John McCain, Vietnam veteran

Remember the 2004 election? Remember how the words “John Kerry, who served in Vietnam,…” were tied together so often that we began to believe he’d changed his name to include the brief biography. He saluted the Democrat convention to wild cheers (a recruit-style salute that would have been corrected by a drill sergeant with memorable adjectives the first day of basic training). We were treated to endless broadcasts of his carefully-scripted recreation of his heroics for which he had carried a movie camera to Vietnam specifically to film.

Well, we all know that was to contrast Kerry’s service to National Guard pilot George W. Bush – to make it seem as if John Kerry had some special gift for defending our country. It turns out that he only had a gift for gaming the military’s system and got out of a 12-month tour in three months so he could rush into his political career. So his three months in Vietnam were worthy of mentioning every time his name was mentioned. In fact, his ultimate downfall came around because he depended so heavily on his three-month stint. And he refused to sign his Form 180.
John McCain, according to his website lists his awards;

His naval honors include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, and the Distinguished Flying Cross..

He also has a world-famous career as a POW for nearly six years, which gets mentioned very little. A Yahoo search turned up more anti-McCain links discrediting his service than honoring it. The only news stories mentioning the link of McCain to the Vietnam war are in relation to his argument with Castro’s corpse.

So why isn’t the media harping on McCain’s service, which certainly trumps Kerry’s three months Barack Obama’s lack of service and Hillary’s attempt to join the Marines (in a totally fictional account) when she was rejected for being a girl.

And then on top of it, Cuffy Meigs (h/t American Pundit) finds that McCain’s sons are currently serving in the war against terror, his youngest a grunt Lance Corporal just returned from Iraq. And that John McCain makes unpublicized visits to the homes of military families. Neptunus Lex gives up updates on another McCain progeny racking up demerits at Annapolis. If John Kerry had sired similar siblings, we’d have been treated to “film at 11” every night.

So how can the media continue to inflict this facade of neutrality in politics on the American public without violent retribution?

Category: Media, Politics, Terror War