Make-Believe Maverick

[gfofbiguy]

A friend sent me this link to the article: Make-Believe Maverick...A Closer Look At The Life And Career Of John McCain Reveals A Disturbing Record Of Recklessness And Dishonesty It's too long of an article to post here, but I found it ... interesting, enlightening to say the least.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain

[12voltman59]

Great story that Rolling Stone did--and thanks for posting it---I am glad there are still a few places that do long form, investigative journalism like used to be practiced in many other places----but Rolling Stone has done many great articles of this nature throughout the history of the magazine.

[Bluebiyou]

Politics as usual.
While there are degrees of extreme.
Judgement of someone who's been in Hanoi Hilton compared to... very few others of the same 'honor'...
Why didn't we vote John Dramesi for president years ago? Because he wasn't as slick-capable as McCain... or Willie... or Bush Sr or Jr.
Presidency requires knowledge of acting. Regan was our best president in living memory to show that. Regan had shrewdness of appointing the best advisors. He had class and shrewdness for a joke. He also knew when and how to simply 'act' the leader. Is it me or my imagination that Regan started 'Star Wars' initiative that bankrupt the USSR... and how well placed was the very-well-acted-(and perfectly timed)-line, "...Mister Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"?
Regan was a great leader.
John Dramesi was/is quite probably a very honorable man... but this is not a comparison of John McCain and John Dramesi. It is a comparison of John McCain and Barack Obama. Barack has never been a POW, there is no comparing.
I'm not a hopeless John McCain fan, but I recognize his being a POW as a strength. I'll probably vote for Obama, but I think this argument of comparing McCain to other guests of the Hanoi Hilton (as opposed to Barack)... is irrelevant.
If McCain were running against John Dramesi... then yes, it would be very relevant.

[Dianna219]

Great story that Rolling Stone did--and thanks for posting it---I am glad there are still a few places that do long form, investigative journalism like
to be practiced in many other places----but Rolling Stone has done many great articles of this nature throughout the history of the magazine.

does that include Grammar and Spelling

[hudson9]

Most of these things have popped up from time to time before, to little attention by the mainstream media. The article is about much more than just comparing McCain to another Vietnam POW -- that's just the lead hook. Frankly, it's probably the weakest point of the story. Given what the POWs were subjected to, you can't expect everyone (or any particular individual) match the resistance shown by Colonel Dramesi. I don't think I could have.

That said, I never understood how having been a POW makes anyone any better qualified to be president -- or why it means McCain "knows how to win a war." As I recall, we LOST that one -- kind of like saying Bush was going to be a good president because he had been a businessman (who had basically failed at every business he had ever run)!

[FalconAngel]

Most of these things have popped up from time to time before, to little attention by the mainstream media. The article is about much more than just comparing McCain to another Vietnam POW -- that's just the lead hook. Frankly, it's probably the weakest point of the story. Given what the POWs were subjected to, you can't expect everyone (or any particular individual) match the resistance shown by Colonel Dramesi. I don't think I could have.

That said, I never understood how having been a POW makes anyone any better qualified to be president -- or why it means McCain "knows how to win a war." As I recall, we LOST that one -- kind of like saying Bush was going to be a good president because he had been a businessman (who had basically failed at every business he had ever run)!

Very true.

George Patton was offered the chance to run for President, by a few Washington politicos, just a week before his death. He would have been good at the job because he didn't want the job, since it put him too close to the same politicians that he loathed.

But the man knew how to lead.

Still, there are a lot of people, veterans and career civilians, that I would not want in office.

I like the idea of vets being in charge because they have already, most of them anyway, demonstrated their devotion to this country. Unfortunately, rich boys that joined because daddy was high in the ranks or famous, thus guaranteeing them a career after their term was up, have no business in charge. They do not understand the average working person like the majority of vets do.