Joe Klein Goes there: McCain's Signed Prison "Confession."

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Wednesday October 22, 2008 · 8:47 AM PDT

2008/10/22 · 08:47

Whatever our differences on issues, I have to admit that Klein has been good on a lot this campaign. Today he calls out the Republicans (and McCain/Palin) on the "anti-American" tactic of calling parts of America real America and misusing patriotism:

Anyone who talks about the "pro-American" parts of the country is making an anti-American statement.

snip

Anyone who describes one part of the country as "most patriotic" has lost all sense of what patriotism means.

Time, Swampland, Joe Klein, Patriotism 101

And then he goes THERE. More, after the fold.

Many of us know that John McCain was tortured in a Vietnamese prison and signed a "confession" denouncing American acts in Vietnam.

In August 1968, over the course of four days, McCain was tortured into signing a confession that he was a "black criminal" and an "air pirate."

Rolling Stone, Make Believe Mavrick

No one among us knows how they would act after torture, and I think most of us consider McCain's conduct to be completely honorable while a POW. Many were tortured and signed similar statements.

No one has attempted to use McCain's confession in this campaign against him. And no one will. Indeed, it often is the unspoken part of McCain's POW story. The media ignores it completely, as they should.

Which is why Joe Klein's remark today surprised me. Virtually no one has mentioned this in the trad med. The Rolling Stone article had one sentence. On the Time Magazine, Swampland blog, Joe Klein speculated that the misue of patriotism by McCain in this campaign might be related to unresolved issues within him about that confession:

But, seriously, you have to wonder why John McCain has spent so much time questioning the patriotism of others, especially his opponent, in this campaign. Is it because he once signed a prison "confession" that he considered treasonous?

If so, please know that we don't blame you. You're a patriot, Senator, and a hero...at least, you were until you started questioning the patriotism of others--by saying things like they'd rather win an election than a war, and by implying that they're soft on terrorists. Then you became something else entirely. And it hasn't worked very well, has it?

Time, Swampland, Joe Klein, Patriotism 101

The difference between McCain and Obama is this: do you really think if Barack Obama had signed a similar confession that McCain would refrain from sending out mailers with copies of the confession?

It's almost over now, and we have to keep working hard to the finish line. This time, hope and decency will defeat hate and fear.

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