Kudos to John McCain, American Patriot

[Econoline]

It did occur to me to wonder if the US will have any allies left to help us, after the Trump era...

[MajGenl.Meade]

Ignore the truth if you want, but it would be Vietnam all over again and you know it. If we couldn’t defeat the Vietnamese communist there is no way we can beat the Russians. However, there is still time to do something about it but we won’t.

Hi, lib. Could you describe for us the manner in which the almighty Russian military crushed that piddly little insurgency thing in Afghanistan? Obviously, they must have done a lot better than the British and the USA did, given Ivan's vast superiority.

And could you explain your groans of pleasure while contemplating a Russian take-over of the USA and your decision to worship the Kremlin when it occurs? Other people have orgasms while engaged in sexual activity but you seem to have discovered a unique route to self-gratification.

[Big RR]

My point had more to do with McCain's enthusiasm than his actions. Many later repented - John Kerry for example - their actions in VN. AFAIK McCain never did.

Andy--I understand your point, but if I were held prisoner the way McCain was, I might also harbor a lot of resentment against the North Vietnamese and not have seen things the way other vets like Kerry did.

I once worked with a guy who was in a Japanese POW camp until the end of the war. Thirty years later the guy still hated the Japanese, and told me he had calmed down a lot (he once said after he was released he would have felt no guilt in bashing a Japanese baby's head in, but that he didn't feel that way now). But he always said the people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki didn't get even apportion of what they deserved. he didn't talk about it much, but this guy was routinely tortured and often starved by his captors. Obviously, I don't endorse his views, but I can understand them; and i'd bet McCain might have some of the same feelings.

Add to that the effect that admitting you were wrong and suffered all that for essentially nothing (because we shouldn't have been there in the first place) and I further cannot blame McCain for his views, although I don't agree with them.

[Econoline]

Teach your children Russian language and learn to love Putin.

...or maybe not. Not while Trump is pResident, anyway...

COLLUSION! COLLUSION! COLLUSION!!!1!1!!

• • Donald J. Trump ✔
    @realDonaldTrump
    
    Wow, Nellie Ohr, Bruce Ohr’s wife, is a Russia expert who is fluent in Russian. She worked for Fusion GPS where she was paid a lot. Collusion! Bruce was a boss at the Department of Justice and is, unbelievably, still there!
    
    7:54 AM - Aug 30, 2018

ETA: Well, it's good to know that Russia experts are fluent in Russian, anyway.

[Lord Jim]

I see that McCain's 106 year old mother Roberta made it to the ceremony at the Capitol...that caused me to recall a true story about her:

Back when she was in her mid-nineties, she was on a trip to Europe and wanted to rent a car. Despite having a valid driver's license, because of her age no one would rent it to her...

So she bought one...

[Crackpot]

My guess is sometime after all the hoopla Trump will try to get the last word.

[Lord Jim]

McCain is getting nearly a Presidential level send-off, both in terms of the coverage and the A list participants...

A service in Phoenix, followed by lying-in-state at the Arizona capitol, then another ceremony at the US Capitol, followed by lying-in-state in the Capitol Rotunda...

Followed tomorrow by another service at the National Cathedral, (which will feature eulogies by two former Presidents) and a final ceremony at the Naval Academy in Annapolis Md. on Sunday, where he will be laid to rest...

All covered wall-to-wall by all three US cable news channels, (including Trump's beloved Fox)...

Being unable to turn on a cable news station without seeing all this coverage and all the praise and accolades being heaped on the hated McCain must be driving Il Boobce right up a tree...(his normal orange hue has probably turned a bright crimson with rage...)

And I'm good with that...

[Big RR]

My guess is sometime after all the hoopla Trump will try to get the last word.

and it will be highly inappropriate

[Crackpot]

And that has stopped him when?

[Big RR]

Exactly.

[Lord Jim]

My guess is sometime after all the hoopla Trump will try to get the last word.

and it will be highly inappropriate

Where does one go to buy an entry ticket to this Shooting Fish In A Barrel Contest?

[liberty]

Maybe McCain was broken or damaged to some extent by the communist during his captivity and was forced to collaborate, but no one can deny he was a hero. He met the all requirements.

[Lord Jim]

Beautiful service...

