McCain in '08

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
news:fnctg.6780

Character assassination is not a sole tactic of the left wing. The combat
service records of Murtha, Kerry and McCain were all attacked by the
right.

They were? Have any examples?

You've already suggested that the Swift Boat thing wasn't
politically-motivated, which is ludicrous because it only came about when
Kerry became a leading candidate in the Presidential race. But, a
three-minute websearch yields plenty of examples:

[1]

"Rep. Jean Schmidt flung the word "coward" at a decorated war veteran from
Pennsylvania last week, but the Ohio Republican's comments landed with a
splat in her own Cincinnati district, where some supporters are backing away
as she scrambles to explain what she meant."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...112201699.html

[2]

"Summary: Rush Limbaugh twice falsely claimed that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)
had "admitted that torture worked on him" during his five years as a
prisoner of war in North Vietnam.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200512090006 [There's even VIDEO.]

[3]
Keating describes in detail how, in 1992, Sampley commenced a "scurrilous"
crusade to punish McCain:

"Sampley ... accused McCain of being a weak-minded coward who had escaped
death by collaborating with the enemy. Sampley claimed that McCain had first
been compromised by the Vietnamese, then recruited by the Soviets.

"To those who know McCain and are familiar with his behavior in captivity,
the charge is ludicrous. McCain resisted his captors to such a degree that
he was isolated in a special prison for troublemakers. He repeatedly refused
special favors, including early release, and emerged as a spiritual and
religious leader for other prisoners. Nonetheless, Sampley was persistent
enough in his claims that the press in McCain's home state of Arizona picked
up on the KGB story."

In 1992, Sampley wrote a long article that portrayed McCain as a "Manchurian
candidate," who had betrayed America to the North Vietnamese and then
enlisted as a secret Communist agent . But it wasn't until seven years later
that the celebrated Navy pilot and ex-POW found out how much damage such
smears could inflict. After McCain declared his presidential candidacy in
1999, Sampley revived the "Manchurian candidate" smear as a convenient
weapon for the Senator's political enemies.
http://dir.salon.com/story/opinion/c...ear/index.html

"Owen Hiller" wrote in message
...

We admire Kerry's four (4) months that he served in theatre in Vietnam.
But
that is not relevant to his political positions today,

Here's another.

"I'm wondering if McCain's been taken prisoner and being held as a POW by
the Kerry camp, in the Kerry Hilton, somewhere in the basement of the
C." -Rush Limbaugh http://mediamatters.org/items/200409100006

Rush Limbaugh's service to America isn't worth two cold turds in a toilet
bowl. For him to make a joke about a POW is outrageous. Limbaugh never
looked into the eyes of a loved one struggling with some unimaginable
rememberance coming at him from the dark place where old warriors attempt to
contain such things.

If he did, he would understand that making a joke about somebody's Prisoner
of War experience is rather like making a joke about a warrior watching his
comrades die.

-c

"Morgans" wrote in message
...

Humm, that is an interesting take. Who else would be attacking Kerry, if
not the right?


Those that wanted to set the record straight about what Kerry was saying
about their service.



And to say it isn't political, is, wellll...


....accurate.

Steven P. McNicoll wrote:
"gatt" wrote in message
...

Character assassination is not a sole tactic of the left wing. The combat
service records of Murtha, Kerry and McCain were all attacked by the
right.

They were? Have any examples?

This would be funny if you weren't serious (I had to check to be sure)
.. . .

Kerry: Well, besides the commercials on TV and countless appearances on
talk shows, there's that book -- Unfit for Command -- and a significant
portion of it is dedicated to a shameless misrepresentation of Kerry's
service.

And please don't try to tell me it wasn't politically motivated or that
those guys didn't overwhelmingly represent the right side of our
political spectrum.

McCain: One only has to look at the 2000 Republican Primary in general,
and the SC Primary in particular. That was certainly a disgusting
display.

Murtha: I assume you read the newspapers and the net "news". The attack
on his service record is right out of the Swift Boat Veterans for
"truth" playbook.

Doug Reese

"Montblack" wrote in message
...

I agree. This is where our politics is. It started with the Robert Bork
SCOTUS hearings, and was perfected by the Clintonistas. Now, many
members of both parties attack each other, rather than debate ideas. Its
sad, actually....
Today's politicions are rank amateurs compared to some of the old school
boys!

1800, 1828, 1860....

You are both correct. But, hey, back in The Day at least you could
challenge the opponent to a duel or just beat him with your cane on the
Senate floor... (We need more Senator fights.)

-c

"Owen Hiller" wrote in message
...

I'm pretty sure that gatt was reacting to the opponent's trashing of
McCain's
POW experience rather than any opponent disagreeing with any political
position.

Who was attacking McCain's PoW experience?

Ted Guy was attacking McCain's POW experience. Dan Luke referred to it in
this very thread. See

" It is not yet publicly known just how much he collaborated and what
kind of favors he received in return. Those in the U.S. government
that do know are not talking."

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
news:cZftg.7837

Humm, that is an interesting take. Who else would be attacking Kerry, if
not the right?

Those that wanted to set the record straight about what Kerry was saying
about their service.

And to say it isn't political, is, wellll...

...accurate.

Ludicrous. They waited until an election season to bring it up.

I'm sure you have plenty of examples of the left attacking Kerry's military
record, sending around faked photos of him sitting next to Fonda, etc.

-c

On Wed, 12 Jul 2006 22:22:36 GMT, Larry Dighera
wrote:

On Wed, 12 Jul 2006 18:16:15 -0400, "Morgans"
wrote in ::

What we need is a new group. Call it rec.aviation.politics. From the
amount of interest in discussing politics in THIS group, it ought to be a
big hit!

I would like to see the political conversations in their own group as
well.

z

I agree with Gatt, except that Kerry HIMSELF opened up his war record for
inspection when he ran a "I'm not W, and I am a Vietnam war veteran"
campaign. Remember the DNC?: "John Kerry: reporting for duty" was his
opening line.

He ran as a self-proclaimed war hero, even though he later admitted to
being a war criminal (look up his words on so called "Kill-zones"), and
then became an active Vietnam war protestor. By running this type of
campaign, he ****ed off many Vietnam vets.

Having never served (but coming from a military family that suffered many
casualties in WWII), I would never presume to judge what a man does in
combat. But, Kerry brought it on himself.

You never hear McCain bragging about being a war-hero. If anything, he is
reluctant to discuss it unlike John Kerry, "reporting for duty."

On Wed, 12 Jul 2006 23:48:34 -0400, zatatime wrote in
:

... I would like to see the political conversations in their own group as
well.

In an unmoderated group like r.a.p., it is virtually impossible to stop
thread drift.

Folks who feel comfortable with each other will make off-topic comments;
others will join the fray, and suddenly there is an outpouring of passion.

I doubt that the proposal is serious. Even if it was, I doubt that an
aviation/politics group would change human nature and prevent
thread drift in r.a.p.

YMMV.

Marty