I've taken heat for saying this before and I probably will again. Yes, I know, John McCain was shot down, captured, held as a prisoner of war and tortured. For that he's been held out as a hero and he's made a career out of it. Heroic? Maybe so.
But at some point, someone has to say that it takes more than just that to be a true "hero," and how you live your life back home also defines you. For so long John McCain has been treated as if anything he's done since returning from Vietnam somehow doesn't count.
Things like this:
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) joked that he’s going to get the truth out of Sen. John Kerry during confirmation hearings this week, even if he has to resort to enhanced interrogation methods. Kerry has been nominated to replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.
“We will look forward to interrogating him at his hearing next week, mercilessly,” McCain joked at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon. “We will bring back for the only time waterboarding to get the truth out of him.”
The list of really stupid things that McCain has said and done over the years is indeed a long one, and too many times the traditional media and pundits let him of the hook because he's "hero." He was tortured after all! Some say his idea of a "joke" (recall "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran....but seriously folks...") has turned him into one.
I disagree. He's not a joke. He's pathetic and a coward who hides behind something he once was. His "record" as a Senator proves it.
To "joke" as he does is to mock anyone who was tortured. To do so is to mock anyone who served, along with my father and my husband who both did, the latter in Vietnam. John McCain, of all people knows this. But he does it anyway.
Because he's a "hero."
Wrong. He's anything but. He ceased to be a long time ago.
Cross posted at
Beach Peanuts
4:46 PM PT: Thanks for the recs and comments. Much appreciated!