Tag Archives: John McCain

military news

Who’s the ‘loser’?

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I went to sleep last night after having just read a horrifying tale detailing Donald Trump’s profound disrespect for men and women who have paid the price of defending our freedom against our enemies.

I awoke this morning still believing what I had read.

The Atlantic has reported a litany of examples of Trump disparaging the service that our military personnel have performed. Not to mention the price some of paid with their very lives.

The reporting by Jeffrey Goldberg appears to be well-sourced … and it is credible.

What gives the story its credibility, at least to me, are the words that Trump blurted out in public in 2015 when he was asked to comment on the service performed by the late Sen. John McCain. Someone asked Trump if he considered McCain to be a war hero. Trump’s answer spoke volumes.

McCain is a “hero only because he was captured” by the North Vietnamese after being shot down during the Vietnam War, Trump said. Then he said, “I like those who aren’t captured, OK?”

Can there be any more validation of what Jeffrey Goldberg reported than Trump’s own words? Of course, Trump denies disparaging those who served and died in defense of the nation. The White House has issued a denial as well. You would expect that from both the president and those who work for him.

However, the ring of truth to what has been reported is clanging in my ear. I happen to believe that the man with no public service in his pre-presidency background, the guy who sought bogus medical deferments from serving in the Vietnam War is fully capable of saying what has been reported.

I believe we have been handed a graphic and hideous example of this individual’s unfitness for the job he is trying to keep.

If you read the entire story that I have attached here, I trust you’ll be as horrified as I am. The real “loser” in this episode is the individual who has thrown the term around about our nation’s heroes.

national news

How dare this POTUS say anything about POWs

Donald John “Private Bone Spurs” Trump sent out a message via Twitter that, well, is ridiculous in the absolute extreme.

It reads: On National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day, we honor the more than 50,000 American warriors captured while protecting our way of life. We pay tribute to these Patriots for their unwavering and unrelenting spirit!

Oh … my.

As you can imagine, Trump’s salute to POWs drew the expected blowback from millions of Americans who remember vividly what the then-Republican presidential candidate said about a particularly famous former POW.

He said of the late U.S. Sen. John McCain — who was shot down in 1967 while flying a Navy jet over Hanoi during the Vietnam War — that “I like people who aren’t captured, OK?” He said McCain was a war hero “only because he was captured.”

With that comment, Trump set the standard for boorishness and crassness.

So now the president chooses to honor former POWs for their “unwavering and unrelenting spirit.”

Too many of us recall what Trump said of one valiant warrior. Rest assured, Sen. McCain’s outspoken daughter, “The View” co-host Meghan McCain, has let known her own disgust at the president’s faux pride in the service performed by our POWs.

For this individual — with his hideous history of draft avoidance and then his disrespecting of a war hero — to issue any statement on this matter would be laughable on its face … except that no one is laughing.

national news

‘Liberal hack’ attack is now the new normal?

U.S. Sen. Martha McSally is a supreme disappointment to me, as I once said something nice about the grace she exhibited in losing an earlier race for another vacant Senate seat in Arizona.

Now the Republican seeking election to a seat to which she was appointed is turning into, shall we say, a “conservative hack.” Why? Because she called a CNN reporter a “liberal hack” who had the temerity to ask her a straightforward question devoid of any political taint or bias.

CNN Capitol Hill reporter Manu Raju asked McSally if she supported calling for additional evidence and witnesses in the upcoming impeachment trial of Donald John Trump, the current president of the United States.

“You’re a liberal hack; I’m not talking to you,” McSally snapped at Raju. Huh? That’s how it goes? A working journalist asks a question that requires at minimum a “yes” or a “no.” She chose to bite back at someone who is merely doing his job as a correspondent for a major newsgathering organization.

This is the “media is the enemy of the people” strategy employed by Donald Trump against those in the media who continue to provide critical coverage of events and statements from the president and his allies — when it is deserved!

McSally, a backbench senator who was appointed to replace former Sen. Jon Kyl, who served briefly after the death of the great Sen. John McCain. She earlier had run against Democrat Kyrsten Sinema for a seat vacated by the retirement of Jeff Flake. That race was a nail-biter, but McSally conceded with grace and class to her opponent.

