Tag Archives: Vietnam War

Donald Trump

McCain ‘partially to blame’ for WH flag mess? Uh, huh

U.S. Sen. James Inhofe says the late Sen. John McCain is “partially to blame” for the White House messing up the protocol of lowering flags to honor the Arizona Republican who died over the weekend.

Partially to blame? Well, let’s explore that briefly.

The White House staff had difficulty deciding when to lower the flags to honor the late senator. But, according to Inhofe, McCain could be crusty, a bit mean and rude. He spoke angrily to and about Donald J. Trump. Thus, the blame for the White House protocol SNAFU falls partially on the senator.

“We are dealing with a hero when we deal with Senator McCain,” Inhofe said. “He wasn’t always the most lovable person to be around, but he was a fighter and never shied away from a good fight.”

What crap!

Everyone in Washington knows about Sen. McCain’s occasional temper bursts. Yes, he could be harsh. However, Donald Trump started this feud with that hideous, ridiculous and ghastly statement that McCain was a Vietnam War hero “only because he was captured. I like people who aren’t captured, OK?”

It went downhill from there.

I don’t accept the notion that Sen. McCain is “partially to blame,” or even to blame just a tiny bit for the president’s lack of class and dignity. Trump has disrespected McCain at every turn ever since the “only because he was captured” idiocy during the 2016 presidential campaign.

John McCain served this country in myriad ways that are totally foreign to Donald Trump’s life prior to his becoming a politician.

I am one American who stands foursquare behind the fallen senator.

Donald Trump

White House makes a mess of standard tribute

Let’s call it what it appears to be: a major-league clusterf***.

Someone at the White House — where Donald J. Trump resides with his wife and young son — lowered the flag atop the building to half-staff immediately after U.S. Sen. John McCain’s death this past weekend.

Then the flag went back to the top of the staff.

And then it came down again today. The president issued a “thoughts and prayers” statement to Sen. McCain’s family initially, and then issued a statement saying that despite the two men’s differences over “politics and policy,” the president said “I respect his service” to the country.

Gosh. Overwhelming, yes? Well … no. It isn’t. But you know that already.

Read CNN.com’s report here.

Actually, the president has yet to make any kind of statement saluting the late senator’s enormous contributions to his nation, his 60 years of public service — including his more than five years as a Vietnam War prisoner as a captive of North Vietnam. Trump denigrated McCain’s war service and the heroism he displayed while being held captive. And as McCain fought the cancer that killed him, Trump continued to blast the senator over his “no” vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Of course, McCain issued a directive that the president shouldn’t attend his funeral. Instead, the senator asked former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama to deliver eulogies in his honor. And, yes, Vice President Mike Pence — a former congressional colleague of Sen. McCain — will represent the Trump administration.

Dear reader, we are witnessing yet again the clumsiness and ineptitude of the Donald J. Trump administration over a ceremonial duty that should be second nature.

Shameful.

national news

Rest in peace, American hero

A man who would become president once denigrated U.S. Sen. John McCain’s service to the country, saying he was a “hero only because he was captured.”

Well, to the rest of us, Sen. McCain was the real deal. An authentic hero who endured torture at the hands of his captors during the Vietnam War. He fought struggle after struggle until he won his freedom more than five years later.

His struggle is now over. John McCain’s death today at the age of 81 ends a great man’s career in public service. First in the U.S. Navy, then as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives then as the U.S. senator. In 2008 he ran for president, won the Republican Party’s nomination and fought hard before losing to a fellow senator, Barack Obama of Illinois.

Sen. McCain will be remembered for his tenacity, his grit, his courage and, yes, his heroism.

This is a sad day. It’s also a day to express pride in the spirit of a great American warrior.

medical news

Sen. McCain faces the final fight

The news was expected, but it remains a stunner nevertheless.

U.S. Sen. John McCain today announced he is terminating treatment to fight the aggressive brain cancer that has kept him at home for several months. He has fought the good fight, but as he noted in his statement, age (he is 81) and the cancer have taken their toll.

