McCain: Don't ask me about my houses because I was tortured

By: Hugo Estrada
Published On: 8/26/2008 7:40:20 AM

When asked about his houses by Leno, McCain started talking about how he was tortured, sniff, sniff. :(
LENO: Welcome back, Sen. McCain, for one million dollars, how many houses do you have? (Jay laughs, McCain squirms and chuckles)

MCCAIN: You know, could I just mention to you, Jay, and a moment of seriousness. I spent five and a half years in a prison cell, without-I didn't have a house, I didn't have a kitchen table, I didn't have a table, I didn't have a chair. And I spent those five and a half years, because-not because I wanted to get a house when I got out.

I wished that he had this conversation with Republicans in Congress and with Bush when they passed, with his vote, pro-torture bills. Instead he has courageously saved it for a comedy show. That is character.

And McCain, who married into wealth, goes on to say that he is very proud of his self-made his father-in-law. That is the Republican Party for you: the party of self-made men...

I'm very proud of Cindy's father, he was a guy that barely got out of high school, fought in World War II in the Army Air Corps, came home and made a business and made the American dream and so somehow. You've had Cindy on this show.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0808/Hit_with_houses_on_Leno_McCain_cites_POW_experience_and_more.html


Comments



Cindy's Father. . . . (buzzbolt - 8/26/2008 10:13:00 AM)
See Robert Timberg's "The Nightengale's Song" for interesting revelations about how Cindy's father promoted John McCain all over Arizona as a banquet and trade show speaker for his beverage company.  McCain's POW history was his ONLY attraction as a public speaker and it proved to be an enormous asset.  Cindy's father also bought McCain and Cindy their first home in Arizona within hours of the announcement of the boundaries of a new Congressional district from which McCain's political career was launched.  McCain caught a lot of local criticism as a "carpetbagger" but he always relied heavily on his POW status--so much so that he was labeled "The Candidate from Hanoi".


McCain as a POW (Rebecca - 8/26/2008 12:34:22 PM)
If McCain doesn't shut up about this the other POWs who were in the camp with him will have to start speaking out about how McCain made propaganda films for the North Vietnamese (saying bad things about the U.S.) in exchange for special treatment.

McCain is, and always has been, an opportunist. His endorsement of preacher John "Piggy" demonstrates this (until it became inconvenient). His marriage to Cindy was opportunistic, and his POW experience incorporated this philosophy as well. His ambition knows no end and he will kiss any behind to accomplish it.



Leave it to you, Rebecca (aznew - 8/26/2008 2:11:45 PM)
to force me into a defense of McCain.

Wasn't he being tortured in that camp, at a minimum denied medical care for broken bones, kept in isolation and placed in stress positions?

I am horrified and embarrassed that we engage in these tactics ourselves. In fact, I hope Obama's election is seen as, among other things, a repudiation of this immorality of the Bush Administration.

Whatever he said under those circumstances is utterly irrelevant to me, and I hope to any decent person. I don't care how often or inappropriately he trots out this experience as a defense to criticism.



Sheesh, Rebecca, you were doing just fine until you went off (Catzmaw - 8/26/2008 3:18:07 PM)
on that tangent.  McCain did not make propaganda films for Hanoi and he was mistreated, just as all our POWs were.  

If you want to know how some of his fellow POWs feel about the POW mantra he keeps repeating you should look up the writings of Philip Butler, who had almost NINE years in Hanoi and is now a peace and justice activist.  He's also a graduate of the Naval Academy and his war record is impeccable.  Butler wrote a column in March about why he would not support McCain as President.

I would like very much to see Butler say something about McCain's use of his POW status as justification for everything.