McCain airs harrowing ad;

[rodeodance]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/20048.html

McCain airs harrowing ad; his campaign sees renewed hope
By Matt Stearns | McClatchy Newspapers



WASHINGTON — Arizona Sen. John McCain hopes to stoke a comeback with the most striking political ad of the 2008 presidential campaign — and the most harrowing in recent memory.

The television ad, released Thursday, opens with black-and-white footage of a haggard and badly injured 31-year-old McCain being interrogated by an off-camera enemy. The footage is from 1967, when he was a prisoner of war in Vietnam. McCain lies on a bed, holding a burning cigarette, grimacing in pain. The camera pans to a heavily bandaged arm.

"Lieutenant commander in the Navy," McCain quietly tells his captor. "Hit by either missile or antiaircraft fire, I'm not sure which. And the plane continued straight down and I ejected and broke my leg and both arms."

The ad goes on to tout McCain's leadership on national security as a senator, including his criticism of the Bush administration's Iraq war strategy, while reiterating his support for the war.

"We're Americans. We're Americans, and we'll never surrender — they will," McCain says in the ad...........

[Lucinda]

1. Well Rudy owns 911

And Mc Cain is pushing the man he once was. It will probably help him a lot.

Kinda sad really.

[Downtown Hound]

2. Hmmm...

What to say about this? How about, Johnny, we all know you were a POW in Vietnam, another stupid and misguided war. We all know you suffered terribly. I am sorry you suffered so much.

But what have you done since then? Well, you've gotten us into another stupid, illegal, misguided war. So it would appear that you learned nothing for all those years of pain and suffering. And while I'll always fell sympathy for what you went through, allow me to currently feel quite indifferent to it. Because it would seem like you are currently exploiting it so that you may gain power to continue this current war, which will result in far more people suffering what you yourself once did.

So, how about I just come out an say it Johnny? This whole ad is rather pathetic, and so are you. Whatever warrior you once were disappeared long ago. Now there is just the empty soul of a corrupt, venal, and cowardly politician with blood on his hands. No amount of constantly reminding us of your POW days is going to change that.

[ThatPoetGuy]

6. Excellent post!

Wish I could kick and rec this reply.

[Forrest Greene]

3. I Fail To See

...how incompetence & bad luck as a fighter pilot recommends a person for the U.S. Presidency.

[Cobalt-60]

4. Will his republican opponents get out the purple heart band aids?

[Didereaux]

5. Firstly, it is sad... then it's this

John McCain has not had a good relationship with Mother Nature. Being in that generation myself I can tell you with certainty that aging sucks! There is no elegant way of saying it. It also does things with the mind, or I don't mean the Reagan kind of things, but subtle things, and I think John has in the last 3 years or so gone through another of Natures 'adjustments'. That is sad.

He has forgotten or chooeses to ignore the memories of just what was the reality back then. It is, I think summed up pretty well in a single graphic.




..and the full set is here
ttp://www.flickr.com/photos/12461951@N03/

We are living in the past, just a different Texan, and a different General.
...

[DavidDvorkin]

7. And what were you doing when you were shot down, Commander?

Dropping bombs on civilians.

[nosferaustin]

8. Geez

He even manages to throw in an image of him walking with Ray-gun.

Sad, really.

[Felix Mala]

9. And as I lay there, broken, bloody and beaten, I thought to myself...

Some day, I'm going to Washington, get a lot of power and help Charles Keating and his friends become billionaires...