This site is for Oklahomans to express their concerns about the 2008 Republican presidential nominee.
We contend -- and will document with well-sourced articles -- that John McCain
• does not have the leadership qualities we need at this critical time
• has shown a lack of good judgment in his political associations and decisions
• does not have a realistic or thorough grasp of the serious security issues our country faces for the foreseeable future
• is promising to continue policies that benefit the wealthy special interests and burden the middle class
A veteran who was a classmate of John McCain and a prisoner with him in Vietnam explains loud and clear that being a POW does not qualify McCain to lead our country.
Dr. Phillip Butler knew McCain as a fellow POW. Watch and listen!
“To see McCain resort to playing the POW card when answering legitimate questions, in my mind, cheapens that experience. And by cheapening his own experience in war, he degrades all of our experiences in war. He turns the horrific incidents we’ve all seen, touched, smelled, and felt into a lame excuse to earn political points. And it dishonors us all.”
John McCain has been exploiting his prisoner of war experience every chance he gets. He has used this story to justify everything from not knowing how many homes he has to his healthcare plan to his marital infidelities to his taste in music. The McCain campaign is even using his POW story in paid ads. But now a veteran who was a prisoner with McCain in Vietnam is explaining loud and clear that being a POW does not qualify McCain to lead our country.
We are sure this video will draw an onslaught of right-wing attacks, but we bring it to you because it is our job to continue to convey the truth together and give these issues national attention. As Dr. Butler has said, McCain does not have the temperament to have his finger near the red button. Get this video to everyone you know: friends, family members, coworkers, and especially those who don’t share your political views. The video is designed to reach them. Get it on your social networking sites like Digg. And get it to every blog, newspaper, and TV station that has ever overplayed McCain’s POW story. It is time to fight back with truth!
The mainstream press has already begun to call out McCain for overusing his POW story. And it’s cut across all political persuasions.
“Whether he’s deflecting criticism over his health-care plan or mocking a tribute to the Woodstock music festival, Senator John McCain has a trump card: the Hanoi Hilton. – Edwin Chen, Bloomberg
“The McCain campaign’s constant invocation of the candidate’s POW past is weird bordering on irrational…” – Ana Marie Cox, TIME
“I think they are going to it way too many times.” – Howard Fineman, Newsweek
Remember how Joe Biden got the press to refer to Rudy Giuliani as “A noun, a verb, and 9/11“? Well, let’s actually take Andrew Sullivan’s lead here and get the media to boil McCain down to a similar phrase: “A noun, a verb, and POW.” Considering how often the McCain campaign invokes his POW story, isn’t that what they’re already doing?Yours,
Robert Greenwald
and the Brave New team
What? How is this possible? Everyone knows that McCain is a military hero. He talks about his love for the troops all the time.
… John McCain skipped close to a dozen votes on Iraq, and on at least another 10 occasions, he voted against arming and equipping the troops, providing adequate rest for the troops between deployments and for health care or other benefits for veterans…
Yes, McCain talks pro-trooops, but words are cheap. What counts is how the wannabe president actually voted on bills that would, in real life, help troops, veterans and their families. Unfortunately, when McCain’s voting record is examined, it becomes clear that McCain has little regard for the troops, their safety, their post-war health and well-being, much less the fulfillment of the promises this country made to them in exchange for their service.
NBC’s Andrea Mitchell [who accompanied Obama on the trip] reports that there was never a plan for Obama to take the press to Landstuhl, despite the claim by McCain folks and others. The plan was to go with his military aide, retired General Scott Gration. The Pentagon said Gration was off-limits because he had joined the campaign — violating rules that it not be a political stop.
Obama had gone to see wounded troops in Iraq earlier in the week, without even confirming he’d been there. No press, no pictures. He has done the same when he goes to Walter Reed — never any press.
[...]
“One GOP strategist with close ties to McCain’s campaign said the new line of attack reflected the operation’s ‘schizophrenic’ nature. He said that tendency was also on display last week, as McCain spoke at length about media coverage of Obama rather than sticking with his plan to focus on the economy. ‘They couldn’t help themselves,’ the strategist said, adding that the ad over the hospital visit is ‘churlish and unlike McCain, and hardly will resonate with the swing voters who are going to decide this election.’ The strategist continued: ‘They’re doing it because the candidate, and the campaign, is not happy with where they are and they’re lashing out.’”
Emphasis added.
Is McCain honest, or honestly desperate to be president?
Many analysts are saying that McCain’s integrity and credibility are in danger of being lost in this quest of doing anything and everything in order to become president. This ad’s false attack on his Democratic opponent would seem to indicate that they are right.
A new McCain ad says Obama “made time to go to the gym, but canceled a visit with wounded troops. Seems the Pentagon wouldn’t allow him to bring cameras.”
McCain’s facts are literally true, but his insinuation – that the visit was canceled because of the press ban or the desire for gym time – is false. In fact, Obama visited wounded troops earlier – without cameras or press – both in the U.S. and Iraq. And his gym workouts are a daily routine.
The Obama campaign canceled the visit with wounded troops at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, Obama says, when he learned that the Pentagon would not allow him to bring along a retired Air Force major general who is serving as a foreign policy adviser to the campaign. Obama says that “triggered then a concern that maybe our visit was going to be perceived as political.”
The Factcheck.org article goes into further analysis, with all charges and facts sourced, and done so impartially. Worth a read if you want the truth.
John McCain, in the foreword to an edition of David Halberstam’s The Best and the Brightest
It was a shameful thing to ask men to suffer and die, to persevere through god-awful afflictions and heartache, to endure the dehumanizing experiences that are unavoidable in combat, for a cause that the country wouldn’t support over time and that our leaders so wrongly believed could be achieved at a smaller cost than our enemy was prepared to make us pay. No other national endeavor requires as much unshakable resolve as war. If the nation and the government lack that resolve, it is criminal to expect men in the field to carry it alone.
New video exposes the truth about McCain’s votes — against the best interests of the troops on the ground, and returned veterans help with health care and education.
Sen. Jim Inhofe has failed the troops time and time again. His lack of integrity is staggering. He has repeatedly voted against bills to provide the troops with adequate medical care, body armor and equipment, yet he claims you wont find a better record of support for our men and women in uniform. All it takes is a quick check of his voting record to see that he’s a fraud. That’s why we made the video.
People in the film:
* Chris Ritter (Gulf War Vet) – US Navy (Ret), OK National Guard (Active)
* Nathaniel Batchelder (Vietnam Vet) – Specialist 5th Class, US Army (Ret)
* Miranda L. Norman (Iraq War Vet) – Specialist, Oklahoma Army National Guard (Ret)
* Col. (Ret) Katherine Scheirman – Medical Doctor, US Air Force
