Oct. 13, 2008
From Vietnam Cell, McCain Mused On Future
Washington Post: In Hanoi Prison, McCain Had Resolved To Fulfill Ideals About Leadership And Character In Public Office
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Lt. Commander John S. McCain III, a POW for over five years, waves to well wishers March 18, 1973 after arriving at Jacksonville Naval Air Station in Florida. At left is his (now ex)wife, and son Doug. McCain is the son of Adm. John S. McCain Jr, who commanded the U.S. Forces in the Pacific until his retirement. (AP Photo)
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John McCain is shown in this undated photo lying injured in North Vietnam wearing an arm cast. (AP PHOTO)
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John McCain's Band Of Brothers
The RNC has focused on John McCain's service to America and his years as a POW in Vietnam. His friends and former POWs speak out about the man they called "the silver fox." Maggie Rodriguez reports.
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Timeline
McCain's Quest
Mileposts in the Arizona senator's race for the GOP nomination and the presidency.
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Photo Essay
John McCain
Some call him a hero, some a maverick. Will Americans call him Mr. President?
From Our Partner:
To endure their long ordeal, John McCain and the other U.S. servicemen held as prisoners of war in North Vietnam in the 1960s developed a number of survival techniques. None was quite as effective as the one former Navy pilot Richard Stratton remembers: "If you kept your mind occupied, you were going to be okay."
Stratton would imagine meticulously assembling a large glider and flying it over the Alps. Another prisoner imagined himself fishing. But McCain had the most audacious dream of all, and he shared his vision one day with a group of fellow POWs. "He was talking about his father to us and then he said: 'I want to be president of the United States. Someday I'm going to be president,' " Stratton recalls. "If the cell wasn't so small, we'd have been rolling around laughing."
His friend, thought Stratton, ought to be concentrating far less on his fantasy and more on how to redirect a naval career that had been adrift before he was shot down over Hanoi. "We reminded him that he had dug himself a big hole with his demerits in the past and nearly being the bottom man of his class at the Naval Academy," Stratton recalls. "And now he was talking about being president? 'Come on, John. Get your career straightened out.' "
Not at all dissuaded, McCain offered his view on the meaning of real command, shaped in part by his father's perspective on genuine power. He wanted to be the one who made the decisions, McCain said, and his father had taught him that even such impressive-sounding jobs as chief of naval operations, the service's highest uniformed position, didn't always provide that opportunity. The only job that guaranteed it was that of president, McCain believed.
"Pursuit of command," as McCain often referred to it, was an ethos bordering on obsession in his family, and it was in Vietnam that he embraced it. But though McCain was the son and grandson of admirals, he decided his pursuit would be in another arena -- politics, where he would come to define success not in terms of ideas or legislation but in fulfilling his family's ideals of leadership and character.
Over the next few years, according to the recollections of men who knew him well, McCain didn't vacillate over conflicting career paths as much as lurch from one to the other, depending on how much he was despairing at a given moment about his reputation in the Navy, or how he was gauging his relative chances for leadership in politics vs. the military.
He hadn't come any closer to deciding on his future when, in March 1973, a peace accord gave the POWs their freedom and McCain was suddenly flying home toward a reunion with his wife, Carol, and their three children in Florida. Even before their plane reached the mainland, McCain and the other POWs received an inkling of the country's fascination with them: When they made a stop in Hawaii, the tarmac was bathed in lights and ringed by television cameras.
The national jubilation and intense media coverage that greeted the returning men only heightened McCain's indecision about his future. He discovered he had new status, new friends and, potentially, new career opportunities outside the military. A president, a magnate and a powerful governor all wanted to fete him and the other POWs. President Richard M. Nixon issued orders to arrange for a gala White House dinner. Ross Perot, a Naval Academy graduate and billionaire entrepreneur, followed up on the financial assistance he had given to Carol McCain and some other POW wives during their husbands' captivity by throwing a huge party for the freed men.
California Gov. Ronald Reagan, who had developed a keen interest in the POWs, chose McCain to be the principal speaker at a prayer breakfast that he was having in Sacramento for about 1,000 businessmen and civic leaders. Reagan introduced him as a war hero and personal inspiration, and McCain spent most of his short speech recounting how he'd been held for a while in a stiflingly hot box placed outside under a broiling sun.
