Chief
07-01-2008, 06:46 AM
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/op_ed/view/2008_07_01_McCain_besieged_by_slander:_Even_captor s_didn_t_doubt_his_character/srvc=home&position=also
Even captors didn’t doubt his character
By Michael Graham
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Sen. Barack Obama gave a speech about patriotism yesterday entitled “The America We Love.” After listening to the rhetoric coming from his campaign, I assume the big question at Obama HQ was “Who you calling ‘we?’ ”
Just hours before Obama’s pledge to “never question the patriotism of others in this campaign,” Gen. Wesley Clark was on CBS, demeaning Sen. John McCain’s military service.
Claiming that McCain is “untested and untried” in foreign policy, Clark - the Grady Little of modern U.S. warfare - said, “I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.”
Obama has since thrown Clark beneath the now well-worn wheels of his campaign bus. But as Rich Geraghty at National Review noted, Clark’s comments marked the seventh time that an Obama surrogate has slammed McCain’s military record. Not McCain’s positions on Iraq or foreign policy, but his actual service.
Among the highlights:
Sen. Tom Harkin last month saying that a president with McCain’s military background and worldview “can be pretty dangerous.”
Former Sen. George McGovern (aka “Obama 1.0”) in April: “John, you were shot down early in the war and spent most of the time in prison. I flew 35 combat missions with a 10-man crew and brought them home safely every time.”
Sen. Jay Rockefeller: “McCain was a fighter pilot, who dropped laser-guided missiles from 35,000 feet. He was long gone when they hit. What happened when (the missiles) get to the ground? He doesn’t know. You have to care about the lives of people. McCain never gets into those issues.”
In fact, Politico.com and others have reported a concerted effort on the left to demean McCain’s service as a Navy pilot as either incompetent or criminal.
“From day one in the Navy, McCain screwed up again and again,” Jeffrey Klein wrote at the Huffington Post, echoing the “What did he do beside get shot down?” memo.
Some members of the Left suggest that McCain’s bombing of “civilian targets” in North Vietnam makes him a war criminal. Then there’s Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the liberal activist group Code Pink:
“I wouldn’t characterize anybody who fought in Vietnam as a war hero.”
Hardly surprising from a group that is currently trying to shut down Marine recruiting offices and calls representatives of the U.S. military the “enemy.”
Apparently the Obama campaign’s message on McCain’s military service is “He’s a great patriot - for a psychotic, baby-killing incompetent!”
What voters do they think are going to respond to this message? Hardcore blue staters?
If that’s the plan, someone in the Obama campaign needs to visit Hanscom Air Force Base.
Twice a year, Hanscom holds a Heroes Homecoming, welcoming back their own from deployments abroad. On Friday, I had the opportunity to emcee their latest celebration, where about 70 airmen were greeted by more than 1,000 local residents.
In the heart of liberal Massachusetts, we showed up to cheer, clap, wave flags and show our heartfelt support for the men and women who serve. There were no politics. No shouts about war or oil. Just people from Massachusetts saying “thank you” to our neighbors who have chosen to serve.
I asked Col. Tom Schluckebier, commander of the 66th Airbase Wing at Hanscom, how he and his comrades are treated here. When he was first deployed to Hanscom, Schluckebier, a Nebraska native, arrived with the same question.
“I’ve never had a bad experience,” he told me. “When we wear our uniforms to Logan, or Fenway or to the mall, we get applause and thanks. It’s very humbling.”
There is a lesson here for the Angry Left: You may not have gotten over your Vietnam-era loathing of the military, but most Americans have. Trash McCain’s record at your own risk.
Michael Graham hosts a talk show on 96.9 WTKK.
:mad:
Even captors didn’t doubt his character
By Michael Graham
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Sen. Barack Obama gave a speech about patriotism yesterday entitled “The America We Love.” After listening to the rhetoric coming from his campaign, I assume the big question at Obama HQ was “Who you calling ‘we?’ ”
Just hours before Obama’s pledge to “never question the patriotism of others in this campaign,” Gen. Wesley Clark was on CBS, demeaning Sen. John McCain’s military service.
Claiming that McCain is “untested and untried” in foreign policy, Clark - the Grady Little of modern U.S. warfare - said, “I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.”
Obama has since thrown Clark beneath the now well-worn wheels of his campaign bus. But as Rich Geraghty at National Review noted, Clark’s comments marked the seventh time that an Obama surrogate has slammed McCain’s military record. Not McCain’s positions on Iraq or foreign policy, but his actual service.
Among the highlights:
Sen. Tom Harkin last month saying that a president with McCain’s military background and worldview “can be pretty dangerous.”
Former Sen. George McGovern (aka “Obama 1.0”) in April: “John, you were shot down early in the war and spent most of the time in prison. I flew 35 combat missions with a 10-man crew and brought them home safely every time.”
Sen. Jay Rockefeller: “McCain was a fighter pilot, who dropped laser-guided missiles from 35,000 feet. He was long gone when they hit. What happened when (the missiles) get to the ground? He doesn’t know. You have to care about the lives of people. McCain never gets into those issues.”
In fact, Politico.com and others have reported a concerted effort on the left to demean McCain’s service as a Navy pilot as either incompetent or criminal.
“From day one in the Navy, McCain screwed up again and again,” Jeffrey Klein wrote at the Huffington Post, echoing the “What did he do beside get shot down?” memo.
Some members of the Left suggest that McCain’s bombing of “civilian targets” in North Vietnam makes him a war criminal. Then there’s Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the liberal activist group Code Pink:
“I wouldn’t characterize anybody who fought in Vietnam as a war hero.”
Hardly surprising from a group that is currently trying to shut down Marine recruiting offices and calls representatives of the U.S. military the “enemy.”
Apparently the Obama campaign’s message on McCain’s military service is “He’s a great patriot - for a psychotic, baby-killing incompetent!”
What voters do they think are going to respond to this message? Hardcore blue staters?
If that’s the plan, someone in the Obama campaign needs to visit Hanscom Air Force Base.
Twice a year, Hanscom holds a Heroes Homecoming, welcoming back their own from deployments abroad. On Friday, I had the opportunity to emcee their latest celebration, where about 70 airmen were greeted by more than 1,000 local residents.
In the heart of liberal Massachusetts, we showed up to cheer, clap, wave flags and show our heartfelt support for the men and women who serve. There were no politics. No shouts about war or oil. Just people from Massachusetts saying “thank you” to our neighbors who have chosen to serve.
I asked Col. Tom Schluckebier, commander of the 66th Airbase Wing at Hanscom, how he and his comrades are treated here. When he was first deployed to Hanscom, Schluckebier, a Nebraska native, arrived with the same question.
“I’ve never had a bad experience,” he told me. “When we wear our uniforms to Logan, or Fenway or to the mall, we get applause and thanks. It’s very humbling.”
There is a lesson here for the Angry Left: You may not have gotten over your Vietnam-era loathing of the military, but most Americans have. Trash McCain’s record at your own risk.
Michael Graham hosts a talk show on 96.9 WTKK.
:mad: