Comments on: McCain Event Liveblog

By: BoiseNick

BoiseNick — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 01:25:37 +0000

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 !

By: Fern

Fern — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 21:46:02 +0000

Good point – my guess is Vietnam is ancient history to most people under the age of 40.

By: BooRadley

BooRadley — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 19:46:27 +0000

Thanks Jane, great stuff.

By: Tom65

Tom65 — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 18:29:17 +0000

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.

By: angie

angie — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 18:08:23 +0000

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!)

By: earlofhuntingdon

earlofhuntingdon — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 18:00:49 +0000

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.

By: Mauimom

Mauimom — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:51:00 +0000

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.

By: earlofhuntingdon

earlofhuntingdon — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:50:17 +0000

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.

By: infoshaman

infoshaman — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:36:18 +0000

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.

By: Hugh

Hugh — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:29:33 +0000

could be he committed adultery there, but I wouldn’t want to speculate…

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.