clifp
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2006
- Messages
- 7,733
I'm an admitted McCain fan but I still find this latest incident remarkably classy, and the NY Times the opposite.
Today's NY Times has a front page story about John McCain youngest son Jimmy, who enlisted in the Marines at age 17 and recently returned from a tour as infantrymen in Iraq's formerly violent Anbar province. It is a very good story and quite positive. I think even who folks who hate the war, and disapprove of a military culture will agree the Jimmy is admirable young man and Senator McCain has gone out of his way to avoid taking political advantage of either of his son's military service. (His oldest son is at Annapolis following in the family tradition.)
The money quote from the Times is here
I am disappointed but hardly surprised by NY Times failure to do the right thing here. This article can do nothing but jeopardize the future safety of Jimmy McCain and just as importantly the fellow Marines in his unit. On the other hand I am proud of the McCain campaign stick to there principals. Pretty much every positive article about Senator McCain not surprisingly finds its way on to his website and/or campaign email list. However, this flattering front page NY Times article has not been mentioned at all.
I do think Chickenhawk and Micheal Moore ambush interviews about having your kids in service are pretty much off the table in this campaign.
Today's NY Times has a front page story about John McCain youngest son Jimmy, who enlisted in the Marines at age 17 and recently returned from a tour as infantrymen in Iraq's formerly violent Anbar province. It is a very good story and quite positive. I think even who folks who hate the war, and disapprove of a military culture will agree the Jimmy is admirable young man and Senator McCain has gone out of his way to avoid taking political advantage of either of his son's military service. (His oldest son is at Annapolis following in the family tradition.)
The money quote from the Times is here
Mr. McCain has largely maintained a code of silence about his son, now a lance corporal, making only fleeting references to him in public both to protect him from becoming a prize target and avoid exploiting his service for political gain, according to friends. At the few campaign events where Lance Corporal McCain appeared last year, he was not introduced.
The McCains declined to be interviewed for this article, which the campaign requested not be published. “The McCain campaign objects strongly to this intrusion into the privacy of Senator McCain’s son,” Steve Schmidt, a campaign spokesman, said in a statement. “The children of presidential candidates in this election cycle should be afforded the same respect for their privacy that the children of President Bush and President and Senator Clinton have been afforded.” (To protect Lance Corporal McCain in case he is again deployed to a war zone, The New York Times is not publishing recent photographs of him and has withheld some details of his service).
I am disappointed but hardly surprised by NY Times failure to do the right thing here. This article can do nothing but jeopardize the future safety of Jimmy McCain and just as importantly the fellow Marines in his unit. On the other hand I am proud of the McCain campaign stick to there principals. Pretty much every positive article about Senator McCain not surprisingly finds its way on to his website and/or campaign email list. However, this flattering front page NY Times article has not been mentioned at all.
I do think Chickenhawk and Micheal Moore ambush interviews about having your kids in service are pretty much off the table in this campaign.