Obama calls McCain a "hero" in several speeches

[panader0]

I know he was a naval pilot. That in itself does not make him a hero, unless every service man or woman is a hero. My dad flew 50 bombing missions in WW11 and won the distinguished flying cross 3 times. I considered him a hero, but he was a man like thousands of others in WW11, and was never singled out as a "hero". Then McCain got shot down. That does not make him a hero. Then he spent years in a POW camp. That does not make him a hero. Yes, he served our country honorably. Yes he suffered. So have many hundreds of thousands of Vietnam vets and Iraqi war vets who are not deemed heroes. I am an Obama supporter, and I know this (McCain's heroics) is an issue that hits home with many people, but I'm not sure Obama should keep praising McCain's imprisonment. The supposed "heroics" are part of McCain's campaign, like Rudy G.'s 911 rant. I respect McCain's service, but question the hero title.

[jakem]

1. is this really worth debating?

politically, it is smart of Obama.

[AtomicKitten]

2. McCain stayed in the prison camp an extra 5 yrs or so because they wouldn't release his men

I think Obama is pretty safe calling him a hero.

[Flabbergasted]

3. There it is.nt

[zonkers]

18. Duh. How is this even a thread?

[Pirate Smile]

8. I agree.

[bbinacan]

16. You're so right

Because his father was CINCPAC, they offered to release him in 1968. He refused and was finally released in 1973. Pretty damned heroic in my book.

[ctaylors6]

26. I agree. Even if I don't agree with current policies, I feel fine saying he was vietnam war hero.

McCain was offered release in summer 1968 after several months as POW but turned it down due to the Code of Conduct principle of "first in, first out." He would only accept the offer if every man taken in before him was released as well. (wiki) As a result, he was a POW until March 1973.

[demosincebirth]

32. Do we know this as a fact or is that his strory? Just asking.

[Yael]

36. Are you fucking kidding me?

You people amaze me.

[demosincebirth]

49. No, I'm not fucking kidding you. Like I said...just asking

[tammywammy]

51. Yes it's true. We know that for sure.

:eyes:

[demmiblue]

28. Agreed

[grantcart]

45. To be exact; the US military had a code that prisoners were too

be released in strict order of their capture. When the NVA realized that he was the son of Admiral McCain he was offered an early exit and refused to leave until his turn was up. At the time there were periodic swaps of prisoners or prisoners were released in conjuction with negotiations. McCain also withheld for a long time making the incriminating statement that all POWs made after (in most cases) rope torture that was extremely painful. McCain withstood this torture longer than most, and on the basis of his injuries could also have been a candidate for early release. Many who were in Hanoi also credit McCain with helping keep morale high.

[jackson_dem]

4. Praise Reagan, praise McCain. Attack Bill Clinton, Joe Wilson, Paul Krugman

[bbinacan]

19. See post #16 and

remove your head from......

[Frances]

5. Personally, I think it's smart politics for Obama to say

McCain is an American hero. I would give that status to McCain and move on to what it is that we want from our President.

[LaurenG]

6. Yes he was a hero. He may be insane now but he was a hero.

Anyone who spends 6 years as a pow in service to our country is a hero.

I don't want him near the office of the presidency, but you are off base, he was a hero.

[MADem]

7. Actually, McCain was an UNLUCKY pilot. He lost THREE planes.

One in training, one on the Forest Fire Forrestal, and one over Hanoi.

He endured a lot of agony as a POW, and he did the best he could to aid the morale of his fellow prisoners and deny the North Vietnamese any actionable intelligence. I don't think the "H" word is misused to characterize his service or his conduct as a prisoner.

I think anyone who serves with honor is a hero. But that's just me.

[Deja Q]

9. World War 11?

Your spin, atop your mis-writing of "WWII", will get you nowhere.

Besides, respect is respect. It's not wrong to transcend politics once in a while. At least, that's what civilized people do.

Ditto for concession speeches. :P

[panader0]

31. I used the word "respect". Sorry about the 11 instead of the II thing

I just don't see the hero thing. Sorry. It may be smart politically, I agree. But just being in jail doesn't make you a hero.

[sniffa]

10. 1. He's correct on that

Read above me for why.