It was covered by all the broadcast networks, (except Fox) as well as the cable news channels...

Maybe McCain was broken or damaged to some extent

Except for some enduring physical effects, there was never any evidence of this...

McCain never exhibited publicly (or by all accounts privately either) any of the behaviors or attitudes one would expect of someone who was "broken" or "damaged"...

No bitterness, no self-pity, no insecurity, no paranoia, no pettiness...not a hateful or vindictive bone in his body...(he even played a leading role in restoring diplomatic relations with Vietnam, despite all the cruelty they had inflicted on him...)

On the other hand, I can think of another political figure, one who has never suffered even one moment of notable physical pain, fear for his life, or deprivation of any kind, who exhibits all these symptoms of being "broken" and/or "damaged"...

[RayThom]

Beautiful service...

It was covered by all the broadcast networks, (except Fox) as well as the cable news channels...

I'm still watching it on my local CBS channel. Solemn...humorous...human. My kind of sendoff.

"Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye"... NOT!

[Lord Jim]

I had it on ABC, but after Obama spoke they switched to a college football game...

I've got it on CNN now...


It appears somebody was otherwise occupied:

Trump attacks FBI, Canada, media as McCain motorcade passes White House

As the solemn motorcade carrying the body of Sen. John McCain made its way past the Washington monument Saturday morning, within eyesight of the White House, President Donald Trump was busily churning out a series of tweets attacking the FBI, Department of Justice, the news media and Canada.

Trump made no reference to the senator's passing, even as the luminaries of Washington —including three former presidents — began gathering at the National Cathedral for a memorial service.

Trump, who McCain pointedly declined to invite to the service, began the morning tweetstorm at 7:19 a.m., with a slap at the state of the news media just as Fox, CNN and MSNBC were beginning to roll out their wall-to-wall coverage of the day's events.

Two minutes later, the president took a swipe at Canada, which declined to sign a trade agreement on Friday, saying, "I love Canada, but they've taken advantage of our Country for man years."

More:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/201 ... 172387002/

Nice to see the non-stop stream of bile and poison from the so-called president drowned out for at least a little while...

[ex-khobar Andy]

A useful summary of this complex man in today's Guardian.

[Burning Petard]

I like the piece linked above in the Guardian. McCain and the USA are both complicated. Too much simplification of both from all sides.

snailgate.

[BoSoxGal]

I soaked TWO hankies watching the service, which was perfect.

Meghan‘s speech was heartbreaking. Obama’s was sublime.

[liberty]

Beautiful service...

It was covered by all the broadcast networks, (except Fox) as well as the cable news channels...

Maybe McCain was broken or damaged to some extent

Except for some enduring physical effects, there was never any evidence of this...

McCain never exhibited publicly (or by all accounts privately either) any of the behaviors or attitudes one would expect of someone who was "broken" or "damaged"...

No bitterness, no self-pity, no insecurity, no paranoia, no pettiness...not a hateful or vindictive bone in his body...(he even played a leading role in restoring diplomatic relations with Vietnam, despite all the cruelty they had inflicted on him...)

...

I don’t agree with your description of broken. What you describe does not sounds to me as a normal reaction to abuse. Broken would be submissiveness like the battered woman who accepts her husband’s right to beat her and blames herself for the abuse. That is abnormal, to hate your abuser is normal. Be that as it may I feel sure he did collaborate.

How can I be so sure he collaborated with the enemy? I can feel sure that he collaborated in some way with the enemy because he came back alive. I am not saying I blame him for it because those that did cooperate didn’t survive. I made up my mind not be taken prisoner because I knew I couldn’t do it and might get some else killed in the process.

[Joe Guy]

....Be that as it may I feel sure he did collaborated.

How can I be so sure he collaborated with the enemy? I can feel sure that he collaborated in some way with the enemy because he came back alive. I am not saying I blame him for it because those that did cooperate didn’t survive. I made up my mind not be taken prisoner because I knew I couldn’t do it and might get some else killed in the process.

Your writing is confusing and unless I missed it before you are now accusing McCain of treason. In regards to Lord Jim's explanation of symptoms of being "broken" - He's absolutely right and you're perfectly wrong.

Don't forget to build a bomb shelter if you haven't already. You should store a lot of vodka in it to share with your new co-collaborators...