Another Repuke Lie: McSame "can't raise his arms above his shoulders"

[JaneQPublic]

In Fred Thompson's speech Tuesday night, he made the following claim regarding McCain's war injuries:
"Now, John McCain can't raise his arms above his shoulders. He can't salute the flag of the country for which he sacrificed so much."

Here is evidence to the contrary (all photos taken after his stay at the Hanoi Hilton):

[Greyskye]

1. How can you tell when a Republican politician is lying?

:puke:

[cameozalaznick]

2. They're lips are moving? eom

[izquierdista]

3. Cut the crap Dr. Frist

As far as I can see from the photo (and I don't have Dr. Frist telediagnosis powers either), it looks as though he cannot raise his humerus above the level of his axilla. It seems as though the humerus goes up to about 90 degrees and any further upward movement is at the elbow. However, I'm willing to yield on the point that he may have some sort of rotator cuff dysfunction, and we won't be asked to vote on his old war wounds.

Why don't you spend some time on matters of substance?

[JaneQPublic]

6. Cut the "crap"? My, you sound angry. (nt)

[izquierdista]

8. Admonishing the childish

As in "you can behave better than that".

[JaneQPublic]

Review the DU Rules for Posting

You just broke at least one.

[bvar22]

29. "humerus above the level of his axilla"

"the humerus goes up to about 90 degrees and any further upward movement is at the elbow"

That sounds like a perfect salute.


"He can't salute the flag of the country for which he sacrificed so much."---Fred Thompson, RNC

[bushisanidiot]

4. Uh, that last photograph is very telling. He clearly has his arm high enough to salute.

and he doesn't look like he's straining at all.

[jdlh8894]

5. Tennis Elbow,Maybe? eom

[Psephos]

7. He cannot elevate his humerus (upper arm bone) much above the glenoid (shoulder cup)

and that's pretty clear in the photos attached to the post.

Why a Dem would attack his war injuries is beyond my political ken. Try looking up the word "blowback." Reminds me of the stupid pugs and their Kerry band-aids.

Put the focus back on McLame's dangerous policies where it belongs.

[AndrewJacksonFaction]

10. Why is that, what kind of injury would do that?

BTW, I agree with your comments.

[OilemFirchen]

9. "He can't salute the flag of the country for which he sacrificed so much."

[Igel]

13. He can't. Not properly.

Picture taken from upper chest level, his elbow's below his shoulder, in this as in all the other pictures. His wrist doesn't make it all the way to nose level.

What you see is partly because he bent his wrist, partly because he's inclined his head a bit, and partly because of the camera angle.

That's obvious, if you look. That's not a salute. It's a try at a salute. A rather pathetic try at a salute.

He's left with right-hand-over-the-heart salutes for the flag, like the rest of us civilians.

[OilemFirchen]

14. It's a salute.

Doesn't matter how "proper". The jingoistic statement is a lie.

[greenvpi]

11. The pictures are very telling

I have no control of my medial deltoids after an idiot neurologist (BTW, who is a rabid racist and Repuke supporter) destroyed the nerves in them by tying me down too tightly when I had heart surgery. Compared to me, this man is a fake and a liar. I'm e-mail them to several friends. This is a very simple lie that is very easy to prove. This issue might have legs.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

12. Complete bullshit post. Worst ever.

[TrueBlueDem]

16. Huh?

The pictures show that grampa Fred was lying. How is that bullshit?

Is it bullshit when we call the Repugs on playing the POW card?

[myrna minx]

15. This is a disgusting post. What's next, purple heart band-aids?

We've got enough ammo to take him on, why pick on a veteran's war wounds. :-(

[samuraiguppy]

18. they WON

by doing this to Kerry. We lose by trying to always take the high road.

His military service is fair game. Can we give it the same treatment that THEY gave to us 4 years ago?

[myrna minx]

21. I have scrolls of BS that we could easily go after him for, so why go after a

Veteran's war wounds? I thought it was disgusting when they did it to Kerry and it's disgusting to do it to McCain's war wounds. We have PLENTY to go after him for, we don;t have to dance in the gutter with the Republicans.

[samuraiguppy]

26. granted it is disgusting

but it works..and usually AGAINST us. why not have it work FOR us?

[myrna minx]

27. Didi you watch that hate-fest last night? Is that what you really think Americans want

to engage in? Really? Mocking the wounds of a former POW, when we have substantive issues that can run circles around him? Nah. Not taking your bait.

[awoke_in_2003]

28. Two wrongs don't make a right. nt

[nyccitizen]

17. He can't raise his left arm...

Thompson must have had bad info... In 2000 when Bush used his right arm to grab McCain's at the convention and tried to raise it up, McCain had to lean over and tell Bush he couldn't raise it. That must have steamed McCain after all the smearing Bush did to him in the primaries, and he couldn't even remember his opponent's war injury.

[Naturyl]

19. Have you ever seen him move around?

It's obvious he has serious trouble raising his arms. It causes him to look quite creepy sometimes.

This line of attack is a dead end.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

20. McCain loves to raise his arms to shoulder level and flap them up and down

I'm not knocking the fact the guy is a tortured and disabled vet. But I think he enjoys flapping his arms around and milking his disability every chance he gets. It's the equivalent of him saying "I was a POW" in response to every other question.

[Born_A_Truman]

22. Yeah

[JBoris]

23. This is indeed a disgusting post. He obviously has physical problems. Fight him on the issues. nt

[vanderBeth]

24. This isn't something to attack him on.

[auburngrad82]

25. It's because he has no spine

Everyone knows he ripped his spine out in Vietnam and used it to scratch a cross in the dirt of his bamboo cage.

POW! POW! POW!

[RichardRay]

30. sorry, you're quite wrong.

One, he can fake a salute with the right amount of body english to get his hand close to his forehead, but his DI would rip a strip off him if did it that way in training.

Two, ask a physical therapist what's going on with his range and recruitment. He's made a lot of adjustments to get equivalent function, but it's not anything close to normal motion.

The statement was bogus in lots of ways, but it's not factually incorrect if you specify 'properly' salute the flag. Of course, as a civilian he couldn't properly salute the flag that way anyhow, so the issue is moot.

[panzerfaust]

31. You seem to be stuck in the Reality Based Community

The Fascists are way beyond that ... making their own reality (as they bluntly claimed).

So far, their vision of the world is the one that is winning.