2. That's brilliant strategy for him in the campaign he's running.

[Barack_America]

22. Ding! Absolutely correct! n/t

[islandmkl]

11. among your points, all valid under your tight definiton of what makes a hero to YOU...

as opposed to what qualities or characteristics or circumstance might qualify anyone to be considered 'heroic'...do yourself and favor and step back and think about seven years in POW camp versus RG's exploitation of 9/11. Poor comparison, detracts from whatever point you were trying to make. That a hero, by that measure alone, will defeat either Obama or Clinton?

[El Supremo]

12. To me a hero is someone who saves another life. Did McCain?

[sniffa]

17. Yes, Romney today

[El Supremo]

21. Good one!

[bunnies]

13. dial 1-800-get-aclue. And splash some cold water on the face and neck.

Its called a "dose of reality". I highly recommend it.

[mtnsnake]

14. I heard a clip this morning of him calling McCain a hero. Wanna know why he does it?

He does it because he scared to death of bashing McCain without tempuring his rhetoric about McCain, so he throws in the war hero stuff. Obama is simply afraid to piss off the right wing too much. You can tell it everytime he tries to bash them that he is holding back for fear of backlash.

[Yael]

37. Oh, he is honoring the man's service to his country

Unfucking believable.

[JTFrog]

46. “A pessimist thinks everybody is as nasty as himself, and hates them for it.” nt

[Unsane]

15. You have GOT to be kidding me.

This isn't the argument you want to make.


Fun fact: many of McCain's teeth were broken during his stay in a Vietnamese prison camp because his captors put rocks in his food.

[lisa58]

20. McCain is a hero...

...doesn't mean he needs to be president. His family business is war.

Me personally, I don't want war.

Obama is right to give McCain his due - it's the new politics we're hoping to attain.

[Yael]

40. Yes, yes it is.

[RBInMaine]

23. CLINTON calls McCain a "hero" too !!!

McCain was a POW who tortured. This is graceful respect. BUT THEN, Obama BLASTS McCain on the issues, which he has also been doing. PLEASE TELL THE WHOLE STORY !!!

[FrenchieCat]

24. What Obama is doing is smart politics.....

it gets that fact out of the way....and allows him to lead into the real criticism of McCain....and whether McCain is a hero or not doesn't really matter.

That way when McCain is touting his herohood......everyone will simply say....yea, we knew that, and?

[whosinpower]

25. McCain was a hero

Sure he was. Acknowledging such is not a crime - nor should Obama be villified for stating such. Why don't you try attacking McCain's POLICIES and love affair with Bush....instead of questioning his status as a hero.

As an example - McCain himself was subjected to torture....and yet why does he support the US using torture as a interrogation technique???? Of all people, he should know how a person would say almost anything just to get the torture to stop.

[NeedleCast]

27. He is

I think he'd be a disaster as a president. I wish he'd just slip away. Play some golf in Phoenix. Enjoy his retirement. This man suffered more than the vast majority of us will ever understand.

He lived up to the military standard of self-sacrifice. When he could have gone home, he chose to stay because others in the same position needed him. If this is not heroic, what is?

[Raine]

29. What should Obama have done treat him the way the RETHUGS

did John Kerry? Make fun of him, insult his military experience and years in a prison camp. I know that MacCain is basically a nutcase but it would be wrong not to acknowledge what he went thru in Viet Nam and the courage he had that carried him thru.

[karynnj]

30. It's the right thing to do and everyone from Kerry to Biden to HRC have done so

I think the implicit message is that they are not taking the low road the Republicans took in 2004.

I agree that before he was captured there was nothing to deem him a hero. But, there is much in his 5 years as a POW that do. When people like John Kerry spoke (years ago) a his admiration for the strength McCain showed, there is real truth to it.

[calteacherguy]

33. Any vet is a hero, in my view. nt

[lumberjack_jeff]

34. He is. That doesn't suggest that he'd be a capable president. n/t

[Mz Pip]

Obama is acknowledging

McCain's service to his country in a respectful manner. Doing this will make it much easier for him to take him to task on his positions.

Obama won't be falling into the trap of trashing a 'hero' if he acknowledges that McCain is a hero. McCain's military service is being framed as a separate issue.

Good politics by Obama IMHO.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[Yael]

35. Why are you even going there?

Doubting the valor of a man who spent 5 years as a POW because he wouldn't leave his men?

