"Thanks to my prisoner of war experience, I had, as they say in politics, a good first story to sell." From John McCain's 2002 Book, Worth Fighting for.

Oh, He's selling this story alright.

Yesterday, in the Midst of John McCain's personal housing crisis, His spokeperson revealed to the Washington Post that "This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years -- in prison," referring to the prisoner of war camp that McCain was in during the Vietnam War.
So there it is, Grampy wants all you kids off his POW lawn!

Seriously, I am not here to diminish his service or his imprisonment. However -- there is something incredibly unseemly when we are told not to question John McCain's service and yet, time after time, he himself uses it as if it were his, pardon the pun, his personal get out of jail free card. Is he running for president or for the POW in Chief? These are serious questions that need to be asked. How is being a POW relevant to his running for president? Answer: it isn't. It does however, give insight to the kind of person John McCain is, and at this point of his life, nearing 72, it is very important. Not, however for the reasons you may think.

In the past month or so, He used his POW card as a reason he could never be racist:
Then there was his reasoning for his offering up his wife to be Miss Buffalo Chip at the Sturgis Bike Rally:
Sean Hannity defended McCain's infidelity with his first wife ...why? He was a POW.

At the Saddleback Church Forum, John McCain has been accused of not actually being in the Cone of Silence. His spokesperson once again used the POW card:
John McCain must stop using his past as his excuse for his actions of the present.

At a certain point (one that I like to call the point of reaching maturity) a person stops using the things that happened to them in the past as an excuse for their actions of the here and now. Personally, at one point of my life, I wanted (and did) use all of the bad things that happened in my life as an excuse for why I do things 'today'. I was no longer a child, mind you, I was an adult. I wanted to blame all of my character defects on my parents, who had such a nasty divorce and an even more miserable marriage. How nice and easy it would have been to place the blame on someone else for my misery. I was a prisoner of my parents war, in many regards. (hey -- I was a POW TOO! ) I would LOVE to have been able to continue to blame them for all the wrongs in my life. I did for a long time, and at a certain point, I found myself bitter, angry, sad, miserable and wanting revenge on all those that I percieved as having done me wrong. I used my experiences as an excuse for the things I did and for how I acted.

In the end, at that moment of maturity, I realized it wasn't good for me or the people around me. It wasn't good for me to walk around telling people that I was the victim of my parents abusive marriage. I don't diminish my childhood or ignore it, but I don't use it as an excuse for my actions in the here and now. Disturbingly, John McCain does excuse his actions and words in the here and now because of his abusive past, and he actually embraces it as his strength. For John McCain, because he was a POW, he is neither responsible nor accountable for his actions. We are learning that John McCain is actually a man who is bitter, angry, sad, miserable and wanting revenge. That is very discomforting knowing that he running for what is probably the most stressful job in the world -- leader of a nation. John McCain is using his POW card the same way the *ush administration used the 911 card, to quiet us up when we question him. Instead of fear, he is using guilt. Bullies use guilt; bullies use fear. Bullies are the ones who project onto others what they know exists within themselves. He is 72 years old -- and still he blames the world for his misfortune in Vietnam. He expects us to feel bad for him whenever he wants us to.

That can't be good. Will we be expected to forgive him when he presses the button and later explains it away by using the POW card? I think John McCain wants you to. After all, he was a victim.

:peace: and
Raine