Political Hippo Circle Jerk - America, farg YEAH!

[SD_Eagle5]

One of the reasons I respect McCain. I used to love it when they'd show the USS Forrestal disaster underway. I'm voting Obama but at least McCain has walked the walk between almost dying on the Forrestal and being a POW for 18 months.

[Diomedes]

I repeat:  if Obama is nominated I will donate money to him and vote for him.

If not, I won't vote.  McCain isn't half as bad as Bush.  If it ends up being him or Hillary, I don't care.

[Diomedes]

to clarify:  I'll vote for the other contests in play that day...but omit a vote on the presidential line

[rjs246]

Obama gets the write-in from this guy even if Hillary gets the nomination. In fact I'll take even greater pleasure in wasting my vote if he somehow loses the nomination...

[Rome]

Hillary takes it balls deep.

[Diomedes]

all women take it balls deep

[Seabiscuit36]

Mccain was a badass if you read about being captive, and the Forrestal. 

[shorebird]

from Wikipedia:

John McCain's capture and imprisonment began on October 26, 1967. He was flying his 23rd bombing mission over North Vietnam, when his A-4E Skyhawk was shot down by a missile over Hanoi. McCain fractured both arms and a leg, and then nearly drowned when he parachuted into Truc Bach Lake in Hanoi. After he regained consciousness, a mob attacked him, crushed his shoulder with a rifle butt, and bayoneted him; he was then transported to Hanoi's main Hoa Loa Prison, nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton".

Although McCain was badly wounded, his captors refused medical care, instead beating and interrogating him to get information. Only when the North Vietnamese discovered that his father was a top admiral did they give him medical care and announced his capture. His status as a POW made the front pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post.

McCain spent six weeks in the Hoa Loa hospital, receiving marginal care.[36] Now having lost 50 pounds (23 kg), in a chest cast, and with his hair turned white, McCain was sent to a different camp on the outskirts of Hanoi[45] in December 1967, into a cell with two other Americans who did not expect him to live a week. In March 1968, McCain was put into solitary confinement, where he would remain for two years.

In July 1968, McCain's father was named commander of all U.S. forces in the Vietnam theater. McCain was immediately offered early release. The North Vietnamese wanted a worldwide propaganda coup by appearing merciful, and also wanted to show other POWs that elites like McCain were willing to be treated preferentially. McCain turned down the offer of repatriation; he would only accept the offer if every man taken in before him was released as well.


In August of 1968, a program of severe torture began on McCain, at the same time as he was suffering from dysentery, and McCain made an anti-American propaganda "confession". He has always felt that his statement was dishonorable,but as he would later write, "I had learned what we all learned over there: Every man has his breaking point. I had reached mine." His injuries left him permanently incapable of raising his arms above his head. He subsequently received two to three beatings per week because of his continued refusal to sign additional statements. Other American POWs were similarly tortured and maltreated in order to extract "confessions" and propaganda statements,[41] with many enduring even worse treatment than McCain.

McCain refused to meet with various anti-war groups seeking peace in Hanoi, not wanting to give either them or the North Vietnamese a propaganda victory.From late 1969 on, treatment of McCain and some of the other POWs became more tolerable. McCain and other prisoners cheered the B-52-led U.S. "Christmas Bombing" campaign of December 1972 as a forceful measure to force North Vietnam to terms.

Altogether, McCain was held as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for five and a half years. He was finally released from captivity on March 14, 1973.

How can anyone go through that and still remain a functioinal human being, I don't know. They don't come any tougher than Mcain. I respect the hell outta' the man, but don't know if I can vote for him to be our next president. If he gets elected, we are going to be in Iraq for a long, long time.

[Cerevant]

I'm more than happy to concede the point that McCain is a badass.  Now, when the world considers the US an arrogant bully, do you think putting a badass in office is going to improve our foreign relations?

[shorebird]

I'm more than happy to concede the point that McCain is a badass.  Now, when the world considers the US an arrogant bully, do you think putting a badass in office is going to improve our foreign relations?

My point exactly when saying I don't know if I could vote for him. You might not have seen that, as I had the quote past my comment. I fixed it. As long as we are in Iraq, foreign relations are going to suck, no matter who is in office.

I would never vote for Clinton, and I'm still unsure about Obama. This election doesn't give you much to choose from.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

This election doesn't give you much to choose from.

Welcome to American politics.

Obama's about the best you'll ever get.  Too bad he's basically a Socialist, and we have a country full of lazy bums.

[Diomedes]

Funny, McCain suffered the same kind of treatment the U.S. has been employing on so-called terrorists.  Ah, the circle of life.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Well, he suffered it first, so this is the retribution?

Although, they're doing it to Arabs now, so now the Arabs have to torture the Vietnamese to be square?


Anyway, keep an eye on McCain's VP closely.  At this point, that choice could very well decide this race, especially since he's like 80 in real years after taking all those beatings.

[MadMarchHare]

Obama is a good guy, but too green.
Hillary is a miserable, useless farging funhole.
Both would essentially eliminate my ability to earn a living.

McCain is, unfortunately, my best option.  Until he chooses Huckabee to be his running mate.  Then I'm farged no matter what.

[Geowhizzer]

I agree with FF that the Republican VP nominee is of great interest, because the chances of McCain dying within four years are just too great.