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John McCain and the Hanoi Hilton
My friend and fellow gun attorney has an article out on the subject. Jim is author of the first law review article attacking McCain-Feingold, so it's not like he's a big McCain supporter. He's a straight shooter, and spent years in the Hanoi Hilton, and was tortured, so he's an eyewitness to what's under discussion.
By way of background, apparently there are internet rumors going around that are getting pretty wild -- down to claiming that McCain collaborated with his captors and as a result was assigned to a cushy hotel room with two ladies of the evening. I'm waiting for the followup in which he was taken aboard a U boat to celebrate Hitler's 90th birthday in a secret bunker in Antarctica.
More comment in extended remarks below.
Jim told me that essentially you can torture a fellow into saying about anything. Look at how many folks in the Medieval and Early Modern periods would up signing a confession, knowing they would inevitably be hanged, drawn and quartered.
The only question is -- does the guy tell you the truth, or an invention, or what he figures you want to hear? If you knew the data, you wouldn't be torturing him, and if you don't you can't be sure it's truthful. That's Jim's remark about assuring them our carriers have swimming pools on deck. He said one POW told them, OK, I'll tell you the secrets of our flight training. He said it was all based on confidence building maneuvers. Then he described a bunch, such as flying loops at very low altitudes, that would have a high risk of killing whoever tried it. He loved the idea that he might be able to kill some more enemy pilots even while he was a POW.
· Politics
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As a Vietnam Era Vet and retired Naval Officer, I don't question McCain's heroism as a POW or his service in general...up to the point of the Keating 5. However I cannot accept McCain Feingold as anything but a violation of the First Amendment, and McCain Kennedy as anything other than a surrender to Mexico. I can't accept that the Gang of Fourteen was the only way or best way to solve the issue of appointing conservative judges.
Military service is military service... Politics is politics, and McCain's politics stink.
Seems to me McCain has enough to overcome without inventing wild conspiracy theories. If that is to happen, I hope it is a job left to the other side. Clintons are famous for this sort of thing.
McCain is no Hillary Clinton. He has been at times friendly to the second amendment, or at least not an enemy of it. His refusal to vote for the tax cuts is troublesome, as it must either be due to lack of conservative convictions or else pure vindictiveness and hatred for Bush, neither of which are particularly impressive qualities in my view.
I am very much in doubt as to what kind of President John McCain would be. His infatuation with "reaching across the aisle", might appeal to those weary of partisan bickering, but never in history has the "Reaching" been bidirectional, so I fear this tack will lead us farther to the left.
Would McCain trade approval of an assault weapons ban for some reduced Federal spending somewhere along the line? I wouldn't be surprised.
My personal focus this election will be to try to fix Congress. A freedom friendly congress would go a long way to preventing whatever damage a less than sterling POTUS might otherwise cause.
Remember "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal," the anti-Kerry documentary by the swift boaters and POW's. Jim Warner was featured in that. He has no problem calling out a collaborator and he certainly would never defend one. Jim and McCain have differed on political issues. Another guy who was in that documentary was a current Mc Cain supporter, Medal of Honor recipient Bud Day.
http://www.stolenhonor.com/documentary/meet-pows.asp
I am closer to Jim Warner politically but I would not tolerate anyone saying in my presence that John McCain did not act honorably.