A commenter on Altercation noted the following (quoted in its entirety,… emphasis mine):
Name: Dan
Hometown: Bloomsburg, PAAnother “Straight Talk” moment with John McCain:
1. John McCain in an interview with Pittsburgh’s KDKA on July 9, 2008, describing how he tricked his Vietnamese captors: “When I was first interrogated and really had to give some information because of the physical pressures that were on me, I named the starting lineup — defensive line — of the Pittsburgh Steelers as my squadron-mates!”
2. John McCain in his autobiography “Faith of My Fathers” describing how he tricked his Vietnamese captors: “Pressed for more useful information, I gave the names of the Green Bay Packers’ offensive line, and said they were members of my squadron.”
I guess when telling your personal POW story citing the Green Bay Packers works nationally, but changing it to the Pittsburgh Steelers is better for getting votes in Pennsylvania!
This I can’t get excited about. I tend to give politicians a lot of slack on remembering arcana such as this given their grueling schedule. Shia v. Sunni, Somalia v. Sudan were big mistakes because they impact current and future policy. But as somebody who doesn’t remember his license plate number, who am I to talk about remembering something over 30 years ago?
… but it is interesting that there is a difference in not remembering and remembering with geographical convenience. Also I suspect anyone going through what he did at the time would have a slightly better chance of remembering such a detail than remembering their license plate.
People usually want to remember their license plate, people usually want to forget being tortured. I’m not trying to be snide, but if McCain’s forgetfulness is a sundae bar, this glitch right here is sugar-free sprinkles.
This is easily as big as sniper fire in Tuzla. Just three years ago, McCain wrote a column where he mentioned the whole incident, Packers and all – either this is a “plain as the nose on your face” pander, or it’s evidence of creeping dementia – neither bodes well for his campaign.
This is not in any way a big dea. However, it is one of those little panders that I have always found distasteful in politics. Its the “What city am I in? Who do I say I root for?” problem.
<
p>As a sports fan I don’t want to hear that you support the team I support because you are talking to me. I want to hear that you support your team or a team or that you care about sports generally.
<
p>On Boston Common Obama said something like “Congratulations to the Boston Red Sox. I’m a Cubs fan.” (Maybe it was the White Sox, doesn’t matter.)
<
p>Thing is McCain does care about sports. He as been out in front of trying to fix boxing for years. So tell your story, say it was Green Bay, fans of the Steelers will respect that more than a meaningless little pander.
who am I rooting for? No big deal. Lying about what happened in war, to the benefit of a particular state-wide campaign? That just shows he’s willing to say anything to win.
<
p>It’s amazing in a clear You Tube era that politicians are still willing to make crap like this up. Obviously, McSame needs to take his lessons on The Google soon.
who was one of the Americans who Liberated Auschwitz
<
p>Uhh…oops?
well, the second one brought me to wiki, but there was nothing about Obama there…
<
p>The first didn’t bring up a video at all.
well it was a video of Obama talking about how his uncle was one of the first Americans who liberated Auschwitz.
the national media to pounce on this like they did Hillary, when she failed to correctly remember what happened in Kosovo. What – you think Hillary probably did remember what happened, at least in so far as bullets weren’t fired nearby? Well, clearly, the same could be applied to McSame – he remembers his story in the way that he thinks will be most beneficial to his campaign. It seems like a small thing because of the nature of the story, but it actually reflects his willingness to say anything to win.