"He talked about the desperation of the situation, and about the box being the size of nothing more than a couple of coffins," remembers Nancy Clark Reynolds, a former Reagan aide. "Then he said something about finding a prayer scratched on the side of this box by a previous prisoner and how much that'd helped him. . . . He recited the prayer. By then everybody in there was crying. Ronald Reagan, too. If you were watching it, you realized the power of John McCain's story."
During the whirlwind of well-wishers and media that greeted his return to his Florida home, McCain told neighbors he was eager to get back to active duty. But within a few weeks, he confided to another naval officer that he planned to retire from the Navy as soon as he reached the 20-year mark necessary for obtaining a pension. He had new plans, he said cryptically.
Bob Fitzsimmons, who had served as a liaison between the Navy and Carol McCain during her husband's captivity, expressed surprise. "John, why the hell would you want to do anything like that? Your father and grandfather are four-star admirals -- you could do a lot in the Navy," he recalls saying.
As Fitzsimmons remembers, McCain simply shook his head and said: "Nope, that's not what I want to do. I've got other plans. I've had a lot of time to think about it. I know what I'm doing."
Testing the Waters
In 1976, despite the grumblings of some officers who believed that his family name had won him what his qualifications could not, McCain became the commanding officer of a large naval aviator training squadron at Cecil Field in Jacksonville, Fla. The squadron, VA-174, had seldom received stellar performance reports -- a consequence of allowing too many disabled aircraft to sit in hangars, which left it unable to provide enough training hours to please the Navy. Under McCain, the squadron's training hours rose, as the maintenance department fixed the ailing planes and got them into the air.
Meanwhile, McCain explored the possibilities of a political career. Intrigued by the electoral ambitions of several other Vietnam veterans, he had called former POW Leo Thorsness, who had won South Dakota's 1974 Republican senatorial primary, earning the right to face off against George S. McGovern, the antiwar senator and the 1972 Democratic presidential nominee. "McCain gave us his congratulations," remembers John LeBoutillier, a Thorsness campaign aide who went on to become a New York congressman. "He was very excited about politics -- he wanted to get into the game."
In early 1976, a group of GOP businessmen from the Jacksonville area urged McCain to run for Congress, though other influential Republicans, including former Florida state senator Tom Slade, cautioned him against running in a hopeless race against a popular Democratic incumbent, Charlie Bennett. A World War II veteran and reliable defense establishment supporter, Bennett thrived in a district where Democrats vastly outnumbered Republicans.
McCain went to Slade and said, as the local Republican leader recalls, "I think I can beat Charlie Bennett."
Slade responded bluntly: "If you think so, John, you're the only man on Earth who does."
Other Republican leaders, citing private polls, told McCain he needed to serve in another office and build his political profile before running for Congress. But McCain was insistent. He told classmates from the Naval Academy of the interest in his potential candidacy, to which one of his closest academy friends, Chuck Larson, voiced his incredulity. "John, that'd be the stupidest thing you could do," the future four-star admiral recalls telling McCain. "You have 18 years or so in the Navy. You should stay in for the 20 years at least and get the pension. Where is the money for this race? Where is your organization? John, get your pension."
A disappointed McCain made it clear that he wasn't giving up on his dream, merely deferring it. When Slade reiterated his view of Bennett's invincibility, McCain retorted, "Well, if I can't beat him, then I'll find somebody else I can whip."
By 1977, McCain was looking beyond Florida, letting the Navy brass know he was interested in coming to Washington and working, as his father once had, as a naval liaison to Congress. But while the elder McCain had operated as chief of legislative affairs for the Navy, his son would serve, if chosen, in a subordinate capacity.
The decision to hire McCain fell largely to the commander of naval operations, four-star Adm. James Holloway, who had known Jack McCain during his liaison days and thought that his son might be aptly suited for the same line of work. "John was a personable young guy who had been brought up in the right atmosphere," Holloway recalls. "I mean, he had that kind of social education that came from seeing his parents entertain a lot of people from Congress. . . . He had good genes, and he also had a good sense of humor and social skills at a cocktail party. He was a guy who could play poker and help with arrangements, a good fellow."
The new job demanded conflicting loyalties, not an unusual dilemma for naval liaisons. On the one hand, he was supposed to represent the wishes of the Navy secretary and the country's commander in chief, President Jimmy Carter. But Carter and Navy Secretary W. Graham Claytor Jr. had a view of the defense establishment that was at odds with that of the Navy's brass, who chafed against the administration's trimming of defense expenditures and its reluctance to support appropriations for several big-ticket defense projects.
