CRLLS
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
A fine example of a patriot. RIP John.
John McCain - dead at 81 - RIP, Senator
- Thread starter cyber888
- Start date
- Status
“Somewhere in the world there is a defeat for everyone. Some are destroyed by defeat, and some made small and mean by victory. Greatness lives in one who triumphs equally over defeat and victory.” John Steinbeck
In his political victories McCain was a leader given to working with those who were considered to be opponents. Even more so, McCain showed incredible character in defeat as evidenced by his uplifting concession speech after losing the 2008 presidential election. Whether in victory, defeat or the experiences of unimaginable hardships, John McCain embodied greatness.
In his political victories McCain was a leader given to working with those who were considered to be opponents. Even more so, McCain showed incredible character in defeat as evidenced by his uplifting concession speech after losing the 2008 presidential election. Whether in victory, defeat or the experiences of unimaginable hardships, John McCain embodied greatness.
Huston55
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Yes. I quoted Hemingway because he was one of John McCain’s favorite authors, and I thought the sentiment aptly described McCain.
lemming
Full time employment: Posting here.
- Joined
- May 29, 2008
- Messages
- 600
I always was willing to stop and listen to what he had to say on a subject, then I could disagree or not .
That Steinbeck quote was very moving,thanks for the push.
That Steinbeck quote was very moving,thanks for the push.
I'll never forget the times when John McCain wouldn't let folks at his rally say stupid things about his opponent Barack Obama. I wonder if we'll see candidates with his class again. I worry that we won't.
Save for a few crucial moves I might have voted for him. Even though I didn't, I respected him and would not have been worried if he had won.
I didn't agree with all of his politics, but I seldom doubted that in his heart he had the good of the country in mind with whatever he did. There aren't enough politicians that can hold up to that standard today.
Save for a few crucial moves I might have voted for him. Even though I didn't, I respected him and would not have been worried if he had won.
I didn't agree with all of his politics, but I seldom doubted that in his heart he had the good of the country in mind with whatever he did. There aren't enough politicians that can hold up to that standard today.
aja8888
Moderator Emeritus
As a combat veteran who also served our country in the 1960's, I couldn't have said the above better.
Courageous men like him were what America is all about.
Last edited:
corn18
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2015
- Messages
- 1,890
Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
Fair winds and following seas...
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
Fair winds and following seas...
Attribution for those of us who had to look it up. "Eternal Father, Strong to Save", aka Navy Hymn, by William Whiting.
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2006
- Messages
- 23,102
In 2000, when Senator McCain was running for the Republican presidential nomination against George W. Bush, I went with a friend to a campaign event where he spoke. I was interested to hear him since we were both USNA grads and I had heard much about him.
A big issue in the news at that time was "grandparent rights"; I think there was a case where an estranged daughter-in-law would not let her children visit with their grandparents and the grandparents had sued. In any event, someone in the crowd asked Senator McCain what he thought about the issue. He started to say something, but after about the first three words he stopped and said "you know, I really don't know enough about that issue to give you an intelligent answer."
For me, that really said it all - a man who understood the limits of his knowledge and was not afraid to admit it. I wrote a check to his campaign that day - the one and only time I have ever contributed to a candidate from outside my party. I disagreed with him on many issues, but I never had a doubt that he was an honorable man.
A big issue in the news at that time was "grandparent rights"; I think there was a case where an estranged daughter-in-law would not let her children visit with their grandparents and the grandparents had sued. In any event, someone in the crowd asked Senator McCain what he thought about the issue. He started to say something, but after about the first three words he stopped and said "you know, I really don't know enough about that issue to give you an intelligent answer."
For me, that really said it all - a man who understood the limits of his knowledge and was not afraid to admit it. I wrote a check to his campaign that day - the one and only time I have ever contributed to a candidate from outside my party. I disagreed with him on many issues, but I never had a doubt that he was an honorable man.
Last edited:
Refreshing honesty.
That's a virtue, not a sign of weakness. Sad that most voters don't place any value on this and would rather see politicians double down.
DEC-1982
Full time employment: Posting here.
An honorable man. A man of integrity. A hero. I have/had great respect for this man.
EastWest Gal
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Watching McCain over the years has been a lesson in civil discourse in public life. What would the world be like if all our elected officials valued doing the right thing, as he did throughout his career. Finding out that he graduated near the bottom of his class was a tribute to his humanity as a young person. His voice will be deeply missed.
