Comments on: McCain’s POW Email Makes Me Think Twice

By: C Stanley

C Stanley — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 13:39:12 +0000

Was this actually an e-mail message approved by his campaign, or something sent out by a surrogate group that supports him? Sounds more like the latter to me- and that they’re quoting a speech by John McCain where he was talking about the sacrifices made by POWs so that we can have the right to vote- not that he was using that to say that we should vote for him.

IOW, yes, the e-mail uses it to say “vote for John McCain”, but did John McCain say that or is someone else saying it?

By: shaun

shaun — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 12:40:33 +0000

A perfectly legitimate ad. Curious that Mitt Romney isn’t guilt tripping us about fighting France while John McCain was mouldering in a POW camp.

By: Justin Gardner

Justin Gardner — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 03:44:45 +0000

Jaimie, McCain isn’t insane. Save that kind of talk for somewhere else.

Alan, this IS a call to vote for McCain specifically. It says so right at the top. Did you miss that?

By: Alan Stewart Carl

Alan Stewart Carl — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 03:03:29 +0000

I think it’s perfectly legitimate for McCain to remind us that he has a deeper understanding of sacrifice and survival than his opponents. I also think this story is much more in honor of a man McCain himself is awed by rather than a piece of self-promotion.

As for the “right to vote” reference, I imagine when you’re a POW, it helps to believe you’re fighting for a good cause. I don’t want to get into a Vietnam debate but those who believed in the domino theory really did think that stopping the advance of communism in Asia was essential to preventing communism from taking over or at least ruining our freedoms.

Finally, this is a call to vote, not to specifically vote for McCain. You can read opportunism into it, sure, but it’s really just a message saying our democracy isn’t free and we should honor it by voting. I see absolutely nothing wrong or offensive in this email.

By: Jaimie

Jaimie — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 00:14:24 +0000

Uh gee, I wasn’t aware that our aggression, our bombing, our killing of Vietnamese was necessary so that we may vote. WTF? McCain is insane.
Reminds me of the warmongers declaring that we are fighting in Iraq to protect our right of free speech.

By: Agnostick

Agnostick — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:30:23 +0000

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/soapbox/mccain.asp