What I saw was a snow squall compared the the blizzard McCain and the others endured. I stand in awe at how those folks managed to keep themselves together. None of us has a clue about what it was like, and if I still had the capacity for strong feelings, the attacks on McCain’s service would force me to vomit.

I don’t see POW experience as the sole reason someone qualifies for the Presidency either, but it is sure a data point for character, tenacity, military and foreign policy, IMHO.

As far as his age…may be a concern to you and others but I will take his age over Obama’s inexperience and leftist ideas any day…but that’s me.

We agree to disagree.

Thanks for the bantering.

“John McCain served his time as a POW with great courage, loyalty and tenacity. More that 600 of us did the same. After our repatriation a census showed that 95% of us had been tortured at least once. The Vietnamese were quite democratic about it. There were many heroes in North Vietnam. I saw heroism every day there. And we motivated each other to endure and succeed far beyond what any of us thought we had in ourselves. Succeeding as a POW is a group sport, not an individual one. We all supported and encouraged each other to survive and succeed. John knows that. He was not an individual POW hero. He was a POW who surmounted the odds with the help of many comrades, as all of us did.

I furthermore believe that having been a POW is no special qualification for being President of the United States. The two jobs are not the same, and POW experience is not, in my opinion, something I would look for in a presidential candidate.

Most of us who survived that experience are now in our late 60’s and 70’s. Sadly, we have died and are dying off at a greater rate than our non-POW contemporaries. We experienced injuries and malnutrition that are coming home to roost. So I believe John’s age (73) and survival expectation are not good for being elected to serve as our President for 4 or more years.

I can verify that John has an infamous reputation for being a hot head. He has a quick and explosive temper that many have experienced first hand. Folks, quite honestly that is not the finger I want next to that red button.”

full version here:
http://www.military.com/opinion/0%2C15202%2C164859_1%2C00.html

I don’t have any way of knowing 100% what actually happened to McCain other than what he has said…. (and neither do you)

And I don’t care who the US POW was/is….In 99.99999% of cases I am going to withhold my judgment on how they survived it. These people volunteered for the services, the vast majority served honorably, …many times were starved, tortured, beaten, and propanda was rampant….so I will respect the method they used to get through the hell they were in….period.

If Obama had been a POW under the same circumstances and someone on the opposite political aisle was scrounging up lies about his captivity, I would say the same thing…

You know I think you can judge McCain all you want on his policies…you don’t have to be an economist yourself to judge his tax plan…you don’t have to be in the military to judge his defense strategy…etc. (just try to be informed before making decisions)

BUT…unless you have been one, you personally have no way of judging the experience of a POW…period…

And the fact that you now have to call the people around McCain all liars as well…….well, that’s more “proof” of your mindset than McCain’s.

you have no idea who you’re dealing with re: resume ‘embellishment’.

re: senility, try his endless ‘nations don’t invade other nations’ type gaffes. or mixing up the two football teams from the other pow story.

re: swindle he is not telling the truth. he is a paid employee, not a credible witness.

Politco ran a story about McCain’s cross story April the 4th 2008 and Swindle was specifically interviewed on the story.

“I don’t recall us talking specifically about our faith,” says Orson Swindle, one of McCain’s closest friends and a fellow POW. “We talked about our friends, families, our resistance posture, and that our country didn’t seem to have the will to win.”

Belief in a higher power helped them survive the routine torture and daily indignities, Swindle says.

“It would help us endure what we had to endure. But we knew God wasn’t going to come down and wave a magic wand.”

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=1372E056-3048-5C12-00A06112B1C61A64

this is why mccain’s fellow pows all hate him. he exaggerates endlessly.

Obama does have Muslim ties in his past and to this current day within his family. Not exactly proof he’s a Muslim himself, but, in this day and age…not something to be overlooked either.

So, what concrete proof, other than your BDS, liberal fantasies, do you have that McCain has lost his mind and is a chronic liar?

And by the way, let’s not get into the subject of the two candidate’s friends…..Obama has quite a few “choice” friends…Wright, Rezko, Ayers, to name a few.

Your buyer’s remorse is showing….