Senator McCain was an imperfect person - as are we all. I choose to remember him not for his flaws but for the hard choices he made and his personal contributions to our society. He gave more of himself than most, during the war and as a public servant. May he rest in peace.
youbet
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I've never agreed with anyone's politics 100% of the time. Never.
Overall I admired McCain and found him to be one of the least hypocritical politicians (a vocational pursuit where most participants are extremely hypocritical) I'd every run across. I wish there were more like him.
Last edited:
NW-Bound
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2008
- Messages
- 35,712
Yes, McCain was not perfect, but Congress would be better with more like him.
Red Badger
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Senator McCain endured awful torture and solitary confinement in Hanoi. This is from Vox web site, and I think there is an ABC url that has it almost word for word. Anyway I post it just so we can understand what he went through. Not interested in politics. RIP Senator.
Quote
How McCain’s experience in Vietnam shaped his views on torture
McCain was a US Navy pilot during the Vietnam War. On October 26, 1967, his plane was shot down during a bombing mission over Hanoi. He ejected, breaking both arms and his right leg in the process, and parachuted down into a lake, where he was rescued by North Vietnamese villagers.
A photo taken October 26, 1967, shows US Navy pilot John McCain being rescued from Hanoi’s Truc Bach lake by several Hanoi residents after his Navy warplane was downed by the Northern Vietnamese army during the Vietnam War.*AFP/Getty Images
His captors sent him to Hanoi’s notorious Hỏa Lò Prison, nicknamed the “Hanoi Hilton,” where he was held for five and a half years.
For two of those years, he was kept in solitary confinement. In an*unflinching first-person account of his experience*that he wrote just two months after returning home, McCain described what it was like:
I was not allowed to see or talk to or communicate with any of my fellow prisoners. My room was fairly decent-sized — I’d say it was about 10 by 10. The door was solid. There were no windows. The only ventilation came from two small holes at the top in the ceiling, about 6 inches by 4 inches. The roof was tin and it got hot as hell in there. The room was kind of dim — night and day — but they always kept on a small light bulb, so they could observe me. I was in that place for two years.
He also detailed the physical and psychological abuse he suffered for two years during his captivity:
They bounced me from pillar to post, kicking and laughing and scratching. After a few hours of that, ropes were put on me and I sat that night bound with ropes. Then I was taken to a small room. ... For the next four days, I was beaten every two to three hours by different guards. My left arm was broken again and my ribs were cracked.
They wanted a statement saying that I was sorry for the crimes that I had committed against North Vietnamese people and that I was grateful for the treatment that I had received from them. [...]
I held out for four days. Finally, I reached the lowest point of my 5½ years in North Vietnam. I was at the point of suicide, because I saw that I was reaching the end of my rope.
I said, O.K., I’ll write for them.
He broke. He signed a*statement*confessing that he was a “black criminal” and an “air pirate,” among other things.
“I felt just terrible about it,” he*recalled. “I kept saying to myself, ‘Oh, God, I really didn’t have any choice.’ I had learned what we all learned over there: Every man has his breaking point. I had reached mine.”
That lesson — that torture would eventually make a person willing to confess to anything, whether it was true or not — was one he wouldn’t soon forget.
When he returned home to America in 1973, the then-36-year-old McCain was greeted as a war hero. He met President Richard Nixon. He became a celebrity. And soon after, he launched a political career that would take him to the highest levels of power in the US government.
Unquote
Quote
How McCain’s experience in Vietnam shaped his views on torture
McCain was a US Navy pilot during the Vietnam War. On October 26, 1967, his plane was shot down during a bombing mission over Hanoi. He ejected, breaking both arms and his right leg in the process, and parachuted down into a lake, where he was rescued by North Vietnamese villagers.
A photo taken October 26, 1967, shows US Navy pilot John McCain being rescued from Hanoi’s Truc Bach lake by several Hanoi residents after his Navy warplane was downed by the Northern Vietnamese army during the Vietnam War.*AFP/Getty Images
His captors sent him to Hanoi’s notorious Hỏa Lò Prison, nicknamed the “Hanoi Hilton,” where he was held for five and a half years.
For two of those years, he was kept in solitary confinement. In an*unflinching first-person account of his experience*that he wrote just two months after returning home, McCain described what it was like:
I was not allowed to see or talk to or communicate with any of my fellow prisoners. My room was fairly decent-sized — I’d say it was about 10 by 10. The door was solid. There were no windows. The only ventilation came from two small holes at the top in the ceiling, about 6 inches by 4 inches. The roof was tin and it got hot as hell in there. The room was kind of dim — night and day — but they always kept on a small light bulb, so they could observe me. I was in that place for two years.