Carter, himself a Naval Academy graduate, struck McCain as a misguided and ineffectual chief executive. Behind the scenes, the liaison joined high-ranking naval officers in stealthily performing end runs around the administration, lobbying senators on behalf of defense appropriations resisted by Carter, including funding for a new $2 billion nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. McCain's efforts brought him closer to Senate hawks, particularly Texan John Tower, then the leader of the Republican minority on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"Tower saw McCain as a genuine war hero," remembers Rhett Dawson, who was an aide to Tower. "He was looking to McCain for great things from the moment he got there."
The senator frequently went out of his way to pop into the liaison's cramped office for a drink and a long chat. McCain had become the older man's tonic, Tower aides thought -- a raconteur with an endless supply of exotic tales, a bon vivant as comfortable having a shot of whiskey as he was discussing Hemingway and recounting the adrenaline rush that went with flying in combat.
"Tower took delight in McCain's enthusiasm about everything," Dawson recalls. "And McCain turned to Tower for advice about a lot, political and personal." But, as much as mutual affection, the business of politics drove Tower toward McCain. "Tower prided himself on having a good eye for political horseflesh, and he thought he saw something in McCain," Dawson says. "A lot of people thought he had the right background to be a candidate."
Among those drawn to McCain was Sen. William S. Cohen, a Republican best known during the 1970s as the Maine congressman who bucked the prevailing sentiment of his party during the Watergate scandal by voting for articles of impeachment against Nixon. Not even Cohen's 1978 election to the Senate had softened the grudges of powerful Republicans. "I was an outcast," recalls Cohen, who, looking at McCain, thought he detected a kindred political spirit. "I saw John as somebody drawn to the unorthodox. . . . He was not going to be a party-line guy."
The two men became close, and soon McCain was talking about his worries over what to do next with his career. His war-damaged shoulders prevented him from reaching high enough above his head in a cockpit to pull an ejection lever, leaving him unable to continue flying. And if he couldn't fly, he couldn't lead a carrier or battle group at sea, which, in the opinion of many high-ranking naval officers, was a prerequisite to becoming an admiral for someone in McCain's position.
Meanwhile, his personal life was in chaos, his marriage collapsing. Unknown to his family's circle of friends, McCain had spent time with other women, including his future wife, a 24-year-old special-education teacher and Arizona native named Cindy Hensley, a tall, blond beauty he'd met in Hawaii while on liaison business. The McCains' breakup escaped public notice. They divorced in 1980 and during that same year McCain prepared to marry Cindy, whose Phoenix-based father, Jim Hensley, owned a flourishing Anheuser-Busch beer distributorship.
Leaving the Navy
As McCain transformed his private life, he was moving toward a career change, looking for a new path to leadership. In late 1980, he started talking seriously to Cohen about the possibility of running for a House seat. "He thought Congress was a mess and that he could do better than some of the people there," Cohen recalls.
In early 1981, shortly after taking office, the Reagan administration's new Navy secretary, John Lehman, asked to see McCain. Eager to keep the supportive liaison in the Navy, Lehman sought to reassure McCain that he was on his way to becoming an admiral. But Lehman couldn't guarantee that McCain would rise to four stars, and McCain's doubts about reaching his father's and grandfather's status overrode all other considerations.
He listened for a while longer before telling Lehman he was leaving the Navy. "I think he'd made up his mind before he ever saw me," Lehman says. "He'd been excited by what he saw on the Hill, I think."
© 2008 The Washington Post Company
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See all 51 CommentsOpportunism magnified. Ambition unbridled. Conscience minimised. Patriotism exploited. Consequences ignored. Alliances betrayed.
Obviously seeing that the smear campaigns against Obama during recent weeks have not been working at all, the neocon Fascist Nazis on the McBush Campaign Committee have returned to a much "safer" bet, producing still another chapter in the saga of John McBush McCain, POW!!!
Listening to McBush''s life as a POW is like watching the numerous versions of Star Wars, A New Hope, or Blade Runner. There is the theaterical version, the extended version, the Director''s Cut, the wide screen version, the unrated version, etc, etc, etc!!!
How much "mileage" can you get out of something, before people say "ENOUGH!!!!!"????
