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David Mitchell
A few random stories about John McCain
1) Naval Acadamy.
I heard a story years ago that I cannot seem to validate in my research, but my source was a pretty good one. The Naval Acadamy has many long traditions, one of which is an annual boxing tournament among the "Mid-shipmen". Acccording to this story John McCain made it to quarter or semi-finals in the tournament. He was finally beaten after being knocked down repeatedly. He simply refused to stay down and kept getting back up and kept gettting knocked down, over and over again. The guy he faced was taller, and therefore had longer "reach" as they say in boxing. That same guy went on to win the finals, beating one Jim Webb, another stubborn opponent, who's name we also heard later. The guy who beat these two was one Oliver North. (see correction on next post)
2) The Forrestal Incident.
I have heard this argued back and forth for years. His plane released a bomb that exploded on the crowded carrier deck and caused numerous secondary explosions. The resulting fire killed about 130 men in the mess that ensued. He has been accused of doing this deliberately, but I find that to be so ridicluous that it almost doesn't deserve mentioning. There is even video (black and white - taken from the Bridge cameras) of him jumping out of his cockpit and rolling across the deck engulfed in flames.
Deliberate? I think not. He was stubborn - not criminally insane.
(note: added later - tragic accidents happen all the time in the military - especially during combat. Some happen in more volitale circumstances - like a crowded carrier deck. Some happen in a far off make-shift runway in an unknown part of nowhere, when only a handful of guys are standing around. I was witness to about six or seven of the most bizarre accidents that cost about a dozen lives - actually just on the ground, not while flying the mission - (well, one which I related to some of you a while back) through human error. Accidents so awful you would shake your head and say that could never have happened. But in McCain's case, it happend on a very crowded carrier deck full of bomb laden planes all spaced close together. Similar causes - but very different results!)
3) North Viet Nam Prison ( a "loser who was captured")
Of course, one of the most interesting chapters in McCain's life was his time in prison at the old French "Hoa Lo" Prison ("wha low" - Vietnamese name for a French term meaning "firey furnace", or "hell hole") - which our men came to refer to as the "Hanoi Hilton". (note: even in times of suffering and desperation, always an American joke, or wise crack). And with that story always comes the attatched story of Hanoi Jane's (almost forgotten?) visit to North Viet Nam to accuse all of the prisoners of being "War Criminals" and calling for them to be put on trial. Her visit was apparetnly arranged by one vociferous anti-war American named David Ifshin, who visited Hanoi several times to pronounce his opposition to our war efforts and his solidarity with the North Vietnamese. He was nicknamed "Hanoi Rose" by American troops who heard some of his broadcasts from Hanoi.
As the story goes (I first heard this years ago - and there is precious little documention on the internet) They came to know one another after our prisoners were returned and the War ended. They argued publicly but then ironicaly came together to work on a committe for the benefit of the war torn country and it's poor citizens. Apparently there was a moment when Ifshin saw McCain in person and decided to go up to him and apologize. As he did so, McCain beat him to the punch (to coin a phrase) and turned and apologized to Ifshin first. Long story short - I even read somewhere that McCain gave a eulogy at Ifhsin's funeral. This story has been used both for and against McCain by his allies and detractors for years. Make what you will of it.
4) The first campaign in 2000. Many of you will recall how the Bush group went into the New Hampshire primary knowing that this election was their god-given birthright and a foregone conclusion.
But whoops! John McCain's people did not get the memo and they won New Hampshire! Desperate to get things back to where they were supposed to be, the Bush people launched what has to be one of the most disgraceful campaign tactics in the history of American politics. They quickly formed teams of local phone banks to call all of South Carolina to "remind" them of several things. a) that McCain had an illegitimate black child by another woman (Bridget, a child theyy adopted from one of Mother Theresa's orphanages in Bangladesh), b) That his wife was a drug addict (Cindy had already admitted to recovery from addiction to pain medication), and c) that he was a "Songbird" while in prison, and had "collaberated" with the Enemy and had given away critical information to his captors to avoid the plight of his fellow captives. (Note: He and numerous others eventually broke under the pressure of torture and did give some infomation to the North Vietnamese - but very little of any consequence. In fact, he refused more than once to accept his release - without having to sign the confession - because he knew he would be betraying his fellow prisoners).
When I moved down here in 2002, I was at a party and introduced to a friend of my hosts who was an older man, well known in the community, who told me he was a part of that committee to get those phone calls out and was "proud to do it for my (his) country" to stop McCain. I was stupified! (Welcome back to the South, Dave.)
I recently ended a rather nasty Facebook arguement (with a total stranger - and a "Veteran", so he said) who insists that McCain was a "songbird", and did collaberate wtih the enemy, and was charged by Nixon as a "war criminal" and sentenced to death - then later pardoned by Nixon. I am still unable to grasp this kind of ignorance. Interstingly, it seems to have really taken hold here in South Carolina.
5) McCain - Feingold (2002)
Always the contrarian, McCain attempted to change the way Congress does business, by linking up with Liberal Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin to introduce a bill to limit and control campaign funding (whcih I believe is one of the root causes of our completely broken political system (my own words). It was the "Bi-partisan Campaign Reform Act" (2002). Unfortunately, it was a poorly written bill, but also quite distasteful to many on both sides of the aisle in Congress. It would logically have slowed their "gravy train" - an idea that even drew threats of lawsuits from one Mitch McConnell of the "Commonwealth" of Kentucky. Not only did the bill fail, but if I recall corrrectly, both Senators were promptly taken out behind their respective party's "woodsheds" for a good ol'e fashioned whoopin'. McCain stated many times that (quoting from memory?) "If we can't fix this, we won't be able to fix any of the problems we have in Congress". I couldn't gree more!
But oddly, to his death, McCain remained a recipent of truckloads of donations from some very large and powerful lobbies, one of which was the NRA. This bothers me a great deal, even though I revere the man for that certain heroic part of his service.
John McCain was truly a complex, stubborn, different kind of man.
I'd take a few more of his kind if you please.
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