McPain in my ass

McWrinkly Dude has just now and finally pushed me over the edge of a teetering purchase of respectability I had for the old Navy pilot now turned political whore. He is now on the stump saying over and over, “I’ve been fighting for this country since I was 17 years old.” Does he really think that? His 23 sorties dropping bombs from some reasonably safe height amounts to similar number of hours in the air “fighting” for our country. Someone figured out that he got a medal and a half per hour of “combat”— which is the way his deck has been stacked all his life.

His father’s considerable pull got Johnny into the Naval Academy (at age 17) and while he did manage to finish in the allotted time he did so without having applied himself in any way. He was in freakin’ college! Does that mean that everyone who went to college, even William Ayers, was also fighting for their country during those years? “McNasty,” as he was known in his putatively prestigious prep school, although I never heard of it when I was in DC six years, was almost thrown out of Annapolis twice (his Mom got him a reprieve) and spent most of his four years on probation. Then, with almost the worst grades in his class, he got into flight school, a prestigious and highly coveted slot. I have to believe that the Admiral had some-say so for the fair haired scion and future flier.

He distinguished himself as a flier by crashing three planes and getting one shot out from underneath him. One of the planes that he made an unscheduled landing in went short of the mark. He was used to commandeering navy craft to see his soon-to-be-wife up in Philly. After attending an Army-Navy game there and a raucous night of partying, he (again) stalled his plane and had to eject. Fortunately the crash killed no one. Is that part of fighting for one’s country?

A few months before his final flight he was in his plane waiting for take-off on the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal. His A4 Skyhawk was hit accidentally by a rocket from another plane. Not his fault of course, but would you want to fly with this guy? After the Forrestal incident where he hardly aquitted himself with valor, he told Johnny Apple from The Times, his new buddy, that he wasn’t so sure he “felt too good about dropping napalm on civilians.” Talk about valor; no wonder they gave him 28 medals.

Nobody can say what they would do while being tortured in any situation but according to declassified government documents McCain did receive special treatment at some points during his hideous captivity because Hanoi was anxious to trade in on his famous father who was ordering air strikes on the north. McCain III turned down early release which he could see would be a disastrous public relations ploy and a morale buster for the troops. Excellent judgment, but even he would agree now that an interview he gave to a Cuban psychologist, arranged by his captors, was not a good choice. In it he did not limit himself to name, rank and serial number.

Only the Swiftboaters of the last campaign would try to drag this guy through the mud and I am not doing that here. But there is a record and it is not one of “fighting since I was seventeen” and that’s what he said today at a rally. He was passed over for Admiral with every break on his side except a gift for hard work. He was a notorious philanderer and playboy which buried his chances. An excellent article in the latest Rolling Stone goes into greater detail if you can stomach it.

I think that Johnny’s chances to fly in Air Force One are sinking like so many of his aircraft. And when people are talking about his experience you would think that the guy who has been on the political scene all these years, “fighting” away, would have the clear advantage. But there is no experience that simulates the kind of decision making that takes place in the oval office.

Obama defenders tout his “first class intellect” as the principal qualification they would like to see from the next president. Or any president, really. We don’t get a lot of that in the White House. We do get some pretty smart ones. Some thought the Trickster was a brilliant operative, if just a little too evil. The Slickster wasn’t smart enough to stay out of trouble but his record speaks for itself. What we need is first class intellect and experience. But I suppose, if wishes were fishes we’d lunch on lox.

I’ll tell you what I like for experience: A scrappy, fatherless kid with a funny name that worked hard enough to scholarship into the most prestigious prep school in Hawaii, then get into Occidental, Columbia and Harvard, made president of the law review, made it to the Senate on his first shot and put together an organization and bankroll that beat the Clinton machine and now looks to calmly dispatch with Sen. McSpoiled for the most powerful job in the world and come away from it with people saying he did it with aplomb and his dignity intact. That’s what I’m talking about.

What you gotta ask yourself is: If the experience of hanging in the halls of power is so great, would you vote to keep W in, who’s been “at the helm” for the last eight years?