Posted on 07/18/2015 10:16:30 AM PDT by servo1969
Donald Trump escalated his feud with Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain Saturday in a way that probably wasn’t the most politically astute.
Appearing at the 2015 Family Leadership Summit in Iowa, Trump decided to make the case that McCain is not a war hero. Asked by moderator Frank Luntz why he would call a war hero like McCain a “loser,” Trump replied, “He’s not a war hero.”
“He’s a war hero because he was captured,” Trump said sarcastically. “I like people who weren’t captured, I hate to tell you.”
McCain spent five and a half years in a North Vietnamese prison where he was routinely tortured after his plane was shot down during the Vietnam War.
After hearing boos from the crowd, Trump backed off a bit: “Perhaps he’s a war hero but right now he said some very bad things about a lot of people.”
Trump was referring to McCain calling the people who attended Trump’s recent immigration rally in Arizona “crazies.”
“This performance with our friend out in Phoenix is very hurtful to me,” McCain recently told the New Yorker magazine, speaking of Trump’s July 11 rally. “Because what he did was he fired up the crazies.”
The Washington Post reported Friday that Trump is trying to recruit a primary challenger in Arizona to try to defeat McCain in his 2016 re-election bid.
FROM WIKIPEDIA: [McCain’s plane went into a vertical inverted spin.[110] Bailing out upside down at high speed,[111] the force of the ejection fractured McCain’s right arm in three places, his left arm, and his right leg at the knee, and knocked him unconscious.[111][112] McCain nearly drowned after parachuting into Trúc Bạch Lake in Hanoi; the weight of his equipment was pulling him down, and as he regained consciousness, he could not use his arms.[105] Eventually, he was able to inflate his life vest using his teeth.[105] Several Vietnamese, possibly led by Department of Industry clerk Mai Van On, pulled him ashore.[113] A mob gathered around, spat on him, kicked him, and stripped him of his clothes; his left shoulder was crushed with the butt of a rifle and he was bayoneted in his left foot and abdominal area.] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_life_and_military_career_of_John_McCa
He survived being captured and tortured. IMO, he earns our thanks, but that doesn’t make him a ‘hero’ in my book.
Charging the line to give your mates the advantage or time to retreat, pulling a wounded comrade from the field under heavy fire...these are, to me, the heroes.
Unless Juan did anything exemplary (and, from what I’ve read, he did not), the D is right. And, as others have said, a true hero would not milk that fact.
If he loves the military the way he says he does and he wants credit for it, he’ll find himself in a hole with the vets
5.56mm
>>>His arm problem was the result of bad treatment for crash injuries, not torture<<<
I have never seen that said before. My understanding is that the VC hung him from a wall with his Arms behind him.
He has now jumped the shark
EVERYBODY FORGETS!!
Who was that Senator who SINGLE-HANDEDLY KILLED all efforts to bring back the 2/3 of the POWs who never returned home???
Juan McNutt, that’s who!!
AND DON’T EVER FORGET IT!!
YES! That has been reported several times over the years and usually swept under the rug, as it were.
My personal opinion.
McLame was a hero alright......for the Viet Cong......
opinion based on some conversations over the years
I’m no John McCain fan, but what Trump said is pathetic.
The man did five years in the Hanoi Hilton and for that he deserves better.
We can, do, and will disagree with him politically, but everyone who has been a POW has been disparaged by a guy looking to score cheap political points.
There are, what, one or two Republican candidates who put on a uniform? I'm certainly not going to criticize someone who didn't serve, I didn't, but by not serving I think they've waived the right to criticize the service of those who did. Trump can slam McCain for his stand on the issues and his votes in the Senate, but for him to say that McCain wasn't a hero because he was captured is way beyond the pale.
It is too late to ask my dad why, but I remember him saying that many who flew in the same sky as McCain and who spent time the Hanoi Hilton do not consider McCain a hero. Still a dumb thing for Trump to say. The media and supporters of other candidates are all over this.
His nickname while POW was “songbird”. The minute he was shot down they knew who his father was and immediately took him to the best hospital in Hanoi where he can be seen sitting up in the bed smoking cigarettes.
http://www.fourwinds10.net/siterun_data/government/fraud/elections_campaigning/news.php?q=1217103060
A friend of mine, a decorated WWII combat pilot, like to refer to McCain as a “reverse ace” based upon how many planes he lost during the course of his career. My friend had the creds to say that, I certainly don’t !
I just posted something about pilots and former POWs not being of the opinion that McCain was a hero.
Confirms my opinion that Trump is a loud mouthed, pig ignorant jack azz.
That is kind of tone deaf for Trump... but it is Trump being Trump. “No time for losers for we are the champions” — wonder if that will be Trump’s inaugural song?
I agree. A stupid thing for trump to say. He isn’t ready for prime time.
In a back-handed kind of way, Trump is right, even though it’s politically-incorrect to agree with him. Back in the day, Audie Murphy and Alvin York were war heroes. Today, anyone in uniform who winds up in a war zone is a war hero, POW or not.
And apparently Trump would have noting good to say about McCain's cell mates either since he likes people who weren't captured.
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