The new political test is how patriotic are you and are you patriotic enough. TIME magazine’s lead story was all about “patriotism”; the liberal kind and the conservative kind; Obama kind and McCain kind.
I find the whole subject matter pretty silly but obviously, each candidate is taking it very seriously and spending a lot of time and money trying to show the electorate just how patriotic they really are.
I find this whole matter an insult to the intelligence of this country but I may be proven wrong since it appears to be a powerful subject and a vote getter. Obama has been doing ads where all he says is how proud he is of being an American. McCain just sits back and rests on the fact that he was a soldier and that to him means the ultimate patriotic position - I disagree.
Recently, General Wesley Clark was completely taken out of context (probably by FOX) and shown to be saying that flying over Vietnam, being shot down and imprisoned for five years does not give you the qualities and experience to be president.
He was not demeaning McCain’s military record, he was answering a question. He smartly went on all the networks to defend himself saying how much he respects McCain’s military sacrifice; he himself was shot four times and returned home on a stretcher. Clark was a captain commanding an infantry platoon.
What he was saying is that he went on from there to higher commands and decision making roles that made him valuable to the military and a bonus for political office (he wants to be vice-president).
The fact that he was attacked as unpatriotic for saying something he did not really say just pisses me off. The media is running this show and the candidates are using the media to mislead the public.
McCain was asked by a reporter (brave one at that) just how does his capture and imprisonment by the Vietcong makes him a better candidate for the presidency. He just grew indignant and refused to answer the question and that is what Wesley Clark was trying to say about what experiences make you better suited for the presidency.
This was total ACTING on McCain’s side, manipulating the media to reach the dumb shits that don’t know any better and think that being in the military somehow makes you more patriotic than the next guy - bullshit!
I was in the military and at 18 you don’t really know too much about patriotism especially when there is a draft in place. You think it is cool to shoot a gun and you absolutely never thought about actually being killed.
McCain is using his war record as a symbol of patriotism and I say that is only spinning the media to get to the dumb shits that buy into that - conservatives.
Obama reacted properly to the Clark debacle about patriotism by dismissing his comments BUT he probably lost a good vice presidential candidate because Clark was ousted by Bush for having too many brain cells and challenging Bush’s total military disaster in Iraq and in Afghanistan; Obama could absolutely use Clark as a counterweight to McCain’s actually lack of any military experience since he spent it in a prison being tortured - no disrespect intended!
I guess I am just getting pissed at both candidates and the media for screwing with the facts and spinning things totally out of context.
Is that the face of the new political reality; whatever it takes to win?
How do I know what a candidate really stands for if he kisses everybody’s ass? How do we know what the candidate really stands for? How do we know what he will do after he gets in office?
I don’t this is a good way to elect a president! I think all candidates should be hooked up to a lie detector and asked the same questions about vital issues and maybe then we can get a straight, honest answer!
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