SIG HEIL, LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY MANY "MISSIONS ACCOMPLISHED"!!!, BUSH!!!
sig heil, FIRST, LET ME TELL YOU MY LATEST VERSION OF LIFE AS A POW!!!, McBush!!!
sig heil, I''M STILL INNOCENT NO MATTER WHAT THE REPORT SAYS!!!, Palin!!!!
Opportunism magnified. Ambition unbridled. Conscience minimised. Patriotism exploited. Consequences ignored. Alliances betrayed.
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Posted by ObservantX at 05:39 PM : Oct 13, 2008
You summed it up PERFECTLY!
All he''s ever wanted was to MAKE the rules, NOT FOLLOW them. Heaven forbid! Sounds like he and Bush BOTH f''d up their military carees but they are both too ego driven to let those little things stop them from the PRESIDENCY! Unbelievable!
Man who would not last 5 minutes as a POW.
So. Tell me about your service and time as a POW.
That''s right. Obama doesn''t have a service record unless you count the time he spent in Jeremiah Wright''s army.
Then, we can always look to the service record of Joe Biden...
Joe Biden has a service record.
The Biden record is seeking a deferment five times for asthma while John McCain was a POW in Viet Nam.
I doubt that the Viet Cong were too worried whether their POWs had asthma or not.
We can be thankful that patriots like John McCain were there to protect our freedom.
We can also be thankful that draft dodgers like Joe Biden were not.
Of course, the average Obamabot would be the last to admit this phenomenon, and some take great offense at the term. Most consider themselves too intellectually advanced to succumb to such tactics as those employed by cult-leaders.
According to Wikipedia, the psychological definition of a cult has five characteristics. They are:
People are put in physically or emotionally distressing situations
Their problems are reduced to one simple explanation, which is repeatedly emphasized
They receive unconditional love, acceptance, and attention from a charismatic leader
They get a new identity based on the group
They are subject to entrapment (isolation from friends, relatives, and the mainstream culture) and their access to information is severely controlled
Their problems are reduced to one simple explanation, which is repeatedly emphasized-----(GOD, Vietnam POW)
They receive unconditional love, acceptance, and attention from a charismatic leader---(Beauty Queen Palin)
They get a new identity based on the grou-----(new direction for the country? today''s headline anyone? How about the self-described mavrick label?)
They are subject to entrapment (isolation from friends, relatives, and the mainstream culture) and their access to information is severely controlled -----(McCain''s inability to use internet or email?)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Posted by john43218----Modified by Peanutcrisp
We can also be thankful that draft dodgers like Joe Biden were not.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------posted by Logansprings
We are thankful that''s why I proposed to give him a medal so he doesn''t capitalize on the fact that he was a POW and use it like a shield for hard questions or whenever he is behind in polls. Mention it once we pay you respect but mention it everytime you are behind, just make you look wussy and whiny!
But, many of us do remember the Carter years -- double digit inflation, double digit interest rates, gas lines (forget the price, there was NO gas to buy), our citizens being terrorized and taken hostages in Iran, aggressor nations expanding their influence around the globe.
Get ready.
If you liked the Carter years, you will love an Obama regime.
Get ready.
If you liked the Carter years, you will love an Obama regime. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Posted by Logansprings
More Fear tactic...you sure are afraid of alotta things. lol Besides how is terrorist holding US Citizens hostage Carter''s fault? It''s the terrorist''s fault. Also how is Carter''s doing related to Obama in anyway? That''s a long shot for guilty by association.
McCain''s campaign is LYING about the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC), set up by the Annenberg Foundation to reform public schools. Walter Annenberg is a well-known philanthropist and CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN.
%u201CThe idea that the Annenberg Challenge was somehow the extension of the Weather Underground of the 1960%u2019s, that is just one of the most LUNATIC CONTENTIONS I can imagine,%u201D says Mike Flannery, political editor at the CBS Chicago affiliate WBBM who covered Chicago politics for 35 years. "Those of us who have covered politics in Chicago... simply don''t recognize the caricatures and the RIDICULOUS descriptions of this group."
Flannery says the other people on involved in the CAC with Obama and Ayers were "BUSINESS TYPES AND REPUBLCANS."
Obama chaired the board of the CAC but he DID NOT SERVE ON THE BOARD WITH AYERS. Ayers served on a SEPARATE advisory board.
