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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: 59061
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 # 78.
#1. To: A.K. Stone (#0)
'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. 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. That's your boy. You must be so proud of him.
I don't consider McCain a war hero. I consider him a POS. Just because you get captured doesn't make you a hero. It has added to my knowledge of you that you consider John McCain a hero. Trump is right.
You notice with the exception of one, the absence from this thread of the many who usually condemn McCain at every possible instance. Naturally, if they now come on and admit that McCain is no war hero….then they will be admitting Trump is right. Of course, they will never-never admit Trump is right….about anything. What a wussy bunch of candy assed hypocrites…
Of course Trump is right - McCain is not a war hero. However it seems somewhat hypocritical of him to throw stones from his glass house on this issue having never served in the military himself.
So, are you saying that no one that has ever been in the military can be truthful about McCain? They can say nothing?
When someone like Trump finds a winky, winky BS rich guy way to evade the draft, no he doesn't have any standing to critize the war record of anyone that honorably served when called - especially those that suffered unspeakable abuse at the hands of the enemy as a prisoner. I am not a fan of McCain. I thought that he was a terrible choice to represent the REP as it presidential candidate. But he answered the bell and put himself in harms ways when he easily could have gotten a much safer assignment given that both his father and grandfather admirals (I believe both 4 star). The story, whihc no-one has challenged is that McCain was badly wounded from ejecting from his plane when shot down, his captors refused to treat his injuries, beating and interrogating him to get information. He was then given medical care only when the North Vietnamese discovered that his father was a top admiral. He almost assuredly could have recieved preferential treatment had he cooperated with the enemy but he didn't. In fact he spent the last couple of years in captivity in solitary confinement. I don't know about you but I'd called that herpic. What did Trump do in the war? You BS arm chair patriots make me puke when you pull crap like this.
I will challenge the story and I will tell you why. I had friends who were shot down over Nam. Some were picked up by the “Jolly Green Giant.” One was shot while evading, as witnessed by the air cover. One was in Laos for a number of years and was almost missed in the repatriation. Another one was shot down over Hanoi ended up in the Hanoi Hilton. There but the Grace of God…. So, I will call not of their actions “heroic.” I simply say “there were doing their job. I have no doubt that each and every one of those individuals would say the same thing, if asked. Back to McCain, the “war hero who was tortured” - Two former POWs, Air Force Colonels Ted Guy (awarded the CMH) and Gordon “Swede” Larson, told the Phoenix New Times in 1999 that they doubted McCain was tortured or harmed while a prisoner. Both Guy and Larson were senior ranking officers in McCain’s POW camp at a time he claims he was in solitary confinement and being tortured. “Between the two of us, it’s our belief, and to the best of our knowledge, that no prisoner was beaten or harmed physically in (the Plantation),” Larson stated. “My only contention with the McCain deal is that while he was at the Plantation, he was not physically abused in any way. No one was in that camp.” 1
Of course they wouldn't but I certainly would.
#99. To: SOSO (#78)
Then you are merely stating an unqualified personal opinion, which of course you are entitled to do. I respect that, but I prefer to listen tp someone "who has been there and personally knows people who have done that."
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestDonald 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.'
#3. To: SOSO (#1)
#14. To: A K A Stone (#3)
Trump is right.
#18. To: Gatlin, A K A Stone, SOSO (#14)
Naturally, if they now come on and admit that McCain is no war hero….then they will be admitting Trump is right.
#21. To: Deckard, A K A Stone, SOSO (#18)
However it seems somewhat hypocritical of him to throw stones from his glass house on this issue having never served in the military himself.
#34. To: Gatlin, Deckard, A K A Stone, cranky, nativist nationalist, misterwhite (#21)
So, are you saying that no one that has ever been in the military can be truthful about McCain? They can say nothing?
#75. To: SOSO, Deckard, A K A Stone, cranky, nativist nationalist, misterwhite (#34)
The story, whihc no-one has challenged is that McCain was badly wounded from ejecting from his plane when shot down, his captors refused to treat his injuries, beating and interrogating him to get information. He was then given medical care only when the North Vietnamese discovered that his father was a top admiral. He almost assuredly could have recieved preferential treatment had he cooperated with the enemy but he didn't. In fact he spent the last couple of years in captivity in solitary confinement. I don't know about you but I'd called that herpic.
As a POW, willingly provided so much intelligence – admittedly, bits of it false – and co-operated so extensively with the North Vietnamese in exchange for favorable treatment over a three-year period that his fellow prisoners at the Hanoi Hilton gave him the derisive nickname “Songbird.” In propaganda aimed at the US, the North Vietnamese even used his nickname in a news release about McCain, not understanding it was an insult given him by prisoners who were disgusted by his behavior.
#78. To: Gatlin (#75)
So, I will call not of their actions “heroic.” I simply say “there were doing their job. I have no doubt that each and every one of those individuals would say the same thing, if asked.
Replies to Comment # 78. Of course they wouldn't but I certainly would.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 78.
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