Bushwacked beyond belief

Just before the South Carolina Republican primary in 2000, John McCain and George W. Bush were being interviewed by Larry King on CNN. McCain had won a 19-point victory over Bush in the New Hampshire primary the week before and if the Arizona senator could take South Carolina, the race would likely be over. Not so fast. Bush’s people, led by Karl Rove, unleashed viscous attacks on McCain, with phone calls, flyers, leaks to the media and other “whisper campaign” tactics that said that the Vietnam War hero, who spent more than five years in captivity in Hanoi, was a traitor who gave information to his captors and was a spy for the Soviets, that his time as a POW had broken him psychologically, that he was gay, that his wife was a drug addict and that he fathered a mixed-race child out of wedlock.

When McCain brought up Bush’s dirty campaign in the Larry King interview, Bush responded that he had nothing to do with it and that he didn’t appreciate McCain impugning his character. Then came the moment when, I believe, McCain lost the election. He should have, at that instant, fired back with fury in defense of his reputation and in the face of Bush’s lies. (People like that. Remember Ronald Reagan saying, "I paid for that microphone," at one of the debates.) Instead, McCain laughed nervously, allowing Bush to appear to be the candidate sticking up for his good name. Soon after, McCain lost South Carolina and his race was over.

I was thinking of McCain because he was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last week. It was his tenth appearance on the program and, just like the other times I’ve seen him on there, he was funny and straightforward, clearly not reading from talking points, not on guard to avoid saying something he’d regret. I don’t agree with McCain on most issues, especially the invasion of Iraq. However, he does seem to be more honest than most politicians, speaking more from his gut. Personally, he seems like a good guy, and when reading the story of his military service you can’t help but see that he is a hero. You also can’t help but feel disillusioned by the fact that the Republicans nominated Bush instead of him, and that the Administration failed to listen to him on the issue of torture, which he knows about first hand.

A US Navy pilot, McCain was almost killed in the summer of 1967 when an accidentally-fired rocket hit the fighter plane he was preparing to launch from the deck of an aircraft carrier. McCain jumped off the aircraft onto the burning deck of the ship seconds before ordnance on the plane exploded, killing 132. Three months later, McCain was shot down over enemy territory, breaking both arms and a leg. An angry mob then crowded around, kicking him and spitting on him.

At the infamous “Hanoi Hilton” prison McCain was interrogated, beaten and tortured daily, but when it was discovered that his father was the admiral in charge of all American military personnel in Vietnam, McCain was offered the chance to be released. He refused special treatment, telling his captors that he would not go unless every man taken prisoner before him was set free as well. Instead of being held for months, McCain was a POW for more than five years. As a result of his torture he cannot lift his arms over his head. He was finally released in 1973 (see photo of President Nixon greeting McCain as he returned to the US) and retired from the military in 1981, having received a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, the Legion of Merit, the Purple Heart and a Distinguished Flying Cross.

Where was George W. Bush while McCain refused preferential treatment and was tortured instead? He was receiving preferential treatment in the Texas Air National Guard, forgetting to show up and getting soused instead. It’s a travesty, made all the more depressing by Bush’s enthusiasm for heading blindly into war in Iraq and then compiled by his supporters twisting and ridiculing the military record of another war hero, John Kerry -- a guy who was not drafted but signed up out of a sense of duty, served nobly and then came back and spoke honestly, publicly and intelligently about the American effort in Vietnam.

And, by the way, that mixed-race child that South Carolina voters were warned about? It's a girl that McCain and his wife adopted from an orphanage in Bangladesh that was founded by Mother Theresa.