%u201CThis was NOT the Bill Ayers and Barack Obama show,%u201D says Ken Rolling who was the Executive Director of the CAC and ran the organization, %u201CIt was created by a hundred people.%u201D
Rolling says that the CAC funded programs with the following purpose:
teacher training
music education
initiatives to strengthen parental involvement in public schools.
after school programs
improvements for literacy
arts programs
support for new school council candidates
education research
MCCAIN knows he LIES
MCCAIN HAS LOST ALL HONOR
A record of community service mentoring for ACORN...
Obama and ACORN -- producer of 2100 new voter registrations for voters in Indiana -- dead voters.
Obama and ACORN -- producer of 5000 new voter registrations for voters in Indiana that are still being investigated.
Obama and ACORN -- the reason that all new voter registrations produced by ACORN and similar liberal groups will now be investigated.
More "Change" we can believe in...
More "Change" we can believe in...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Posted by Logansprings
You mentioned ACORN but what about Bush''s Voting machine that had a mind of its own? How can we be sure that McCain won''t be using the same trick?
Not one thing you mentioned has to do with our current crisis. More smear tactic right out of Rove''s manual. You should just give up and stop posting and save yourself the embressment.
Posted by Logansprings
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At least Carter was an honest man. I guess prefer the Republican party where the leader stands up and lies to your face, while their buddies are *** you from behind.
In case you missed it, the Commander in Chief is responsible for foreign policy of the United States.
Commander in Chief James Earl Carter, another peanuthead, had his head in a peanut pile while he should have been taking care of American interests abroad. As Harry Truman put it, "the buck stops here." Carter was in command, so Carter bears the ultimiate responsiblity for the hostage situation in Iran and the failure of his leadership decisions during the botched resuce attempts.
In addition, as Obama is, Carter was the most liberal, Democrat Presidents in history. The economic failures of Carter were due to economic policies that bear significant resemblance to the economic proposals that would surface in an Obama/Biden socialist state.
Apparently you don''t have a good memory, or just weren''t around to experience the failures of the Carter/Mondale years, but for those of us who were, we will not forget.
And, only a peanuthead, fool would walk blindly into the Obama/Biden fire of socialism chanting, "I am not afraid."
Many States require all completed forms to be turned regardless of the belief as to the validity of the content.
Secondly -- the following verification requirements are in place to stop fraudulent applications:
Pursuant to Section 303 of the Help America Vote Act (%u201CHAVA%u201D), individuals registering
to vote, by any means, must provide their current and valid driver%u2019s license number, or
state identification number on the affidavit of registration, if they have such a number.
(HAVA ' 303(a)(5)(A)(i)(I).) If the individual does not possess a current and valid
driver%u2019s license or state identification number, the individual is required to provide the
last four digits of his or her social security number. (HAVA ' 303(a)(5)(A)(i)(II).) If an
applicant for voter registration has not been issued either a current and valid driver%u2019s
license or state identification number or a social security number, the state must assign
the voter a unique number, which shall serve to identify the voter for registration
purposes. (HAVA ' 303(a)(5)(A)(ii).) The state must verify the validity of the numbers
provided by the registrant. (HAVA ' 303(a)(5)(A)(iii).)
In case you missed it, the Commander in Chief is responsible for foreign policy of the United States.
Commander in Chief James Earl Carter, another peanuthead, had his head in a peanut pile while he should have been taking care of American interests abroad. As Harry Truman put it, "the buck stops here." Carter was in command, so Carter bears the ultimiate responsiblity for the hostage situation in Iran and the failure of his leadership decisions during the botched resuce attempts.
In addition, as Obama is, Carter was the most liberal, Democrat Presidents in history. The economic failures of Carter were due to economic policies that bear significant resemblance to the economic proposals that would surface in an Obama/Biden socialist state.
Apparently you don''''t have a good memory, or just weren''''t around to experience the failures of the Carter/Mondale years, but for those of us who were, we will not forget.
And, only a peanuthead, fool would walk blindly into the Obama/Biden fire of socialism chanting, "I am not afraid."
Posted by Logansprings at 07:17 PM : Oct 13, 2008
Read about Operation AJAX - that was a "foreign policy" that Carter inherited.
Educate yourself about the effects of the US going off the gold standard under the Nixon Admin.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Posted by Logansprings
Well, what does it say about our very recent terrorist attack that took over 2000 brightest lives in World Trade Center and the following blind war that claimed 4000+ or our bravest? All during GOP controled white house.