He doesn’t want to fight any longer.

This saddens me terribly. It should sadden all Americans who understand the sacrifice this man has made in the line of duty to the country he loves. He has spent more than 50 years serving his country: as a Naval aviator, a U.S. House member, a U.S. senator and a Republican presidential nominee.

He was shot down in 1967 over Hanoi during the height of the Vietnam War and taken prisoner. He served heroically — despite the claims of one prominent GOP politician.

Did I agree with Sen. McCain’s politics, his policy, his philosophy? No. This blog post, though, pays tribute to his service, his courage, his fortitude, guts, perseverance and dedication to country.

I know it’s no longer plausible to wish this brave warrior a full recovery. Glioblastoma is, in the words of Sen. McCain’s good friend former Vice President Joe Biden, “as bad as it gets.” However, the former VP has spoken often in the past about his friend’s courage in the face of insurmountable odds.

There is a lesson to be learned here. Politicians who cannot summon the courage to do the right thing when the chips are down need to steal a page from John McCain’s book of life’s lessons.

He is, as CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer described him this morning when the news broke, “a great American.”

May he find comfort and strength in the days ahead knowing that the nation is praying for him.

Donald Trump

Wishing this prediction had panned out

I’m in a strange mood this evening. I am feeling a bit of a mea culpa urge entering my aching body.

A little more than three years ago, I “predicted” the demise of the Donald John Trump’s presidential campaign after he uttered the infamous phrase that U.S. Sen. John McCain was a war hero “only because he was captured” and that he he liked “those who aren’t captured.”

I thought at that moment that Trump had just self-immolated his campaign for the presidency.

Oh, man, was I ever wrong about that.

So, I want to send it out one more time as my attempt at self-deprecation.

Hey, no one’s perfect.

https://highplainsblogger.com/2015/07/this-is-when-donald-trumps-candidacy-died/

 

 

 

Donald Trump, military news

Trump-McCain feud goes on and on

Oh, my goodness. Donald John Trump spent a lot of time today thanking damn near every veteran in politics for their service to the country. His thank-a-thon preceded his signing a $717 billion defense spending bill.

Oh, I forgot to mention that one veteran did not receive a presidential thank you.

That would be U.S. Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. I’ll add, too, that Congress voted to name the defense bill in McCain’s honor.

Still, Donald Trump ignored the Arizona Republican while tossing all those bouquets.

There’s much more. Sen. McCain spent more than five years during the Vietnam War as a prisoner of the North Vietnamese after his Navy jet fighter was shot down over Hanoi in 1967. He was beaten, kept in solitary confinement, denied proper medical treatment for his wounds.

However, he and the president don’t exactly get along.

McCain has been battling an aggressive form of brain cancer. And, I should add, he cast a decisive vote against a Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which torpedoed Trump’s effort to remove former President Barack Obama’s signature piece of domestic legislation.

I’ll add, finally, that presidential candidate Trump said in 2016 that Sen. McCain was a “war hero only because he was captured.”

CNN anchor Jake Tapper today took a moment to thank Sen. McCain for his service to the country. He said: “One person who wasn’t on that list of people that he thanked? Outspoken Trump critic and the namesake of the bill, Sen. John McCain,” Tapper said. “You know, the decorated war hero who was a prisoner of war and continues to serve as a United States senator, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.”

Tapper said, “Since President Trump would not do it, let us here on ‘The Lead’ congratulate Sen. John McCain and his family, and thank him for his service to the country.”

Good for Jake Tapper.

Shame on Donald Trump.

local news, military news

Now they’re offering salutes

AMARILLO, Texas — There’s a first time for everything, as in everything.

Those of us who saw duty in Vietnam have been receiving belated — but still quite welcome — greetings from our fellow travelers.

Today, while walking through a grocery story in west Amarillo, a gentleman saw the “Vietnam Veteran” cap on my noggin and snapped a salute, while thanking me for my service.

