August 23, 2008

The Real Reason POW Phillip Butler Won't Vote for McCain

Hatched by Dafydd

The Democrats have trotted out their own Vietnam POW, Phillip Butler, who was shot down over Vietnam (like John S. McCain III), was a prisoner of war for eight years (McCain was a POW for five and a half years), and has now written a small piece telling us why he won't be voting for McCain.

It boils down to something very simple: Phillip Butler opposes McCain because Butler is a liberal Democrat.

There is nothing wrong or disreputable about this; but of course, it's hardly surprising, either. Heck, I won't be voting for Barack H. Obama because he's a liberal Democrat. In Butler's entire piece, he offers only one reason why anybody but a liberal Democrat might consider voting against McCain:

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.

Well, all right. But for me, McCain's temper is vastly overbalanced by Obama's fecklessness, grandiosity, narcissism, radicalism, and willingness to cozy up to America's bitterest enemies, from Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright to Vladimir Putin and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But then, I'm not a liberal Democrat.

And oddly, for the rest of the piece, Butler paints us a portrait of an honorable, courageous, loyal, dedicated, and conservative John McCain. Does he think this will appall or turn off the electorate? Did the Democrats even read anything beyond the title? Here are some excerpts from what the Democrats think is an "attack piece" on McCain:

John was a wild man. He was funny, with a quick wit and he was intelligent. But he was intent on breaking every USNA regulation in our 4 inch thick USNA Regulations book. And I believe he must have come as close to his goal as any midshipman who ever attended the Academy....

John's treatment as a POW:

1) Was he tortured for 5 years? No. He was subjected to torture and maltreatment during his first 2 years, from September of 1967 to September of 1969. After September of 1969 the Vietnamese stopped the torture and gave us increased food and rudimentary health care.... John allows the media to make him out to be THE hero POW, which he knows is absolutely not true, to further his political goals.

Butler offers no evidence that John McCain controls the media.

2) John was badly injured when he was shot down. Both arms were broken and he had other wounds from his ejection. Unfortunately this was often the case - new POW's arriving with broken bones and serious combat injuries. Many died from their wounds. Medical care was non-existent to rudimentary. Relief from pain was almost never given and often the wounds were used as an available way to torture the POW....

3) John was offered, and refused, "early release." Many of us were given this offer. It meant speaking out against your country and lying about your treatment to the press. You had to "admit" that the U.S. was criminal and that our treatment was "lenient and humane." So I, like numerous others, refused the offer....

But it must be remembered that [McCain] was one hero among many -- not uniquely so as his campaigns would have people believe.

Butler offers no evidence that McCain's campaign has claimed that he was the only hero of Vietnam.

John McCain served his time as a POW with great courage, loyalty and tenacity.... He was a POW who surmounted the odds with the help of many comrades, as all of us did....

Senator John Sidney McCain, III is a remarkable man who has made enormous personal achievements. And he is a man that I am proud to call a fellow POW who "Returned With Honor." That's our POW motto. But since many of you keep asking what I think of him, I've decided to write it out. In short, I think John Sidney McCain, III is a good man, but not someone I will vote for in the upcoming election to be our President of the United States.

But again, the last few paragraphs of Butler's piece make clear why he won't: He complains about McCain's support for "Bush's war in Iraq" and even trots out the "100 years" canard without seemingly understanding what McCain clearly said; Butler attacks "John's views on war, foreign policy, economics, environment, health care, education, national infrastructure and other important areas," equating them with those of President George W. Bush; he's afraid that McCain will appoint judges who believe in judicial restraint, which would surely lead to "continuing loss of individual freedoms, especially regarding moral and religious issues;" he argues that McCain is too comfortable with "some really obnoxious and crazy fundamentalist ministers;" and he attacks McCain for treating Bush decently... as opposed, I assume, to spitting in Bush's face, as Butler evidently would like to do.

In short, Butler is simply a true, blue liberal... and he is convinced that McCain is a true conservative -- just as McCain says he is. Is that a persuasive reason to vote against the man?

If this is what the Democrats are relying upon to turn the public away from McCain and towards Barack Obama, then -- as I said in an earlier post -- bring it on.

Hatched by Dafydd on this day, August 23, 2008, at the time of 3:17 AM

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Comments

The following hissed in response by: k2aggie07

!!!!!!!!

He used McCain's middle name! The Horror! The AUDACITY!

...right?

The above hissed in response by: k2aggie07 [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 23, 2008 6:54 AM

The following hissed in response by: hunter

Butler is not well known. McCain is. And by golly, people like the grumpy old guy.
Butler sounds like a jerk.

The above hissed in response by: hunter [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 23, 2008 7:48 AM

The following hissed in response by: ben

Is this the Dem's half-assed attempt at Swift-boating?

The above hissed in response by: ben [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 23, 2008 11:48 AM

The following hissed in response by: Chuck

Hilarious. You state opinions about Obama without any basis, then criticize Butler for doing the same. You bring out the old worn out Republican talking points (Rev. Wright - really? sad) and act like Butler is bad for being biased. And you say "the Democrats trotted out their...", which makes it seem like Butler is not just stating his opinions, but was assigned to do so by the Democratic Party. Does that mean your criticism of his opinions was assigned by the Republican Party? Could I say, "The Republicans have trotted our yet another neocon pseudo-blogger to try to overcome a serious analysis of John McCain"? Have you been trotted out?

If Butler's opinions should be dismissed because he's a Democrat, I figure yours should be dismissed for being a Republican. Now we can all walk away having wasted our time reading anything online except things written by Green Party supporters, I guess.

The above hissed in response by: Chuck [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 27, 2008 1:45 PM

The following hissed in response by: Chuck

Sigh. Sorry for the duplicate comments. My browser freaked out....

The above hissed in response by: Chuck [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 27, 2008 1:47 PM

The following hissed in response by: Dafydd ab Hugh

Chuck:

I'm still stumped over the term "pseudoblogger." Considering that the only qualification for being a "blogger" is to write for a blog -- which any knucklehead can do all on his own -- what on earth could a pseudoblogger be?

How can a person fake a blog?

Is there such a thing as an ersatz pseudoblogger? Perhaps I'm a genuine copy of a fake ersatz pseudoblogger.

Dafydd

P.S. I deleted the extra copies.

The above hissed in response by: Dafydd ab Hugh [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 27, 2008 4:47 PM

The following hissed in response by: Dafydd ab Hugh

Chuck:

Work with me here; what part of what I wrote do you consider to be false or incorrect?

Dafydd

The above hissed in response by: Dafydd ab Hugh [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 27, 2008 6:34 PM

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