But he was inexperienced and ignorant of many of the qualities necessary to effectively govern the United States...as is Barack Hussein Obama.
And, honesty is not an excuse for the stupidity which was evident in events such as the botched rescue attempt of the hostages in Iran.
Economically, the Carter administration failed even worse. To repeat for those who don''t or won''t remember -- double digit inflation, double digit interest rates, no gas to buy...
If we are going to talk about lies, perhaps we should begin posting the 151 lies of Obama...
And, we are still counting...
Nixon was a fool to go off the GOLD standard!! We must restore that policy and rebuild our economy!
Now, to be serious: if you were an adult during the Carter Administration, you''re obviously quite old now. That''s why you like John McSenile: Birds of a feather, can''t remember where they were flying to.
Economically, the Carter administration failed even worse. To repeat for those who don''''t or won''''t remember -- double digit inflation, double digit interest rates, no gas to buy..
----------------------------------------------------------------------------Posted by Logansprings
Speaking of inexperience what about that Palin? Ol John may bite the dust and hand her the seat...what then? No oil to buy was OPEC''s fault can''t point your finger at a US citizen.. Did Carter ever had to bail out banks and insurance company? Did he spend 10 billion a week on a causeless war?
As such, the failed military and foreign policy of the Clinton administration (and the luck of a botched terrorist attack) set the groundwork and the stage for a successful attack.
But, don''t misunderstand. Such assertions do not suggest commendations for the failures of the Bush administration. By being inexperienced in leadership and handling important issues in intelligence, military matters, and terrorism, the Bush administration failed to make the correct decisions and misled or was misled or both. But, that doesn''t change what Obama can''t do.
As for the War in Iraq, apparently you have missed the fact that our troops are not coming home to stop the bloodshed (as earlier promised by Barack Obama). They will simply be "redeployed" to another arena of human sacrifice where the Soviet Union failed earlier. So, the Obama plan is to not learn from another''s failure but to follow in the path of failure by full deployment in Afghanistan (kind of like the way we followed the French into Viet Nam under Kennedy and Johnson).
There''s some more "Change" we can believe in...
Certainly McCain''s continuing "association" and relationship with the convicted Watergate burglar and domestic terrorist G. Gordon Liddy might suggest that is the case, if we are to apply the standards drawn by the McCain campaign.
While I don''t agree with the politics of Biden as he is the 3rd most liberal voting member of the Senate (Obama is 1st most liberal voting Senator during his 143 days of actual work in the Senate), I would agree that Joe Biden has the most experience, or as buffalonyusa puts it, Biden is "quite old now"
By the way, I was 18 when Carter ran for President and cast my first Presidential vote for him. But, some mistakes you just have to own up to and live with.
Unless you are Barack Obama.
If ATF agents attempt to curtail a citizen''s gun ownership, Liddy counseled, "Well, if the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms comes to disarm you and they are bearing arms, resist them with arms. Go for a head shot; they''re going to be wearing bulletproof vests."
More recently, Liddy explained making the Clintons objects of shooting practice: "I did relate that on the 4th of July of last year, when I and my family and some friends were out firing away at a properly-constructed rifle range and we ran out of targets, and so we - I drew some stick figure targets and I thought we ought to give them names. So I named them Bill and Hillary, thought it might improve my aim. It didn''t. My aim is good anyway. Now, having said that, I accept no responsibility for somebody shooting up the White House."
--posted by buffalonyusa--
With just a few corrections, buffalohead, you have just posted the mantra of the Obamabots for their Lord and Messiah:
Lord Obama, you are all knowing and wise. Your wisdom is righteous and every other American who disagrees with you will be assailed by the Truth Squads, William Ayers, Louis Farrakhan, and Jeremiah Wright!
Lord Obama, you are the one and the only one who can lead us to the promised land of wealth redistribution and national socialism that tried and failed during the Carter Administration!
Lord Obama, you are the one and the only one with all knowledge and the kool-aid!
All hail Lord Obama!
G. Gordon Liddy has done it and speaks from personal experience. Who else has been a prosecutor, a defense lawyer, admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States, an Army artillery officer, and the youngest Bureau Supervisor in the FBI who out drew and captured a man twice on the Ten Most Wanted list?