Thus, I had hope she would comport herself with dignity when she got the appointment to succeed Kyl. Silly me.

McSally doubled down on her slap back at Raju, recalling that she was “a fighter pilot.” Indeed, she is U.S. Air Force Academy grad who saw combat duty in Iraq.

Her petulant display, though, bodes grimly for the state of political discourse at least where it involves this federal legislator. Perhaps she is feeling the heat of sagging poll numbers in Arizona, where she is trailing possible Democratic challenger Mark Kelly, a former shuttle astronaut.

Whatever the case, Manu Raju — seeking a simple answer to a direct question — didn’t need the high-profile slap in the face by Sen. McSally. Bad call, senator.

military news

Do not politicize the military … ever!

I feel the need to weigh in one more — and likely final — time on this dust-up over the USS John McCain.

It is simply this: The U.S. military never should get caught in the middle of a political dispute.

At issue is the order that reportedly was issued directing Navy personnel to hide the name of the USS John McCain from the view of the president of the United States. Donald Trump reportedly was “spared” having to see the name of his political rival, the late Arizona Republican U.S. senator.

The president denies issuing the order. Indeed, the world does not yet know who issued it and whether, as Trump described it, the order was “well-meaning.”

For the record, the destroyer was named after Sen. McCain’s father and grandfather. Sen. McCain’s name was added after the ship went on active duty.

The idea that the U.S. Navy — or any branch of the military — would be drawn into some form of political dispute is reprehensible on its face.

The officers and enlisted personnel who serve on the USS John McCain are proud of their ship, proud of their service to the country and proud to wear their nation’s uniform. They are not politicians and should never be dragged into a dispute of this sort … not ever!

military news

Did POTUS issue this order?

Talk about a murky story.

I didn’t want to believe it when it first came to light. I now tend to believe at least part of it, maybe even most of it. The story is disturbing in the extreme.

It goes like this: U.S. Navy officials sent messages out that ordered that the name of a battle destroyer, the USS John McCain, be kept out of Donald Trump’s view when he arrived in Japan for a state visit.

This is about as disgusting as it gets.

The ship was named after the father and grandfather of the late U.S. senator, who became a consistent foe of the president before he died of brain cancer in August 2018.

What I cannot grasp is this: Who issued the order? Did it come from the commander in chief? Did it come from senior naval officers who sought to make the boss happy? And why would an officer actually carry out such a preposterous order?

The White House staff insists that Trump played no role in the order. That insistence is reason enough for me to look with dubiousness at the denial, given the lack of truth-telling that emanates with stunning regularity from the White House.

But we don’t know about the source of the order.

Trump said he’d never do such a thing. Really, Mr. President?

The USS John McCain was commissioned in honor of two admirals. The late senator’s name was added after the ship went on active duty.

If it’s true, that the order came down and that it was presented as has been reported — that the ship’s crew was ordered to shroud the name so that Trump didn’t see the name while touring the area — then we might have entered a brand new era of petulance.

According to CBS News, which has confirmed the existence of the order: “I would not have done that. I was not a big fan of John McCain in any way shape or form. To me John McCain, I wasn’t a fan. But I would never do such a thing like that. Now, someone did it because they thought I didn’t like him. They were well-meaning, I will say. But I wouldn’t have,” Mr. Trump said.

I want to believe him. Then again, it comes from the liar in chief.

national news

Sen. Klobuchar needs to tread carefully

I happen to agree with Meghan McCain, the outspoken daughter of an outspoken late U.S. senator.

Meghan McCain is asking U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a candidate for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, to stop using her father, John McCain, as a political prop.

Klobuchar recently has told of how she sat next to Sen. McCain while Donald Trump was delivering his inaugural speech. She mentioned that Sen. McCain kept saying the names of infamous dictators.

