It **isn't** 'questioing his service". It **is** questioning the *relevancy* of that service

[Stinky The Clown]

What does five years as a POW have to do with claiming to be a military expert? Or a foreign policy expert? Or a national security expert?

I'll say it.

Not a damned thing.

McCain is as expert as anyone might be who gets Congressional information and classified Congressional briefings.

His time as a POW makes him, arguably, a 'hero'. The rest of his military career was, to put it kindly, ordinary.

Questioning his, or any other vet's service - assuming it was honorable - is a fool's game. And we're not fools. Questioning the **relevancy** of that service to a run for President is absolutely relevant and the right thing to do.

[MercutioATC]

1. Ay what point did Americans lose their ability to think?

I completely agree with you. He should be honored for his sacrifices to this country, but being held prisoner and tortured does not make one either a military expert or a foreign policy expert.

Why are so many unable to make that distinction?

[bluestateguy]

2. The truth is that he wasn't a very good pilot either

And he graduated almost dead last in his class at Annapolis. BUSH had a better academic record at Yale.

[Zachstar]

3. Lets not go that far shall we?

Remember he was almost killed when his plane was hit starting the fire.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_USS_Forrestal_fire

[Captain Hilts]

5. They were both spoiled kids that were legacy admits. At least McCain admitted it. nt

[Stinky The Clown]

6. Irrelevant

Absolutely true (fourth from the bottom) ..... but largely irrelevant.

[Benhurst]

8. Bush would have flunked out if it hadn't been for family connections.

Granted, McCain was well-connected, too. But I would still take his making it through Annapolis over Bush's miraculous graduation from Yale with an academic record which couldn't even get him into law school at the University of Texas, despite family connections.

[panader0]

4. I got blasted a month ago here on DU for questioning his "heroism"

The point was that it's not politically wise for Obama to question mcsame's military service, and it's not. That should fall to some other people. He was nearly last in his class at the naval acadamy (he probably only got in because his father, just like bush)where he belonged to a group of hard drinking pals known as the "bad bunch" or some such thing. He crashed what, FIVE planes? (The last one was shot down) But I agree totally with your premise that being a prisoner in and of itself does not make him a hero to me. Some have claimed that he could have gotten out earlier but chose to stay to help his fellow prisoners. I have also read here that he received special treatment because his father was an admiral.

[Stinky The Clown]

9. Your facts are a bit off ........ but .......

...... no matter. The specifics of his record are irrelevant.

[crankychatter]

7. Obama's handling it just fine - nt

[L0oniX]

10. So he spent time as POW for participating in another policy war. That just shows...

that he didn't make the right choice which was to evade participation in that war like I did. Spending the 2 years in a US prison would have certainly been much better than what he went through. I got out on a F4 classification after having been denied a conscientious objection status but I was ready to go AWOL and move to Canada. Policy wars are never right.



"Hey hows that idea of going to war to stop communism working out for ya"? Ever shop at communist Chinas outlet ...Walmart ...Toys R Us? Oh yea ...uhm Vietnam wants to do business with us too. O my ...guess what ...South Korea wants to hookup with the North again and they want us out of there. And o how that whole "we tried to invade Cuba" embargo working out for ya? Geeze ...Cuba has free higher education and universal health care just like Iraq used to have before we fucked them up.

Stop the fucking policy wars ! Do not participate in them !

[crankychatter]

11. Colin Powell said as much just the other day, didn't he?

He didn't rule out voting for Obama

[Stinky The Clown]

12. So did Wes Clark

Several times in several places in several different media