loans, ’interest rates lowest ever’
not an april fool’s joke.
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and mccain is running on his military record because he knows he can run on his military record.
plenty of other things he’s not running on, with good reason.
I’m sure they don’t recall a thing.
Best attack on McBush may be “He’s too fuckin old” Use the clip of LieberWurst whispering in his ear to make the point.
Or go ask one of his 105 year old former teachers “was Johnny a good boy?”
It’s not much of a speculation since McCain has admitted this in the past. Serial adultery and the divorce along with being a hothead *sshole sank his chances for becoming a flag officer. Military culture tends to be old fashioned in weird ways.
McCain’s military service ended 27 years ago today, April 1, 1981. That was a long time ago!
How long ago? The first orbital shuttle mission was launched April 11, 1981. The FY82 fiscal budget passed by Congress in May was for $689 billion. The first IBM PC went on sale in August. Ditto for MTV on your cable box. Myself, I was saving money for an Apple ][ with a green-and-black screen and driving a Ford Maverick.
A long time ago.
Not what I said. I said that politics and tradition influenced McBush’s entry and graduation from the Academy, just as they affected Bush’s entry and graduation from two Ivy Leagues schools.
Graduating at the bottom of his class should be a liability, not a strength. A common meme, non, mon frere? perpetuated by the Orwellian Bush as if it were a strength because it’s an attribute that he can’t hide from.
I also did not say McBush was incompetent. I’m happy that he knows the required rotation rate for XX screws to drive YY ship at WW knots in ZZ conditions and how long he can maintain that rate with his fuel load, or the likely effect on impact of an enemy torpedo and which damage control measures to take if impact occurs. I’m more impressed that he can successfully land a military aircraft on a carrier at night, an exercise that would make many competent Air Force pilots need to change their brown corduroy trousers. But that doesn’t make him presidential material, any more than it necessarily fits him for high command like his ancestors. Those are minimum job requirements.
But that was forty years ago. I’m more concerned with his decades in the Senate. What does he owe those scores of lobbyists working for his campaign “for free”? How will his age, temper and health, his apparent readiness to shoot first and ask questions later, affect his decision making? I’m concerned about his ignorance of the issues the next administration must deal with and his apparent determination that he needn’t know more; his toadying to radical religionists and his relentless support for most items on the neocon agenda.
Damn!! I’m not on McSleepy’s mailing list, so i didn’t know about this wonderful opportunity.
Had I known I could drive over to Episcopal & a) see McSleepy “in the flesh,” so to speak; and b) see Jane, I certainly would have rearranged my busy [packing to move] schedule.
That’s true, McBush – son of Bush – is more than Bush. He survived a more rugged and quantitatively focused undergraduate curriculum. He served in the active military and in combat. He survived six years as a POW. He’s served on the Hill for decades. Bush drank, drove and exercised his libido his first four decades.
But what is McBush more competent than Bush at? Why is that a credible standard for comparison? Is his judgment better or does he just make it faster? Great naval lieutenants don’t always make captain; better captains often fail to make flag rank. Just as a lawyer may be good enough to get out of a contract with the devil – hell, Keanu Reeves did it twice – but not be competent to judge the matter.
In the end, this is about priorities as well as judgment. I don’t like either of McCain’s.
So how come he does not know whether contraception prevents the spread of diseases?
righhhht.
(or maybe his body and brain is too riddled with pathogens and such that he cain’t remember!)
I’ve spoken with a few Navy alums who said that McCain would have been kicked out if his last name was “Smith”. Further, guys who finish at the bottom of the class don’t typically get slots in the aviation community unless they have big-time connections. It’s kind of harsh to say, but the only distinction McCain attained during active duty was for having survived two crashes and the “Forrest Fire”.
But again, we can’t say that because we’re Dems.
Thanks Jane, great stuff.
Good point – my guess is Vietnam is ancient history to most people under the age of 40.
they showed the balcony during this boring McSame thing and it was HALF EMPTY . When Obama came to Boise and ya hadda be in line by 7am on a dark ‘n freezing morn , thousands were in overflow rooms !