He also detailed the physical and psychological abuse he suffered for two years during his captivity:
They bounced me from pillar to post, kicking and laughing and scratching. After a few hours of that, ropes were put on me and I sat that night bound with ropes. Then I was taken to a small room. ... For the next four days, I was beaten every two to three hours by different guards. My left arm was broken again and my ribs were cracked.
They wanted a statement saying that I was sorry for the crimes that I had committed against North Vietnamese people and that I was grateful for the treatment that I had received from them. [...]
I held out for four days. Finally, I reached the lowest point of my 5½ years in North Vietnam. I was at the point of suicide, because I saw that I was reaching the end of my rope.
I said, O.K., I’ll write for them.
He broke. He signed a*statement*confessing that he was a “black criminal” and an “air pirate,” among other things.
“I felt just terrible about it,” he*recalled. “I kept saying to myself, ‘Oh, God, I really didn’t have any choice.’ I had learned what we all learned over there: Every man has his breaking point. I had reached mine.”
That lesson — that torture would eventually make a person willing to confess to anything, whether it was true or not — was one he wouldn’t soon forget.
When he returned home to America in 1973, the then-36-year-old McCain was greeted as a war hero. He met President Richard Nixon. He became a celebrity. And soon after, he launched a political career that would take him to the highest levels of power in the US government.
Unquote
Midpack
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
+1 on both counts. Like someone above said, we’d be better off with more like him in Congress, but evidently a dying breed. Someone like him couldn’t get newly elected these days.
Teacher Terry
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2014
- Messages
- 7,100
They made a documentary about what John and his fellow captives went through including a man called Ernie that they tapped on a wall to communicate. They never met until back in the states. Yes he had integrity.
Having directly dealt with some of the outcomes of Johns policy decisions wrt defense John was sometimes too concerned with process which led to less protection for our fielded troops during the early days of the first Gulf War. For that I have some mixed feelings about his inflexibility.
Right or wrong he did this because he was a man of principal and followed the rules that were established up front and for that I have respect for this man.
I have heard two sides of his time as a POW and don't know which accounting was correct good or bad so I give him the benefit of the doubt again because he was a man of principal in the areas that I had exposure to him
Bottom line, and I AM a very solid conservative is the response that John gave the reporter that was attacking his opponent, Obama in the president election race was that of a total class act. The speech he gave about patriotism and working for the country first - ALWAYS - could not have been closer to my heart and desire for our political system to align with - work for the good of the country, compromise bills but not integrity and the country comes first. For that I have the utmost respect for this politician which you will not hear me say for many on either side of the political fence - God Bless you for finding the center at the right times John McCain
Right or wrong he did this because he was a man of principal and followed the rules that were established up front and for that I have respect for this man.
I have heard two sides of his time as a POW and don't know which accounting was correct good or bad so I give him the benefit of the doubt again because he was a man of principal in the areas that I had exposure to him
Bottom line, and I AM a very solid conservative is the response that John gave the reporter that was attacking his opponent, Obama in the president election race was that of a total class act. The speech he gave about patriotism and working for the country first - ALWAYS - could not have been closer to my heart and desire for our political system to align with - work for the good of the country, compromise bills but not integrity and the country comes first. For that I have the utmost respect for this politician which you will not hear me say for many on either side of the political fence - God Bless you for finding the center at the right times John McCain
Last edited:
Car-Guy
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Sorry to hear about his passing. I "had" a lot of respect for his leadership and usually agreed with his positions except for the past 18 mos or so. If he disagreed with the top dog in his party, he should have worked to find ways to bridge the gap without the noise.
Then I read this morning that Palin was not invited to the funeral. I don't know why, but if that's correct, it just seems wrong.
Then I read this morning that Palin was not invited to the funeral. I don't know why, but if that's correct, it just seems wrong.
Last edited:
easysurfer
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2008
- Messages
- 13,155
Was also surprised to see that Palin was not invited to the funeral? Is invited or not a common thing for funerals? I've always thought, if people show up, they do, if they don't then they don't.
I suppose a list is more common for famous folks instead of regular people. Or maybe I'm just uninformed, which won't be the first time
.
Good to see when there is respect for a politician whether voted for him or not.
I suppose a list is more common for famous folks instead of regular people. Or maybe I'm just uninformed, which won't be the first time
.Good to see when there is respect for a politician whether voted for him or not.
Car-Guy
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I think it may be more of a practice for the rich and/or famous. No worries when my time comes.
- Status