The G-Man has also been a high Treasury official, a White House aide and a maximum security prisoner. He wrote the memo that led to the creation of the DEA, helped start the first Sky Marshal program and selected their weapons, is the author of three best-sellers and has acted in numerous television shows and movies.
An Israeli trained paratrooper who has jumped with the elite Israeli army, Liddy has the NEED FOR SPEED. He drives a 200mph sports car and rides two Harley Davidsons, has piloted a Soviet aerobatic plane and World War II allied and Luftwaffe aircraft.
The G-Man has been there, done that, and taken home the Tee shirt. That''s the difference. What other men can only fantasize and dream about, G. Gordon Liddy has done and still does!
At least he has experience, which is more than can be said for Barack Obama...
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The G-man is the real thing!
Cindy CHEATED with JOHN McSHAME while JOHN WAS STILL MARRIED TO HIS FIRST (and FAITHFUL) WIFE. Cindy is a CHEAP HOME WRECKER.
Every American needs to know the story of McSHAME''s REPEATED infidelities against his first wife. AFTER his first wife was MILDLY DISABLED IN A CAR ACCIDENT, McSHAME treated her like cr*p, having adulterous affairs with multiple women. Then Cindy became his adulterous lover while John McSHAME was still married. McShame married this rich money-pump- a perfect match for his political ambitions.
This happened in McSHAME''s 30''s, when he had a 10 YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER with his first wife. McSHAME is a fraud. He cannot take care of his own family, let alone our country. Cindy is an adulterer and home wrecker.
McSHAME''s SLEAZE is a horrible indictment against his judgment and ability to lead this country.
Every woman and responsible man should know the REAL McSHAME STORY: Poor Officer, despicable husband, absentee father, Navy troublemaker, and liar.
This couple is certainly no "FAMILY VALUES" example. Just hypocrites being supported by hypocrites who claim they are the "family values" party.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Posted by Logansprings
That bailout is one of those things that''s needed but no one wants to do it. If we allow all these banks to bite dust what happen is that the FDIC will still have to dish out the cash to each single account up to $100,000/each individual....the price could be much higher than 700 billion.
Unlike predecessors Nixon and Ford, Carter chose to pay for the Vietnam War AND deal with oil shortages directly, without ballooning the Federal Debt. This led to high inflation, so Carter appointed Paul Volcker to the Fed to tame the inflation beast, which he did (too late to help Carter politically, of course, but Carter was more about the nation than his political career, unlike most Republicans).
And when Russia invaded Afghanistan to control future oil pipelines from Central Asia to Saudi Arabia, Carter armed the mujahadeen, who embroiled the Soviets in their own private Vietnam. Historians believe that Carters action in Afghanistan did as much to end the Soviet Empire as Reagan''s bluster did (and, of usual, Carters actions was incredibly cheap compared to Reagans, which helped bankrupt America 30 years later).
Learn a little history before you bring up the Carter years: you embarrass yourself and your cause.
For a slice of the real McCain, in which he comes across as a completely selfish and dishonest sc*mbag, who has always put McCain First, read this:
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/23316912/makebelieve_maverick/print
See, for example,
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-aviator6-2008oct06,0,7633315.story
The very same ACORN his campaign now rails against and is accusing of trying to "steal" the election for Obama:
Miami Dade College press release:
Miami, Florida - February 20, 2006 - Leaders from a diverse array of sectors will hold a rally in Miami on Thursday, February 23, 2006, in support of comprehensive immigration reform in an effort to keep immigration reform at the forefront of the public debate. Leaders from both political parties, immigrant communities, labor, business, and religious organizations will gather to call on Washington to enact workable reform.
The rally will feature Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) as the headline speaker along with elected officials, immigrants and key local and national leaders. Sen. McCain is one of the chief sponsors of the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act; bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform legislation introduced last Congress and scheduled for consideration by the Senate in the coming weeks. A similar rally with Sen. McCain is planned for New York City on February 27.
John, Why didn''t you abide by our code of conduct? Why give information and grant interviews? Many prisoners died because they wouldn''t cooperate with the enemy. Why? My friend and neighbor came home paralyzed for life from viet nam..he also served honorably.
God Bless America and our brave servicemen and service women.
America when you vote in November vote with your heart and good judgement. Don''t vote because you fear another human being another American.
VOTE YOUR HEART NOT YOUR FEARS..
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