The Gimp's P.O.W. Street Cred

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2008-08-22 02:24pm

So, with the Gimp blurting out something about his being a P.O.W. in just about every subject he blathers incomprehendingly upon, no matter how irrelevant to the issue at hand, might we anticipate this man as a possible choice for running mate:

McCain/Klink '08
No Escape For America

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2008-08-22 02:26pm

Every time I think about McCain's Vietnam experience, the first thing I think is yeah, that's the guy who cost the taxpayers a very expensive military aircraft, plus fuel and ordnance...

Pulp Hero · Post by **Pulp Hero** » 2008-08-22 07:39pm

His greatest "achievement" was failure.

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2008-08-22 07:47pm

An impressive one, though.

Not every failure comes with surface-to-air fire, and a big Jet-A fireball.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2008-08-22 09:04pm

Kanastrous wrote:Every time I think about McCain's Vietnam experience, the first thing I think is yeah, that's the guy who cost the taxpayers a very expensive military aircraft, plus fuel and ordnance...

More than one.

thejester · Post by **thejester** » 2008-08-22 09:18pm

Kanastrous wrote:Every time I think about McCain's Vietnam experience, the first thing I think is yeah, that's the guy who cost the taxpayers a very expensive military aircraft, plus fuel and ordnance...

Yeah cause that was totally his fault.

Ender · Post by **Ender** » 2008-08-22 09:23pm

SirNitram wrote:
Kanastrous wrote:Every time I think about McCain's Vietnam experience, the first thing I think is yeah, that's the guy who cost the taxpayers a very expensive military aircraft, plus fuel and ordnance...
More than one.

I sincerely hope this is in reference to something more obscure, and you are not honestly trying to pin the Forrestal on him.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2008-08-22 09:23pm

thejester wrote:
Kanastrous wrote:Every time I think about McCain's Vietnam experience, the first thing I think is yeah, that's the guy who cost the taxpayers a very expensive military aircraft, plus fuel and ordnance...
Yeah cause that was totally his fault.

Well, the one he lost to the ocean while practicing to land.. Would be his fault. Slamming into power lines in the Med because he flew too low.. Probably his fault. Crashing on the way to the Army-Navy football game in Philly.. Probably his fault, but to be fair, that was a trainer. Now, the fourth was a rocket accidentally fired by someone else.. On the runway, so that might not be a crash.

The shootdown where he was captured was number five, and no, probably not his fault.

2 out of 5 ain't bad?

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2008-08-22 09:24pm

Ender wrote:
SirNitram wrote:
Kanastrous wrote:Every time I think about McCain's Vietnam experience, the first thing I think is yeah, that's the guy who cost the taxpayers a very expensive military aircraft, plus fuel and ordnance...
More than one.
I sincerely hope this is in reference to something more obscure, and you are not honestly trying to pin the Forrestal on him.

That was the carrier explosions? Yea, not his fault. That was his fourth loss, and I count neither the Fourth nor the Fifth against him. Honestly, he probably did as sensibly as he could in a situation where, if I understand it, most of the flightdeck wound up going up.

Still, clipping Meditarrainian powerlines? What was he doing, getting an early start looking for his next wife?

Flagg · Post by **Flagg** » 2008-08-22 09:59pm

What I want to know is... Why exactly doesn't the fact that he'd been held in captivity and tortured for 5 years disqualify McCain from being President of the United States?

Ender · Post by **Ender** » 2008-08-22 10:25pm

SirNitram wrote:That was the carrier explosions? Yea, not his fault. That was his fourth loss, and I count neither the Fourth nor the Fifth against him. Honestly, he probably did as sensibly as he could in a situation where, if I understand it, most of the flightdeck wound up going up.

Yeah, that was it. McCain saw the missile coming, jumped out of his plane, broke both his legs. He got off lucky, fire swept across most of the flight deck and the sympathetic detonations let is spread below decks as well. Killed well over a hundred people, injured more then that. It is considered one of our worst disasters for a good reason.

Flagg wrote:What I want to know is... Why exactly doesn't the fact that he'd been held in captivity and tortured for 5 years disqualify McCain from being President of the United States?

Why should it? "Damn son, you really gave it all for your country.. so now we are going to strip you of your rights as well!"

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2008-08-22 10:33pm

Unless there's some reason to think The Manchurian Candidate is really a McCain biography, there's no reason to disqualify him on P.O.W. grounds.

Freakin' insane old guy grounds, on the other hand..

Flagg · Post by **Flagg** » 2008-08-22 11:12pm

Ender wrote:
SirNitram wrote:That was the carrier explosions? Yea, not his fault. That was his fourth loss, and I count neither the Fourth nor the Fifth against him. Honestly, he probably did as sensibly as he could in a situation where, if I understand it, most of the flightdeck wound up going up.
Yeah, that was it. McCain saw the missile coming, jumped out of his plane, broke both his legs. He got off lucky, fire swept across most of the flight deck and the sympathetic detonations let is spread below decks as well. Killed well over a hundred people, injured more then that. It is considered one of our worst disasters for a good reason.

Flagg wrote:What I want to know is... Why exactly doesn't the fact that he'd been held in captivity and tortured for 5 years disqualify McCain from being President of the United States?
Why should it? "Damn son, you really gave it all for your country.. so now we are going to strip you of your rights as well!"

Who said anything about his rights? I'm talking about mental fitness here. I'm talking about voters. An Atheist has as much of a right to be president as John "I WAS TORTURED RAAAARRRRR!!!!" McCain, but they'll have much, much less of a chance of it happening.

I dunno that I want a guy who was in a bamboo cage getting poked with a stick for 5 years with his finger on the button any more than I want some fundy nutbag who thinks he can bring about the End Times by destroying the Dome of the Rock with a cruise missile.

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2008-08-23 02:07am

I expect that some people could survive McCain's experience and function as sane balanced individuals afterward. Although I don't doubt they would be scarred by it.

As to whether that applies to McCain himself, I can't say.