Digging for the Truth

Okay, you know the drill by now. Candidate A or his supporter makes a statement about Candidate B, that B sees as damaging. Candidate B reacts in mock horror and disgust at the statement and calls upon Candidate A to repudiate the statement and for good measure repudiate the supporter. The media races off to interview all the parties and the 24-hour news talks about it all day, forcing the network media to at least carry one story about it on their nightly news. The 24-hour news then claims it’s a story that “won’t go away” and continues to beat it into the ground. Nobody ever tells the whole truth of the situation. Most people shake their heads in dismay wondering why nobody ever talks about issues. Which of course begs the question, “Do they think we are all morons?!!!!!” To which the answer might be yes, if you have read that book about how stupid the average voter is in America. But I digress.

Here’s the story. Once upon a time there was a general. His name is Wesley Clark. He was valedictorian of his class as West Point and went on to be a Rhodes Scholar and obtain a Master’s Degree in Military stuff, and command the Kosovo war front. He has by everyone’s standards had a stellar career in the military.

The retired General, a supporter of Hillary Clinton, and now supporting Barack Obama goes on Face the Nation. It is almost exclusively reported that he said:

“I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.”

 McCain responds with wagging his finger and claiming that he had “hoped that my opponent would not sink to personal attacks” and that he should “cut loose” Wesley Clark.

Barack Obama responds to McCain, by stating:

“For those like John McCain who have endured physical torment in service to our country – no further proof of such sacrifice is necessary. And let me also add that no one should ever devalue that service, especially for the sake of a political campaign, and that goes for supporters on both sides.”

Here is what really happened:

1. Bob Schieffer commented that Obama had not “ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down.” Clark responded by restating that and finishing it by saying that these were not qualifications for president. Last time I checked my Constitution, they were not, though my guess is that the Republicans are using a different one that I am used to in the first place.
2. Before this exchange, General Clark had made statements about McCain’s service and called him a bonafide hero.
3. Many of our finest presidents have not had military experience. Many have. I don’t know of any correlation that military service makes one a better president. None has been presented that it does.
4. Clark was absolutely correct in stating that McCain’s service never ever involved command of any men during wartime. His command of a squadron during peace time gives him zero experience as a potential commander in chief.
5. McCain has gone on record in the past stating that he doesn’t view military service as a necessary qualification for running for president. Shouldn’t we take him at his word?
6. When asked what in his Vietnam experience he felt gave him qualifications for president,  McCain bacame  visibly angryand refused to answer. Later he apologized for his anger, and said, unbelievably, that he just hates to have this part of his life brought up! Now that is chutzpah wouldn’t you say?
7. Three Senators who did see actual ground combat in Vietnam oppose this war. Kerry, Webb and Hegel might have at least the same credibility as a man who flew over the country, got shot down and spent five years in seclusion.
8. Senator Webb has raised the same question regarding the qualifications of being a POW and no one said a word. This was before McCain had attained the nomination.

One wonders why the media doesn’t have any interest in the real story here. It makes one wonder just how securely they are wrapped around John McCain’s little finger. The good old boy has been generous with sitting around for hours on the bus treating the media boys ( I doubt girls) to rollicking good stories of the old days. He glad hands and pats them on the back. He swears and makes crude jokes. They eat it up, considering him a regular guy.

The ignore his misogyny and his vicious temper. They ignore the blatant backtracking and attempts to rewrite his past. Just yesterday he audaciously claimed on GMA that he “never said that he didn’t know much about the economy.” No, he now rewrites that to say, he “doesn’t know as much about the economy as national security.” It’s a blatant lie of course. They do have copies of that stuff old man. Xeroxes and stuff like that? But Robin let it go, as they all do. He’s done this time and again. Even people like Jon Stewart who do occasionally hold the McBushman’s feet to the fire, can’t help but laugh adoringly at his sputtering denials in the end.

Enough of this liberal media bias. It’s not true, and hasn’t been for years. Not since all the media has been co-opted by big business, Disney and GE and Rupert Murdock. Seriously folks, you think they are pro-Democrat? This whole nonsense leveled at Clark is proof enough of that.

And I don’t let Obama off the hook either on this one. One would have wished he had the balls to stand up and be counted. His people are excellent at running down the facts. All he had to do was say, please point me to the fact that General Clark got wrong. That’s all he had to say. But he did the usual crap, he caved and backed away and left Clark twisting in the wind. Let the bottom feeders go to town on him. He should have responded to McCain’s call to cut ‘em loose with a “that would be absurd” kind of remark. Instead he has further pissed off the Clinton contingent and I hear a fair piece of Arkansas.

I for one am tired of this notion that McCain’s service is sacrosanct. He got shot down. I am sorry for that. He was a prisoner of war. He was tortured. I am sick he suffered. That doesn’t mean I close my eyes to his behavior since then. It doesn’t mean that the old man is somehow entitled to be president because of it. Plenty of others suffered, plenty died. His history makes me question his mental stability frankly. I’m not sure I trust his finger on the button. Especially when his theory of foreign policy is to shoot first and then negotiate. Mostly I’m sick of his bringing it up every bleeping chance he gets with smarmy “humor” used to mask his out of control anger issues.

I’m just trying to set the record straight. That is something the “Straight” talker should understand.