John McCain: Make-Believe Maverick (whatever you THINK you knew, it's worse--FAR worse)
John McCain: Make-Believe Maverick
A closer look at the life and career of the candidate reveals a disturbing record of recklessness and dishonesty
"[John McCain] was a huge screw-off," recalls Phil Butler. "He was always on probation. The only reason he graduated was because of his father and his grandfather they couldn't exactly get rid of him." Joey Foley/FilmMagic
At Fort McNair, an army base located along the Potomac River in the nation's capital, a chance reunion takes place one day between two former POWs. It's the spring of 1974, and Navy commander John Sidney McCain III has returned home from the experience in Hanoi that, according to legend, transformed him from a callow and reckless youth into a serious man of patriotism and purpose. Walking along the grounds at Fort McNair, McCain runs into John Dramesi, an Air Force lieutenant colonel who was also imprisoned and tortured in Vietnam.
McCain is studying at the National War College, a prestigious graduate program he had to pull strings with the Secretary of the Navy to get into. Dramesi is enrolled, on his own merit, at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in the building next door. There's a distance between the two men that belies their shared experience in North Vietnam call it an honor gap. Like many American POWs, McCain broke down under torture and offered a "confession" to his North Vietnamese captors. Dramesi, in contrast, attempted two daring escapes. For the second he was brutalized for a month with daily torture sessions that nearly killed him. His partner in the escape, Lt. Col. Ed Atterberry, didn't survive the mistreatment. But Dramesi never said a disloyal word, and for his heroism was awarded two Air Force Crosses, one of the service's highest distinctions. McCain would later hail him as "one of the toughest guys I've ever met."
. . . .
McCAIN FIRST
This is the story of the real John McCain, the one who has been hiding in plain sight. It is the story of a man who has consistently put his own advancement above all else, a man willing to say and do anything to achieve his ultimate ambition: to become commander in chief, ascending to the one position that would finally enable him to outrank his four-star father and grandfather. In its broad strokes, McCain's life story is oddly similar to that of the current occupant of the White House. John Sidney McCain III and George Walker Bush both represent the third generation of American dynasties. Both were born into positions of privilege against which they rebelled into mediocrity. Both developed an uncanny social intelligence that allowed them to skate by with a minimum of mental exertion. Both struggled with booze and loutish behavior. At each step, with the aid of their fathers' powerful friends, both failed upward. And both shed their skins as Episcopalian members of the Washington elite to build political careers as self-styled, ranch-inhabiting Westerners who pray to Jesus in their wives' evangelical churches. In one vital respect, however, the comparison is deeply unfair to the current president: George W. Bush was a much better pilot.
This, of course, is not the story McCain tells about himself. Few politicians have so actively, or successfully, crafted their own myth of greatness. In McCain's version of his life, he is a prodigal son who, steeled by his brutal internment in Vietnam, learned to put "country first." Remade by the Keating Five scandal that nearly wrecked his career, the story goes, McCain re-emerged as a "reformer" and a "maverick," righteously eschewing anything that "might even tangentially be construed as a less than proper use of my office."It's a myth McCain has cultivated throughout his decades in Washington. But during the course of this year's campaign, the mask has slipped. "Let's face it," says Larry Wilkerson, a retired Army colonel who served as chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell. "John McCain made his reputation on the fact that he doesn't bend his principles for politics. That's just not true."
. . . .
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/make-believe-maverick-20081016
MosheFeingold
(3,051 posts)But I met him probably 1,000 times as a lawyer working in mainly the House, but also the Senate.
Every time I met him, he come up to me, shake my hand firmly, and tell me how nice it was to meet me.
First time, I was charmed. 1,000 time I figured out he didn't ever really meet me and it was clear he didn't care because I was a lowly staff member and thus not important enough for him.
This happened, repeatedly, over 20+ years.
ThoughtCriminal
(14,047 posts)MosheFeingold
(3,051 posts)atreides1
(16,079 posts)It's not bad!
montanacowboy
(6,085 posts)and tell me again -- how many planes did he crash????
What was the deal with the first wife? Married Cindy for $$$$$$$$.
This joker is a real loser and should have been in jail for the Keating scandal but again, he skated.
Fuck him.
NastyRiffraff
(12,448 posts)It's long, but informative. I always knew how McCain constantly flip-flops. I'd heard about his temper, but never knew it was as bad as portrayed in this article. The most interesting part was challenging the myth of the brave POW who heroically went above and beyond. There's no question he was badly injured, and for two years (not five and a half) was very badly treated. But so were a lot of other POWs. McCain was the one who ultimately turned his time in Hanoi to his advantage.