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Title: Trump creates outrage in Iowa claiming that John McCain wasn't a war hero because he was a captured POW – and dodges questions about his own Vietnam War draft deferments
Source:
Daily Mail Online
URL Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art ... all-half-field-stays-home.html
Published: Jul 18, 2015
Author: David Martosko, US Political Editor
Post Date: 2015-07-18 13:59:06 by cranky
Keywords: None
Views: 59043
Comments: 201
Donald Trump escalated his feud with Sen. John McCain on Saturady in Iowa by suggesting only his capture and five years as a prisoner of war turned him into a 'war hero.' 'He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured,' Trump said on stage at the Family Leader Summit in Ames. McCain spent years in a Viet Cong prison after the plane he was flying was shot down over Hanoi in October 1967.He was tortured enough to produce permanent physical disabilities. Trump got student and medical deferments and never served in uniform. He told reporters after his speech that a bone spur in his foot led to the medical exemption from the draft. Asked which foot had disqualified him, he couldn't remember. 'You'll have to look it up,' Trump said dismissively. 'It's in the records.' Rick Perry, the former Texas governor who is running 10th in an average of national polls, immediately called for Trump to quit his presidential campaign. ANGRY: Trump attacked Sen. John McCain and said the only reason he is considered a war hero is his capture and imprisonment as a POW during the Vietnam War. NOT A HERO? Sen. John McCain spent more than five years in a North Vietnamese prison after his plane was shot down durign the Vietnam War WALKING WOUNDED: McCain's torture left him disfigured and permanently damaged 'I respect Sen. McCain because he volunteered to serve his country,' Perry said in a statement. 'I cannot say the same of Mr. Trump.' 'His comments have reached a new low in American politics. His attack on veterans make him unfit to be Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces, and he should immediately withdraw from the race for President.' Trump focued considerable rhetorical artillery on McCain Saturday, mocking his bona fides on military and veterans issues: 'He graduated last in his class at Annapolis,' he claimed. 'Well, second-to-last.' In a press conference following his speech, Trump backtracked a few inches about prisoners of war. 'If somebody's a prisoner, I would consider him a war hero,' he said. 'But her have lots of heroes who wersn't prisoners. The billionaire's tussle with McCain began after he drew a reported 15,000 people to a campaign event in Phoenix to talk about illegal immigration. McCain, a proponent of comprehensive immigration reform, called his audience 'crazies.' Trump responded that the GOP's 2008 presidential nominee was a 'dummy.' In an emailed statement to DailyMail.com, Trump said after his press conference: 'I am not a fan John McCain because he has done so little for our Veterans and he should know better than anybody what the Veterans need, especially in regards to the VA.' 'He was extremely disrespectful to the thousands upon thousands of people, many of whom happen to be his constituents, that came to listen to me speak about illegal immigration in Phoenix last week by calling them "crazies",' Trump carped. 'These were not "crazies" – these were great American citizens.' 'I have great respect for all those who serve in our military including those that weren’t captured and are also heroes,' he insisted. Republicans auditioned all day for Christian conservatives, parading their bona fides in the nations' first presidential primary state. But not everyone searching for votes showed up. The cattle-call brought nine of the Republican Party's 15 declared presidential candidates to a single stage, less than a day after Democrats did the same thing – with all five of their White House hopefuls – a two-hour drive to the east. The Christian-right sponsoring group, The Family Leader, attracted mostly the candidates from the conservative end of the GOP spectrum. Led by political kingmaker Bob Vander Plaats, the group wields outsize influence in the Hawkeye State whenever Republicans barnstorm through during the run-up to the quadrennial Iowa caucuses. The $10 billion man was otherwise a crowd favorite in Ames, Iowa, speaking about his religion before a group of Christian conservatives Donald Trump's childhood church was First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, Queens, New York City. He said he was in church just last week Anti-abortion politics were visible in Ames, Iowa on July 18, 2015 at the Family Leader summit, a gathering of Republican presidential candidates hosted Missing in Ames was the Republican front-runner Jeb Bush, the sometimes-moderate New Jersey governor Chris Christie and the usually moderate former New York governor George Pataki. Nowhere to be found were senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Rand Paul of Kentucky. Paul's libertarian brand of Republicanism, makes some religious conservatives wary. Carly Fiorina, the GOP's only female While House contestant, also didn't make the trip. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, the day's first candidate-speaker, wrapped up his time on stage in a Q&A with pollster Frank Luntz by asking if he could read aloud from a book. 'It's a Bible,' he said, drawing wild cheers from the audience. He read from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 12, verse 48: 'From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded' – explaining it as a parable about America's global primacy and its obligations to keep its people, and the world, safe. Rubio blasted the Obama administration's recent nuclear bargain with Iran, calling it 'a complete sham.' He also castigated the president for sidestepping the role of Islam in global terror. 'It's not radical Presbyterian terrorism,' he said. 'It's radical Islamic terrorism. ... We have to target them militarily in their safe havens.' Abortion politics were visible both outside and inside the event venue in Ames, Iowa. Sign-wavers pointed to right-wing outrage over a surreptitious video that showed a Planned Parenthood medical doctor describing how she tailored her abortion procedures in order to preserve fetal body parts for human biologics companies. Outrage over an undercover video sting of Planned Parenthood brought anti-abortion Iowa Rep. Steve King kicked off the day with anger over 'that in-quotes "doctor"' whom he said was killing 'babies that could be viable outside the womb. It is sickening to watch.' Seizing on the political moment as a springboard for new laws tightening abortion restrictions, Knig said: 'This is our chance.' Also in evidence was a lingering resentment over this month's stunning Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex weddings nationwide. 'Marriage = 1 [man] and 1 [woman],' a projected image declared above the stage as the crowd filed in, using icons to represent male and female. 
