During the documentary last week, one of the examples of a lost election was John McCain. I thought that making a blog post about McCain would be fitting, considering his recent passing and the comments made by President Trump about McCain. My summary of his experiences is based on his own account, written for US News & World Report.
McCain was shot down over Hanoi, Vietnam, breaking multiple limbs in the process. McCain landed in a lake, and almost drowned multiple times before some North Vietnamese folk came and pulled him out. They then proceeded to beat him, along with a bayonet stab to the foot. In the following days, he endured incredible torture in a prison in the form of denial of medical treatment and beatings. They wanted military information- but every time they asked, McCain simply gave them his name, rank, serial number, and date of birth. Eventually, after realizing that McCain's dad was a "big admiral," the Vietnamese took him to the hospital. In the hospital, McCain was offered the chance to go home. However, McCain said no. He cited the Code of Conduct as his reason- it was a "special favor" for someone to go home earlier. He requested that the American's captured first should go home first, instead of him. McCain knew their motive though- his dad had just taken over as commander of the pacific, and the Vietnamese would look humane if they released the injured son of a top US officer.
The Vietnamese proceeded to torture him, trying to get him to make a statement about how "grateful" for the treatment that they had given him he was. As an aside, this is pretty ironic considering how they were getting him to make this statement. He was being tortured to say he wasn't being tortured.
The rest of his experience is just as chilling and incredible as what I've described. I really recommend reading the whole thing, it's incredible and really changed my perspective on him. I already knew that he was an honorable and principled man, but his experience in Vietnam makes it all the more meaningful.
To relate his experience with his presidential run, I think that his experience makes his loss even more heartbreaking. McCain underwent unimaginable pain and tribulation for his country, sacrificing five and a half years even though he had the chance to just go home. I think that that level of sacrifice for his country is incredible, and likely made the loss of the presidency uniquely hard for him and his supporters.
I think is a great post that raises many interesting points. McCain certainly went through hell and deserves more recognition for what he went through. Trump taking shots at McCain is unbelievable considering he isn't around anymore to defend himself. However, I do think McCain deserved to win the presidency just because he is a war hero. We should determine our president by how we think they will behave in office. This is similar to the recent trend of celebrities pondering running for office. This is very dangerous as the power of celebrity and politics should stay separate.
ReplyDeleteI also thought this was a very interesting post. I started researching on this topic to find out more about John McCain and President Trump and their interactions. While doing this, I found the most interesting and controversial article. Now, I'm not sure how credible this article from theintercept.com is but it basically tore down McCain and refuted all the aspects that many people praised him on. There is no doubt that McCain went through a lot and he definitely is a war hero, however, this article shines light on some of his other aspects. It mentions some sexist, racist, and plain old rude remarks that he has allegedly said. It also makes an odd point that McCain's campaign is a big factor in why Trump is president. I was shocked because Trump clearly strongly dislikes him, but reading further, I noticed it was less about McCain, but more about Palin. The author stated that she's "a woman who thrived on racial and cultural resentment and would later become a leading figure in both the tea party and the 'birther' movement. Sound familiar? Palin, as the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank wrote in 2016, was 'politically, the Mother of Trump.'" Basically, this article is saying Palin walked so that Trump could run. Now once again, I am not saying I agree with this or even that this article is even that credible, I just thought it was very interesting and a cool thing to share.
ReplyDeleteSource: https://theintercept.com/2018/08/27/hold-the-plaudits-john-mccains-2008-campaign-paved-the-way-for-donald-trump/