McCain graduated almost last from his class at Annapolis, was seen by his flying instructors as an abysmal student, but still managed to land one of the most coveted positions in the Navy, aircraft carrier pilot, where he proceeded to crash three navy planes (because he just couldn't fly.) (This doesn't count the other two plane crashes he was in, but did not cause.) Think having a four star general father helped his career?
Plus, he has confused Shia and Sunni at least three times this year.
Clark was valedictorian of his class at West Point, was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford where he obtained a degree in PPE (Philosophy, Politics & Economics), and later graduated from the Command and General Staff College with a master's degree in military science. He spent 34 years in the Army and the Department of Defense, receiving many military decorations, several honorary knighthoods, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom.(Wikipedia)
Clark commanded Operation Allied Force in the Kosovo War during his term as the Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO from 1997 to 2000.
Go Gen. Clark!
22 comments:
Bottom line is that Clark was absolutely right. It is terrible that McCain had to suffer torture in Vietnam, and he was courageous to have endured it without completely capitulating. But being shot down and tortured are in no way qualifications for president. End of story. For the media to make a big deal about this is ridiculous.
I've been saying this for months! Glad someone on tv finally did! Getting my ass kicked at the bar on Saturday night makes me no more qualified to be an expert on crime in my neighborhood than McCain's unfortunate experience. I'm glad to see the Dems getting some balls this voting cycle!
Love your metaphor! But why all the poor widdle McCain handholding after the swiftboating hell that John Kerry ('nother war hero) was put through?
We, here in the US, seemed to be committed to electing slacker republican sons of famous fathers.
As a bonus Bush reference; Prescott Bush (GWB's gfather) was a Senator and a very rich man. McCain's Grandfather was also an Admiral.
McCain and Bush are both third generation slacker son aristocrats. Go US!
thanks for replying to my "slacker" comment before i deleted it.
it's true, we here in the us like to be spoon-fed by the Limbaugh's and Hannintys.
the've told us what we need to know, how to think, no all we have to do is vote accordingly.
blech...i think i am gonna be sick....again.
on the flipside, i was home sick yesterday and i got to read the new Rolling Stone article on Barack Obama. I got the warm fuzzies reading his words.
too bad we wont elect him.
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/21472234
I'm less enamored with Obama than many, but I think he will be elected. I really don't see McCain winning against Obama. There is simply too much resistance to the sort of foreign policy agenda which McCain has openly embraced. Obama may not win in Utah, but he will win the general election (barring any October surprises).
derek, i'm impressed with your optimism.
really, i am.
i like obama. a lot.
but i don't see him winning the vote down in the south and midwest.
if mr. limbaughs new 400M dollar contract is any indication of where the "people" get their news and information...
nope, buddy, we are in for another 8 years of slackassery of the highest order.
I hope you are right derekstaff; however I'm afraid all the "maverick" positioning McCain has been doing will confuse people into believing that he, somehow, has foreign policy positions diffferent than that of Bush.
Sorry you've been sick, M. Hope you're recovering.
Sadly, the U.S. aristocracy is hardly a new phenomenon. We have had few presidents who were not from elite families. At least there are a few Jacksons, Lincolns, and soon Obamas in the mix to shake things up.
four hundred million dollars? I'm in shock. He still has that kind of an audience? Here in Portlandville we're only dimly aware of Limbaugh's existence.
One of the men who should have been one of the worst of the slacker-son aristocratic lot, FDR, turned out to be "a traitor to his class" (as I dimly remember someone saying) and ushered in the policies that, imho, created the thriving middle class that we have today, largely by taxing the crap out of the rich, and using the money to build the infrastructure, now crumbling, that turned us into a superpower. I hate to see Obama run to the middle....
djinn, you didn't hear about his contract?
it's disgusting isn't it?
obviously the "people" are listening and demanding his rhetoric else they wouldn't be shelling out that kind of cash.
Teddy was considered a traitor as well. While I'm never fond of patrician aristocrats, you can't deny that the Roosevelts were pretty decent.
No denying, the popularity of your Limbaughs, your Coulters, your Vannitys, your O'Lielly's, your Savages, your Becks (particularly noxious here in Utah) does not speak particularly well of us. Dumbasses we have in spades in the U.S. But there are plenty of people who may have been blinded by the conservative lies, but who are now beginning to question the Republican dogma.
Either that, or I’m a naive, Polly-Anna-esque fool…
BTW, Djinn, stop rubbing your Portland nirvana in our faces!
;)
djinn,
what happened to your letter?
I read a comment posted about the letter (was it swiftboating?) and felt guilty, so I deleted it. The three plane crashes are an undisputed part of the historical record, so this isn't swiftboating McCain. It's stating the obvious. My dad flew planes for the Air Force. One pilot error crash there would end your career.
"My dad flew planes for the Air Force. One pilot error crash there would end your career."
but not in the navy? i hear ya.
so why do you suppose this(the crashes, his grades, ect) isn't common knowledge to the public?
Got me. Doing my best to inform people. I suspect there's more, too. When someone is used to letting daddy clean up their messes, there tends to be said messes, it seems to me.
..wait.
we are talking about john macain? right?
m
Yes. Eeerily similar to someone else? John McCain's father was Commander in Chief, of the U.S. Naval Forces in Europe in 1967 and 1968, and Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Pacific Command from 1968 to 1972. Sweet, huh?
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