If you aren't listening to the P.O.T.U.S '08 channel on XM radio, you are really missing out. It's nonstop election coverage, 24/7. Everything from analysis, to speeches, to campaign conference calls. Today, they even had some schmuck named Brandon Friedman on.
I tuned into a John McCain conference call today while driving to the grocery store. Predictably, the call was no more than a reaction to General Wesley Clark being brave enough to point out that McCain's military service, in and of itself, does not qualify him to be President. Of course, the McCain "Truth Squad" mischaracterized General Clark's comments as an attack on the Senator's service, even though General Clark specifically noted that McCain was a hero of his.
What really caught my attention, though, was the name of Colonel Bud Day. Colonel Day, like John McCain, is a war hero. He spent several years sharing a prison cell in Hanoi with Senator McCain and was awarded the Medal of Honor. He appeared on the call as part of the "Truth Squad" to distort General Clark's comments. He also released a statement in support of the Senator:
Going 'downtown' to Hanoi was absolutely the most dangerous enterprise anyone could be involved in, in 1967. It was the most heavily defended city in the world and no one who had been downtown, no one who had been in a Vietnamese prison, no one who fought combat in Vietnam will ever question John McCain's warrior credentials. This backhanded slap against John of not being a worth y warrior because he just got shot down is one of the more surprising insults in my military history.
General Clark of course did not attack McCain's "warrior credentials" or call him an "unworthy warrior". He challenged his Presidential credentials and suggested that being a "worthy warrior" does not alone make him worthy to be President.
Colonel Day's name may sound familiar to you for another reason. Watch this video, specifically the 38 second mark:
That's Colonel Day appearing in a deplorable Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad that was run against Senator John Kerry in the 2004 Presidential campaign. The ad was later proven to be false.
Just after Colonel Day, you'll see Commander Paul Galanti. What's notable about Commander Galanti? First of all, according to his own website, Commander Galanti chaired McCain's 2000 election campaign in Virginia. Commander Galanti also released a statement for the McCain campaign distorting the comments of General Clark:
It is clear that Barack Obama, by allowing his campaign to attack the service of John McCain, will say and do anything to get elected.
Once again, General Clark never attacked Senator McCain's service. See for yourself:
I'm beating a dead horse that has been beat plenty on this site already, but it is a point that needs to be made. General Clark even went as far as calling McCain one of his heroes and never once came close to attacking McCain's service. We all here have served, yet how many among us have had the necessary experiences and possess the requisite knowledge to be President of the United States (disclaimer: do not use the previous eight years in making this judgment)?
Now here is the kicker: these two war heroes, and war heroes they are, who openly lied about and attacked the service of John Kerry and who are now attaching themselves to the hip of Senator McCain were condemned by the same Senator McCain in 2004:
"I deplore this kind of politics. I think the ad is dishonest and dishonorable," McCain told the Associated Press.
"As it is, none of these individuals served on the boat (Kerry) commanded. Many of his crew have testified to his courage under fire. I think John Kerry served honorably in Vietnam. I think George Bush served honorably in the Texas National Guard during the Vietnam War.
"It was the same kind of deal that was pulled on me," he said, referring to accusations from Bush surrogates during the 2000 GOP primary fight that McCain had betrayed veterans.
McCain is supporting Bush's re-election and is serving as the president's campaign chairman in the senator's home state of Arizona.
McCain said he hoped that President Bush had no role in "such a cheap stunt" and urged the Bush campaign to condemn the ad.
John McCain, Bud Day and Paul Galanti are all war heroes. As is General Clark who returned from Vietnam after receiving four bullet wounds. The difference is that while General Clark reasonably questioned a political candidates ability to lead a nation, John McCain welcomed into his flock two dishonest, deplorable political operatives who he previously described as "dishonorable".
"The welcome mat for memoirs by veterans of operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom might never wear out so long as they write with the savvy of Brandon Friedman . . . Friedman's take is vivid, frank, precise and dramatic."--Military Times
"Add Brandon Friedman's The War I Always Wanted to the ranks of outstanding non-fiction produced by officers from elite combat units in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Always truthful, often excruciatingly so, The War I Always Wanted rises at numerous points to the level of literature."--Steven Pressfield, author of Gates of Fire
"A Time To Lead confirms the rewarding benefits of military service at a time when such service is experiencing considerable strain. It also includes a comprehensive description of America's current national imperatives, which deserve serious consideration."--General Alexander M. Haig, Jr., former Secretary of State
"This is a primer on leadership forged in battle and by decades of experience. . .This isn't just a book; it's a manual for leading people and living a good life."--Barry McCaffrey, General, USA (ret.)
"Whip smart, sassy, with a mouth as foul as a sailor's, 28-year-old Sergeant Kayla Williams. . .tells what it's like to be a female soldier in Iraq."--Booklist
". . .echoes military memoirists from Julius Caesar to Ernie Pyle."--Publishers Weekly
". . .a shocking, on-the-ground view of one military woman's experience in Iraq."--Bookmarks Magazine
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