Last week I’m chatting with another man while taking a break from work, and as the discussion turns from our fears concerning the current state of the US economy to the current presidential candidates, he voices his support (albeit reluctantly) for Sen. John McCain. At that point I ask him point blank - why?
This man, a recent acquaintance of mine, states that he supports John McCain because “McCain is the only one with the experience to keep America safe.”
Look, I’m a Libertarian registered Republican whom twice voted for Bush and I’m angry with both my President and my party. Angry with Bush because he’s a bumbling nitwit of a Commander in Chief summed up with two words – Iraq and Afghanistan. I’m angry with the Republican Party because of the rampant and unchecked government spending. While they held the majority to the Nation’s purse strings for a good chunk of time, the Republicans have created for themselves the evidence of their abandonment of fiscal conservatism. The Republicans spend at least as much as their supposed counterparts, and so we’ve seen our nation brought to its financial knees because somewhere along the line they abandoned their principals and deceived the American people. Also consider the fact that the size of the Government has ballooned while under Bush and how that is a slap in the face to the Reagan principals I grew up under. The government has intruded upon the rights and liberties of the citizenry through the Patriot Act which ought to border on tyranny by any American whom swore to uphold and defend the Constitution from all enemies both foreign and (especially) domestic! The Patriot Act is an enemy of the Constitution… read them both one after the other. I challenge you to conclude any differently.
Anyway, let’s get back to McCain and his “experience”. It’s reported that he was a pilot in the Navy. He was not even a good pilot from what I understand, crashing multiple jets (at least 3) in training and in the fleet. I understand that McCain also attended the Naval Academy in Annapolis, and where he graduated near the bottom of his class. It’s been reported that McCain’s capture and subsequent five and a half years or so as a POW would not have occurred if it were not for his lack of skills as a pilot – he made a tactical error which exposed him to enemy fire. Sure, he was a POW and had to endure years in a Communist prison with a near complete lack of medical treatment and whatnot, but I fail to make the connection… how do these experiences establish credentials as to an individuals supposed effectiveness as Commander in Chief? More importantly, how does that equate to a safer America?
I was in the military. McCain was in the military. Millions of people were in the military at one time or another – who gives a shit?
I mean, really, McCain was a less than average student whom could barely fly a jet in training. It comes as no surprise then that when McCain entered the fleet he would end up shot down and captured alive by the enemy because he made a tactical error.
Does poor performance in the Naval Academy, graduating 894 out of 899 in his class, does that provide the experience which can keep America safe?
Does a Naval pilot with a career history of crashing and burning jets and a reputation as a dangerous and reckless hot-head prepare one for the experience of protecting America?
Does being a POW, and the most certain torture-to the point of insanity, does that give one the experience required to keep America safe?
I say it provides no more experience to protect America than the ship’s cook’s experience does. The proposition McCain has the experience to protect America is ridiculous at its very premise. Just being in the military does not automatically grant one the experience necessary to keep America safe. McCain, to his credit, has certainly served his country and made sacrifices, but his military record aside from the POW time, it reeks of a second rate shitbird!
Now imagine this candidate presiding over the United States of America, waging the war on terror, and spending the US into bankruptcy.
This summer we’ll witness McCain’s Presidential campaign begin to mirror his military experience - Mayday McCain! Mayday! Maydaaa… crash and burn!
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