That doesn't in itself make him a qualifier for the top executive spot, but for fuck sake, find another argument.

Damn.

[robbedvoter]

38. How many GOP-ers called Kerry a hero in 2004? Clark? Max Cleland?

I only remember the purple heart band aids at the RNC convention...

[Yael]

41. I would like to think that we don't stoop to that level

but you can if you want.

Personally, I find it rather low rent.

[theHandpuppet]

43. They just made asses of themselves

I don't need to look to them for my examples.

[Sapphocrat]

39. Ooo, that's gonna hurt...

...if the McInsane campaign lifts a few video clips for an attack ad.

[theHandpuppet]

42. Sorry, but I think McCain IS a hero

That doesn't mean I don't hate his politics or that he wouldn't make my top 5 list of worst Presidential nightmares. I wouldn't vote for him if you held my feet over a roaring fire. But he's still a hero.

[ProSense]

44. Hillary and Bill call McCain a close friend

Bill Clinton: John McCain and Hillary are 'very close'

[pretzel4gore]

47. General Smedley Butler says 'war is a racket'

when did Viet Nam ever threaten the US? Why was the US dropping as much tonnage of bombs as was used in dubya dubya 2 on that poor little country, which had just freed itself from french colonialism? Can Viet Nam arrest mccain for murdering its citizens? What would Nam think of a guy who killed from 5 miles up, got shot down and finished the war in a pow camp was to be elected president? While these questions seem once removed from any significance, surely mcCain would really have been a hero if he REFUSED to drop bombs on a country which posed no threat to us (and thus also escaped being a pow!)

[Yurovsky]

52. I like the way you think ...

of course, we were all sold a bill of goods about how horrible the Communists were ... and now we're big buds with the government in Hanoi.

Got to have that cheap labor, dontchaknow!!!!

The US owes Vietnam an apology and reparations for the destruction wrought upon a poor developing nation.

[pretzel4gore]

60. i think Iraq has downgraded war altogether...

in terms of heroism etc. Iraq shouts 'no' to war, just like Nam did, though you're right in the commie bit; 40 years ago, one could believe the Russians were coming (and remember, the draft was on, so the troops who went to 'Nam were enforced) It would be bizarre if the end result of Mccain's 'heroism' was to be the feeling that those who able to avoid military service were the smart, capable ones, despite being phonies!

[0007]

62. Absolutely!!

[mohc]

48. Almost every time he mentions this

He calls McCain a hero a thanks him for his "half century" of service. Not 50 years, or many decades, but half century, a nice little jab at McCain's age wrapped in the compliment of call him a war hero.

[goodgd_yall]

58. Ah

I didn't think of that (I've only heard the one speech on Tuesday where he said these things) but, you're right; "half a century" sounds a lot older then "50 years."

[tammywammy]

50. McCain is a hero

:shrug: Doesn't mean I'm going to vote for him or think he should be president.

[yeswecan08]

53. Obama is a uniter - his natural speech pattern reflects that

[IrishBloodEngHeart]

54. what he did for his fellow POWs while held captive makes him a hero

you should actually do some research before saying McCain isn't a hero.

[Bucky]

55. It's smart politics.

What was heroic is stepping forward and risking his life. You don't have to like the war to admire those who put the ultimate trust in the government to do the right thing with their service--even if on occasion the government betrays them.

[AngryAmish]

56. In 96 Clinton acknowledged Dole was a hero

Didn't stop him from kicking his ass.

[goodgd_yall]

57. Don't take it too seriously

Obama is taking the "high road." Obama has been tagged by Republicans as the most liberal senator in Congress. In the conservative mind, liberal equals unpatriotic and anti-military. By calling McCain a hero, he defuses those charges. I think that is part of why Obama is referring to McCain as a hero.

[rox63]

59. Pure and simple - McCain was a war hero - There's no denying that

But he'd still be a crappy President.

[mmonk]

61. Politics for the general election for those who consider McCain

a hero, but explaining why he is not best suited.

[Adelante]

63. The American people consider McCain a hero

He was heroic as a POW. I don't see why recognizing that would be wrong for either of our candidates to do. It's good manners and smart politics.

[Guava Jelly]

64. McCain is a Hero..

And I admire him..I hate his recent embrace of the fundies and his Iraq stance.
I don't see where this is a negative.
I'd never vote for him though