Thumper
08-01-2016, 10:40 AM
I discussed my disappointment in The Donald in another post, but now I'll lightly defend one of his controversial comments. I mentioned in the other thread how I cringe whenever he makes a "stupid" statement and always wonder if he'll retract it and apologize or admit he was wrong, but he never does either. He just plugs on and remains as popular as ever.
One of those "cringing moments" (for me) came as he made the statement that John McCain was no war hero. The reason I cringed is because I expected a major backlash from his statement. He did receive a ton of criticism, but he pretty much pulled through it and moved on without ever apologizing. What brings me to this point is on Friday we were at Disney. While eating lunch, the couple behind me were arguing ... no, not really "fighting-arguing" ... not even a "heated" discussion really, but let's just say they were in disagreement over what they thought of Hillary and Trump. He was pro-Trump and she was pro-Hillary. I suppose they may as well stay home on election day because all they'll do is cancel out each other's vote. At one point the woman mentioned what a total a-hole Trump was for his statement that John McCain is no war hero. Hubby kind of clammed up after that and offered no argument. I had to bite my tongue not to get involved.
Part of my job while working the Vietnamese Mission back in the day was trying to keep track of our POW's, downed pilots, etc. The intel gathered would be passed on to any SEAL or SF rescue teams or extraction units. etc. To be honest, I really didn't know who John McCain was at the time, although I was pretty much involved in the mission when he was released in '73. I still didn't know him or his name, he was simply one of the POW's released at that time. I never heard the name until one night I was drinking with a couple of buddies. One was an F-4 pilot I'd met during the '72 Christmas Bombings (well, that's what WE called it anyway ... it had various names but I think it was officially called "Operation Linebacker"). Man-o-man, that was a pretty awesome experience and I didn't sleep for 11 days! At the time, I lived in a bungalow right beside the airbase and fighters were taking off every 60 seconds (literally) throughout the campaign. Sleep was an impossibility! But I digress. My other drinking buddy was a CIA pilot with Air America. That night was the first I'd ever heard of McCain. The CIA dude knew him well it seemed. I honestly don't remember if he went to school with McCain, or simply flew with him. Maybe the Air America dude was an ex-Navy pilot. Who knows? Heck, I was in my early 20's and we were doing some serious drinking, so I've forgotten a lot of details, but to be honest, I think the only reason I even remembered McCain's name is because I knew another McCain at the time, so it stuck in my head. I believe the only reason he talked about McCain specifically is because years earlier, his Admiral daddy was going to get him out of the Hanoi Hilton, but he refused to leave. I have no clue how the subject came up, but I believe it was because the CIA dude was flying missions for Air America to rescue pilots who'd been shot down over Laos (back when that was still the "Secret War", which was my mission at that particular time), and during our conversation, we veered off-subject.
It sounded like McCain was a bit of a spoiled brat maybe? Supposedly he really sucked as a flight student, did nothing but party and barely managed to graduate. Then when he started flying, he was a cowboy. He talked about how reckless and dangerous McCain was. In fact, he said he even crashed a few of his planes ... BEFORE being shot down over 'Nam. During the discussion (I just listened), he said there's no way he'd have been shot down the way he was if he'd been following protocol and been a half way decent pilot. He was convinced his lousy flying skills were the reason McCain was shot down in the first place. Needless to say, there weren't a lot of good things said about him. To be honest, I'd pretty much forgotten McCain's name until he got into politics and was on the news. Even then, I wouldn't have recalled the name if it hadn't been for my other buddy named McCain. (we called him Billy Mac)
My point is, even though I'll go along with the "war hero" designation personally (he's still a war hero in my book), maybe Trump isn't totally off base with his opinion. Still, I can't see how it would benefit him by saying what he did. I just can't figure out what makes Trump tick sometimes.
One of those "cringing moments" (for me) came as he made the statement that John McCain was no war hero. The reason I cringed is because I expected a major backlash from his statement. He did receive a ton of criticism, but he pretty much pulled through it and moved on without ever apologizing. What brings me to this point is on Friday we were at Disney. While eating lunch, the couple behind me were arguing ... no, not really "fighting-arguing" ... not even a "heated" discussion really, but let's just say they were in disagreement over what they thought of Hillary and Trump. He was pro-Trump and she was pro-Hillary. I suppose they may as well stay home on election day because all they'll do is cancel out each other's vote. At one point the woman mentioned what a total a-hole Trump was for his statement that John McCain is no war hero. Hubby kind of clammed up after that and offered no argument. I had to bite my tongue not to get involved.
Part of my job while working the Vietnamese Mission back in the day was trying to keep track of our POW's, downed pilots, etc. The intel gathered would be passed on to any SEAL or SF rescue teams or extraction units. etc. To be honest, I really didn't know who John McCain was at the time, although I was pretty much involved in the mission when he was released in '73. I still didn't know him or his name, he was simply one of the POW's released at that time. I never heard the name until one night I was drinking with a couple of buddies. One was an F-4 pilot I'd met during the '72 Christmas Bombings (well, that's what WE called it anyway ... it had various names but I think it was officially called "Operation Linebacker"). Man-o-man, that was a pretty awesome experience and I didn't sleep for 11 days! At the time, I lived in a bungalow right beside the airbase and fighters were taking off every 60 seconds (literally) throughout the campaign. Sleep was an impossibility! But I digress. My other drinking buddy was a CIA pilot with Air America. That night was the first I'd ever heard of McCain. The CIA dude knew him well it seemed. I honestly don't remember if he went to school with McCain, or simply flew with him. Maybe the Air America dude was an ex-Navy pilot. Who knows? Heck, I was in my early 20's and we were doing some serious drinking, so I've forgotten a lot of details, but to be honest, I think the only reason I even remembered McCain's name is because I knew another McCain at the time, so it stuck in my head. I believe the only reason he talked about McCain specifically is because years earlier, his Admiral daddy was going to get him out of the Hanoi Hilton, but he refused to leave. I have no clue how the subject came up, but I believe it was because the CIA dude was flying missions for Air America to rescue pilots who'd been shot down over Laos (back when that was still the "Secret War", which was my mission at that particular time), and during our conversation, we veered off-subject.
It sounded like McCain was a bit of a spoiled brat maybe? Supposedly he really sucked as a flight student, did nothing but party and barely managed to graduate. Then when he started flying, he was a cowboy. He talked about how reckless and dangerous McCain was. In fact, he said he even crashed a few of his planes ... BEFORE being shot down over 'Nam. During the discussion (I just listened), he said there's no way he'd have been shot down the way he was if he'd been following protocol and been a half way decent pilot. He was convinced his lousy flying skills were the reason McCain was shot down in the first place. Needless to say, there weren't a lot of good things said about him. To be honest, I'd pretty much forgotten McCain's name until he got into politics and was on the news. Even then, I wouldn't have recalled the name if it hadn't been for my other buddy named McCain. (we called him Billy Mac)
My point is, even though I'll go along with the "war hero" designation personally (he's still a war hero in my book), maybe Trump isn't totally off base with his opinion. Still, I can't see how it would benefit him by saying what he did. I just can't figure out what makes Trump tick sometimes.