As MSN.com noted: “The arc that we are on, this arc of justice, started the day after that dark inauguration,” Klobuchar said. “The day when I sat on that stage between Bernie (Sanders) and John McCain and John McCain kept reciting to me the names of dictators during that speech, because he knew more than any of us what we were facing as a nation. He understood it. He knew because he knew this man more than any of us.”

Sen. Klobuchar intended to honor the memory of Sen. McCain. I am pretty certain that in Meghan McCain’s mind, she has given Donald Trump grist to fire at the memory of the late senator, who the president already has said — since the senator’s death in August 2018 — he has “never liked.”

Trump hasn’t been bashful about criticizing Sen. McCain, even in death. That criticism continues to rankle Meghan McCain, who has been not bashful at all in expressing her disdain for the president or her undying love and admiration for her late father.

Meghan McCain said via Twitter: “On behalf of the entire McCain family (Senator Klobuchar), please be respectful to all of us and leave my father’s legacy and memory out of presidential politics.”

OK, so Meghan McCain hasn’t mentioned the president’s penchant for petulant patter, even toward her beloved father. There should be little doubt that she doesn’t want to hear Donald Trump insult her father any longer.

The president has said quite enough already about a man — John McCain — whose legacy of public service will last far longer than anything Donald Trump will ever do for as long as he is an active politician.

national news

Waiting for the right candidate to challenge Trump

I do not yet have a favorite candidate I want to challenge Donald John Trump in the next presidential election. I am waiting for that candidate to present himself or herself.

I do know this: The president’s unfitness for the office he occupies is becoming more obvious damn near each day he sits behind that big desk in the Oval Office.

This latest gambit of considering whether to set illegal immigrants loose on the streets of “sanctuary cities” to punish congressional Democrats who oppose him on his desire to build The Wall along our southern border is just the latest example.

Donald Trump lies when he doesn’t need to lie. I watch clip after clip of his lying throughout the 2016 presidential campaign and I simply am aghast. I am appalled that he eked out an Electoral College win to become president. I am astonished that his lying didn’t disqualify him at one of countless points along the campaign trail. He lied about seeing and hearing “thousands of Muslims” cheering the collapse of the Twin Towers on 9/11; he lied about “helping” clear the rubble from Ground Zero after that tragic event; he lied about how he built his company from scratch.

This is the most untrustworthy man ever to hold the office of president.

His personal insults demean the office. He mocks individuals with physical disabilities. He insults individuals’ physical appearance.

Donald Trump foments hate against Muslims, against Latinos, against those seek to enter this country from “sh**hole countries.”

He denigrates others’ contributions to our national life. He infamously disparaged the heroic service during the Vietnam War of the late Sen. John McCain.

This won’t surprise anyone who reads this blog regularly, but my mind was made up about one aspect of the 2020 election the moment it became clear to all of us that Donald Trump would win the 2016 election. There could be no way in this entire galaxy I could support this individual’s re-election.

My task now is to await to see who arises from the thundering horde/herd of candidates seeking to get the nation’s attention.

My statement that my preference would be for someone to arise from the middle — or perhaps the back — of the crowd to establish himself or herself as a frontrunner. I just do not yet know who will step forward.

I want my 2020 presidential vote to be for someone who presents a positive vision for the future of this country. I want it to be in favor of someone who can correct the hideous course on which the Liar in Chief has taken us.

I truly would hate casting my vote only as a statement against the presidency of Donald Trump. I do not want to hold my schnoz while casting my ballot.

However, I am able to do so . . . if that’s what it takes.

national news

Lieberman makes a case that McCain would not

Joe Lieberman served with John McCain in the U.S. Senate. They were of different political parties, but they were dear friends.

The late Sen. McCain, a Republican, has been in the news of late, courtesy of the hideous attacks mounted by Donald Trump. Lieberman, who entered the Senate as a Democrat but then became an independent, has declared that Trump’s criticism of his friend is unconscionable.

He has written an essay in defense of McCain, saying that his friend wouldn’t answer Trump directly. As McCain’s friend, Lieberman said “I will.”

So he has.

You can read his response here.

Sen. Lieberman speaks for many Americans — even those of us who didn’t cast our votes for McCain as president in 2008 — who believe the senator was a heroic warrior and a dedicated public servant.