My thought in the moment? Oh, my. Moreover, the nature of the salute this fellow snapped told me he, too, once served in the military. I returned his salute and thanked him.

Those of us of a certain age know how it used to be in this country. We didn’t the kind of homecoming that vets are getting these days, and deservedly so!

I actually remember the first time anyone said, “Welcome home” to me after learning I had served for a time in Vietnam. That “welcome” came from a former Vietnam War SEAL and a Medal of Honor recipient. It has stayed with me.

But … that’s ancient history. The nation has rediscovered its respect for veterans.

For that, this veteran will be forever grateful.

national news

A new context for ‘America, love it or leave it’?

I cannot quite get past the statement that Laura Ingraham made about immigration and the changing demographics that are being “foisted” on Americans who, like her, don’t like what those changes are bringing.

Ingraham is a noted conservative talk show host and a regular on the Fox News Channel. Her comments have drawn a good bit of criticism from those who accuse her of race-baiting.

Then comes this from CNN’s Chris Cuomo, who blasted Ingraham on his own TV program. “To turn a phrase back on our us-versus-them friends — if you don’t like what America is, you leave,” Cuomo said on his show “Prime Time.”

Read The Hill’s story here.

Do you get the irony in that statement?

A couple of generations ago, when Americans were protesting the Vietnam War, political conservatives bellowed to the hippies, yippies and other far-left protesters that they should leave the country if they disliked it so much.

“America, love it or leave it!” they shouted at them.

What I’m hearing now is that the “love it or leave it” mantra now has become the battle cry of those on the left to hurl angrily at those on the right.

Fantastic, man!

national news

Who’s more believable: The Marine or the liar in chief?

As I watch and listen to Donald J. Trump’s incessant harangue against special counsel Robert Mueller, I keep circling back to the histories of both men.

Trump was born to wealth and parlayed his birthright into a business career staked by a large stash of money from his father. The Vietnam War was raging when he became old enough to serve his country. Young Donald chose to pursue student deferments and received a medical deferment based on some sort of “bone spur” ailment that kept him out of harm’s way.

Trump then went into business and spent his entire professional life in pursuit of self-enrichment, self-aggrandizement and self-adulation.

Mueller also was born into wealth. He went to college, then to law school. But before he entered the legal profession, he decided to enlist in the Marine Corps. He served in Vietnam. He earned a chest full of medals, including the Bronze Star and at least two Purple Hearts. He fought with valor in defense of the country that sent him into harm’s way.

He got out of the Corps, entered the legal profession, served as a prosecutor and then eventually became director of the FBI, again in service to his country.

Trump has spent the past year and a half disparaging Robert Mueller. He calls him corrupt, says Mueller is engaging in a “witch hunt” while he conducts an investigation into whether the president’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russians who had attacked our electoral system.

Who in the name of dedicated public service should we trust to do the right thing?

I will go with the Marine.

national news

McCain keeps fighting the good fight

I want to offer some kind words about John McCain.

One year ago, Sen. McCain received a medical diagnosis no one wants to hear: He had contracted an aggressive form of brain cancer, glioblastoma.

I don’t know what the docs told him about his prognosis. Sen. McCain has indicated it was grim.

But he’s still with us. For that I am grateful.

I’ll be candid about Sen. McCain. I disagree with his conservative political views. I did not vote for him when he ran as the Republican nominee for president in 2008.

However, I long have admired Sen. McCain for the valiant public service he has given to his country. It spans many decades, including his years as a Navy officer.

In 1967, the young aviator had the extreme misfortune of being shot down over Hanoi during the height of the Vietnam War. He was taken captive and held for more than five years. He was injured when he ejected from his jet fighter; his wounds never were treated properly. He was tortured and submitted to solitary confinement.

He persevered. McCain ran for Congress, being elected to the House and then to the Senate.

His courage has never been doubted. His heroism in a time of war is well-documented. I long have admired this man’s service and I have saluted him — through this blog — many times.

I just feel compelled to wish Sen. McCain well as he continues his valiant battle. I consider him a heroic figure.