Posted on 07/19/2015 4:49:08 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Does Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump owe Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, an apology for demeaning McCain's war record at an event in Iowa Saturday?
"No, not at all," was Trump's answer Sunday in an interview on ABC's "This Week."
At the Iowa Family Leadership Summit, Trump said McCain - who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam - is "a war hero 'cause he was captured."
"I like people that weren't captured, OK?" Trump said.
The comments drew swift and biting condemnation from his fellow candidates and some veterans groups, who called on Trump to apologize.
That's not how the business mogul and reality TV star sees it. He said he didn't refute the idea that McCain is a war hero (though he did say, "he's not a war hero" before modifying his remarks"), and that he was actually being critical of McCain's record on veterans issues.
"I'm very disappointed in John McCain because the vets are horribly treated in this country. I'm fighting for the vets. I've done a lot for the vets," Trump said. He said his fellow candidates were so quick to condemn him because he's been rising in the polls in recent weeks after generating yet another controversy after he called Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
He does not owe an apology for telling the truth.
Speaking of apologies, it’s the MSM who owe Trump an apology. I’ve seen numerous clips of his statement, and each time the clip is cut before he finishes his statement, i.e., that McCain may be a hero. Not one media outlet that I’ve seen has played or shown that portion of it.
George "Bud" Day and Orson Swindle, fellow POWs, told PolitiFact that POWs sometimes were forced to talk when they were tortured, but they tried to tell lies to mislead their captors.
"We were all tortured and we wrote confessions under the pressure of torture," said Swindle, who was a cellmate with McCain and is active in his campaign. "John McCain never collaborated with the enemy. He, like every one of us, submitted to severe torture. John McCain did nothing dishonorable. He was heroic."
[...]
[On the original fliers slandering McCain:]
Day, a Medal of Honor winner who also is supporting McCain's campaign, said the flyer is "the most outrageous f------ lie I've ever heard."
“....he called Mexican immigrants rapists.”
Another MSM lie. He named Illegal Immigrants as murderers and rapists. The Mexican coyotes are the rapists, of course. That is most clearly established.
The USS Forrestal fire canard has also been debunked by FR sailors.
I think the poster was Nuked before you got here but we had one conspiracy poster who swore the USN sank the Kursk and our sub was down as well because it didn't break radio silence. LOL That was one of the guys tamer Tin Foil Follies.
When McCain was running for POTUS a group of retired Naval Officer and other service retired signed a statement of support for McCain. I know for 100% certain fact one of them was in the Hanoi Hilton when McCain arrived. I won't post how I know it but I know the signer was a POW of good reputation. He was a POW a few months longer than McCain.
McCain by some accounts was moved to an outlying prison very near Hanoi after his identity and connection to Admiral McCain was discovered.
If McCain talked so what? Any Keyboard Commando think they could take an Asian POW Camp? You break and dust yourself off and take more. They weren't in a GITMO environment where Geneva Convention rules were honored.
The remarks I've seen on threads are insane. Comments like a good pilot won't get shot down. Other ones more insane like McCain caused the Forestall fire without even checking facts first. That's B.S. lots of great pilots got downed with much higher skills than McCain. If they aren't in range of a possible hit they likely aren't doing their job to start with. He also had to have needed skills to do carrier landings and it takes far above average pilot skills. McCains connections could not have covered a lack of those skills. It's simple. It's either you land or you crash on the flight deck or at best run over the side either/or.
While Trump has said a lot of things needed saying he's quickly becoming his own worse issue. Is he there to change or to do a scorch the Conservatives of the party for the GOP-E?
On the other side of that coin McCain's own remarks about Trump and other conservatives have been more than horrendous. He needs to consider retirement possibly before election time.
If Trump doesn’t want to apologize to McCain,, that’s fine by me,, they have been holding their own private testosterone feud for quite some time,, and I see no reason to step in the middle and insist on an apology from either one of them. This is politics,and not for the thin skinned.
On the other hand, I strongly believe that Trump owes an apology to every POW and POWs family. Of course we do not know the circumstances surrounding each one’s capture,, some may have, indeed, been to foolish error on the part of the soldier,,. But to make a blanket statement Implying they were all at fault is just so WRONG! A real man would step up to the plate and admit his error, beg for forgiveness, and move on. Of course I doubt this is going to happen,, but it’s what should happen. I suspect this issue will not go away until there is an apology.
Sadly, I expect Trump to go third party,, taking Cruz along for the ride,, and single-handedly give us another 4, if not 8, years of Hillary.
I think Cruz is wisely standing by simply waiting things out and pick up the pieces. If he goes third party it won’t be with or on account of Trump but for other reasons. Trump’s past record in supporting candidates and issues is far less than Conservative and Cruz knows that. Trump does worry me though he’s been all over the place politically not just this election but long term wise. I think he’s about to be given a harsh lesson that you can’t run a campaign like a reality show based on shock value. To be honest at this point I have as much trust in him as I do McCain and that was before this incident.
I’m a.vet and I think what Trump said was fine.
Yeah, truth is, they (the pro-communist "Veterans for Peace") were supporting their comrade (Obama) in the 2008 election.
From your link: "Veterans for Peace", a large national organization made up of veterans of every war, from Korea to Vietnam and Iraq, led a protest in the streets of St. Paul against the Republican National Convention. Among the members of Vets for Peace, there is a sizable contingent of Vietnam War vets. So, too, is the man they are demonstrating against: the presumptive presidential nominee John McCain."
IVAW (Iraq Veterans Against the War) is another pro-communist, so-called "peace"/"anti-war" group. They are an offshoot of John Fonda Kerry's pro-communist Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Again they were supporting their preferred candidate in '08 election, communist Obama.
That’s right. They’re commies. And they agree with Trump’s slandering of McCain’s military service.
I’m no fan of Trump. I’m just trying to inform about the true political nature of some of the veterans groups. Like John Fonda Kerry’s ‘Vietnam Veterans Against the War’, there are a few, still today, who are pro-communist, and can be seen attending most of the communist organized so-called “peace” rallies. No true patriot group would ever march alongside these hard left anti-Americans/communists. That fact alone should be a big hint as to to what they really are.
It appears that was the case only when McCain was up against their guy Comrade Obama in the 2008 election. It was only to turn true-blue vets and other true patriots against McCain in order to make it easier for the communist candidate (Obama) to win.
Don't confuse those pro-communist vet groups with guys like the ones in this clip:
John Mccain Exposed By Vietnam Vets And Pow’s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hr37eE0nO8&feature=youtu.be
The pro-commie vet groups only went after McCain to help the pro-communist candidate (Obama) win the '08 presidential election. The true patriot vet groups went after him because they sincerely didn't like the things he did while prisoner at the Hanoi Hilton. They apparently didn't care who he was up against in the 2008 election. They just wanted the truth about him to be told.
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