We also believe the president has been shameful in his attacks.

national news

GOP remains silent as Trump trashes a party statesman

Donald Trump has taken the Republican Party hostage, tossed its leaders into a dungeon and is disparaging one of its longstanding, long-serving and long-admired political figures.

The president keeps hammering away at the memory of the late U.S. Sen. John McCain, the former Vietnam War prisoner and two-time candidate for president of the United States.

He said most recently that he never received a “thank you” from the senator’s family for granting him the funeral he deserved. Yeah, sure thing, Mr. POTUS. Except that you had nothing to do with the funeral McCain received. Yep, you lied about that one, too!

It just baffles me that the late senator’s friends in the Senate and elsewhere have remained largely silent about the classless, crass and juvenile attacks against him by the drafter dodger in chief.

Yes, some of them have offered some pulled-punch rejoinders. Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of Sen. McCain’s best friends in the Senate, has been largely mute; Arizona GOP Sen. Martha McSally, who is sitting in the seat McCain once occupied, has offered tepid criticism.

GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia has spoken out, as has Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

But the vast bulk of the nation’s Republican establishment keeps enabling the president to keep up his idiotic bitching about a senator who died of brain cancer in August 2018.

McCain developed many friendships over the course of his three decades in Congress. His Democratic friends have been quite outspoken against the president’s rants; but that’s to be expected.

I would have expected more outrage from Republicans as well, given the stated and understood admiration for a man who endured five-plus years of torture as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam before being elected to Congress.

These chicken-hearted politicians act like they fear the president who took over their party by storm in 2016 without ever devoting a single minute of his prior life to public service.

Someone needs to launch a rescue mission to free those GOP hostages, release them from their dungeon and tell them it’s OK to speak ill of the guy who captured them in the first place.

Oh, wait! We have an election coming up. Maybe that’ll do the trick.

medical news, military news

Show us the bone spur records, Mr. POTUS

Bob Kerrey has pitched a perfectly logical notion for the president of the United States, who has been plagued by doubters who question his assertion that “bone spurs” kept him out of military service during the Vietnam War.

Show us the medical record, Mr. President. That is the suggestion offered by Kerrey, a former Democratic U.S. senator from Nebraska. Oh, I also must point out that Kerrey is a former Navy SEAL, a Vietnam War combat veteran and a Medal of Honor recipient who lost one of his legs fighting the enemy during that horrible time.

Bone spurs don’t heal themselves, Kerrey said. You need surgery to repair them. The president has never mentioned surgery.

The bone spur issue keeps recurring because Trump keeps yapping about military matters in ways that bring these questions to the forefront.

Such as his ongoing and crass attacks against the late Sen. John McCain, the former Vietnam War prisoner who died of cancer this past August. Trump once denigrated McCain’s POW status, saying he was a “hero only because he was captured.”

Trump got several medical deferments during the Vietnam War. He has cited bone spurs. Well, just like the tax returns he keeps saying are under audit by the Internal Revenue Service, he has not provided a shred of evidence that he even had bone spurs; he also hasn’t produced a letter by the IRS declaring that it was auditing his tax returns, which he said has precluded him from releasing those returns for public review.

The president also reportedly told his former lawyer/confidant Michael Cohen that he had no intention of going to Vietnam. “Do you think I’m stupid?” Cohen said Trump asked him. Kerrey has taken offense at that notion, saying that Trump “sees all of us who went to Vietnam as fools. We were the suckers. We were the stupid ones. We were the ones that didn’t have the resources to be able to get out of the draft.”

Kerrey said this, as reported by the Huffington Post: “While John McCain was flying combat operations in Vietnam, you were, I think, falsifying that you had bone spurs in order not to go to Vietnam,” said Kerrey, a 1992 presidential candidate who retired from the Senate in 2000. “Now I know lots of people who avoided the draft, but this isn’t what he’s saying. He said ‘I physically couldn’t go,’ Well, Mr. President, get your feet X-rayed and let’s see those bone spurs. I don’t think he has them.”

Frankly, neither do I.