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 137.
#120. To: cranky (#0)
To be captured means to be a hero!
The press is not used to candidates hitting back hard. McCain called Trump's supporters "crazies". Trump was not going to let that stand, so he said that being a POW does not make one a "war hero". He's right. It's just that you're not supposed to say that. Fine. Then don't call Trump's supporters "crazies". Quite frankly, I want a guy like that as President. I think this country needs a guy like that as President.
Being shot down doesn't make you a war hero. It means you're unlucky. If we want to say that every soldier who serves in wartime is a "hero"...well, hell, the society calls cops and firemen "heroes" just for being. It's just blah-blah. Benedict Arnold was a great general at one point. What he did later tainted that to the point that it doesn't matter. McCain hasn't sullied himself the way that Arnold did. McCain's military service was a long time ago. He went to Annapolis, but so did I. He flew for the navy off of aircraft carriers, in a war, but so did I, in two wars actually. He got shot down and bailed out. I flew helicopters, so had I been shot down there would have been no bailing out, just a quick fall and a very, very hard landing. He was shot down, which was unlucky. He was injured in the bail out, which was unlucky. The enemy did not treat him gently with his wounds. but treated him roughly, which meant that his wounds caused him immense pain. This is very unlucky, and does not show the enemy to have been very civilized. But consider: McCain and I went to Annapolis, flew planes off our carriers, were in wars. He was involved in the destruction of three aircraft - very unlucky. I never scratched the paint on one - and I had some emergencies. Therefore, I am more qualified to be President of the United States, and US Senator, than he is? Really? No, not really. Military service decades ago is irrelevant to qualification for any office. It looks good, and people feel that it's more important than it is. What matters is what you think, what you do, your heart, your honesty, your integrity. McCain was a bully who cheated on the wife that waited for him, treated her horribly, dumped her, and married a rich woman. So did Gingrich. Those aspects of character are important, because they go do honesty, and they go to how a person will really behave when he WANTS SOMETHING, badly. Will he break vows and abuse people to get what he wants? That is a much better measure of a man's character: the guy who puts down the drink and says "You're beautiful, but I've gotta go home" and who doesn't stick his dick in the hottie because he can and dump the wife and kids. That sort of character matters a whole lot more in terms of passing the moral test of Washington - where temptations abound - then the fact that you wore a spiffy uniform and flew airplanes in danger. We should recall that in his country, Hitler was a "medal of honor" winner - he won the Knights Cross in World War I, a rarity for an enlisted man. The fact that he was a war hero, certified and bemedalled, was of immense value to him politically as he rose: people glom onto military glory and praise it. That didn't work out so well. McCain had a less praiseworthy military career than I did, or than Hitler for that matter. Hitler won the Knight's Cross in World War I, a gruelling affair in which he was injured. McCain got a lesser award for surviving getting shot down in a rice paddy. Hitler was the greater military hero. Did that make for a good political leader? Not exactly. He got into Annapolis because he was an Admiral's son. I was nobody. He graduated second to last. I graduated with honors. He wrecked three aircraft. I didn't wreck any. We both flew in war, and I had more qualifications: I drove ships as well as flying aircraft, being "dual designated". You all know me from this board, and a great number of you really dislike me. If McCain's military service qualifies him to lead you, then mine qualifies me more. I know that's ridiculous. My service doesn't qualify me to do anything other than fly what are now old planes and helos, and drive old ships. McCain is the same. Being a Prisoner of War was really unlucky, and one can be happy he made it out. But I was at Ground Zero that day and made it out of something too. Does that qualify ME for leadership over you? No. And nothing McCain did in the military qualifies him to lead either. His raging temper, alcoholism, sense of entitlement, and adultery are all examples of the poor judgment and poor personal control in his life that are reflected in the poor judgment he brings to politics. My better judgment in personal life DOES make me more qualified to be President of the United States and US Senator than McCain. But I'm not vainglorious the way he is, and I didn't dump my first wife for a rich woman to enable a political life, like he did. And others. McCain's a jerk. That he flew planes once upon a time is a recormmendation for nothing. I did too. So what?
Good post, in fact it's an excellent post. I take exception to nothing and I can't add anything.
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#123. To: A Pole (#120)
"To be captured means to be a hero!"
#130. To: misterwhite (#123)
(Edited)
#137. To: Vicomte13, misterwhite (#130)
Replies to Comment # 137.
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