JOHN S. McCAIN, III, JERK
R. A. Schultz
There are many stories of heroism displayed by American prisoners of war under especially harsh circumstances such as those encountered during our war in Vietnam. The story of John McCain is not one of them.
While the current historical narrative is replete with undeserved praise, many unflattering facts continue to surface, even after McCain’s death in 2018.
McCain led a charmed life in the Navy, his father and grandfather both having been four-star admirals. His family line became his privilege.
Navy aviators are selected from the proverbial “cream of the crop.” McCain’s Annapolis classmates were therefore surprised when he showed up at the Naval Air Training Center at Pensacola after having graduated fifth from the bottom of his Naval Academy class. During flight training, he survived a crash landing at sea, losing a training aircraft. As a fighter/bomber pilot, he is alleged to have borne at least some responsibility for a major fire aboard the USS Forrestal. Known by then as Johnny Wet-Start, for his practice of pumping excess fuel into his engine before ignition to produce an explosion, it has been reported that on this particular occasion, an air-to-air missile on an aircraft behind his on the flight deck accidentally launched and detonated resulting in the fire which killed more than 150 US Servicemen. McCain’s involvement was covered up and he was quickly transferred to another carrier.
Famously, McCain was shot down over North Vietnam as he was flying below the prescribed “deck,” in contravention of standing orders. He was injured in the subsequent crash and was captured and reportedly tortured by the North Vietnamese, who reportedly offered him a release because of his family lineage. Allegedly, he declined the release unless all American prisoners-of-war captured before him were also released. Here, the story diverges.
There are those who were imprisoned by the North Vietnamese at the same time as McCain, who have re-named “Johnny Wet-Start” as the “Hanoi Songbird,” or simply, the “Songbird,” for having disclosed American secrets to his captors, resulting in the capture and death of several more American aviators. It has also been reported that, after recovering from his crash injuries, McCain lived relatively comfortably in captivity.
McCain finished out his naval career in the Navy’s Congressional Liaison Office, attaining the rank of captain, and becoming a creature of the DC Swamp. Subsequently, he served two terms in the House and served in the Senate from January, 1987 until his death.
Perhaps most telling of his personal shallowness is the fact that upon his return from the war, he divorced his first wife who had been severely injured and disfigured in a car crash, shortly thereafter becoming re-married, to a brewery heiress, thus coming into a considerable fortune.
Having been unsuccessful in obtaining the Republican presidential nomination in 2004, McCain effectively threw the 2008 election to Barack Hussein Obama II. Many Americans, like myself, voted for McCain in 2008 solely because he had selected Governor Sarah Palin (R-AK) as his running mate. I voted for Palin as President-in-Waiting!
Most recently, McCain played a prominent role in active promotion of the so-called Steele Dossier, a leftist propaganda hit piece falsely employed by rogue DOJ and FBI operatives to defraud the FISA court into authorizing electronic surveillance of the Trump campaign.
In short, John McCain has been nothing more than a self-aggrandizing narcissistic jerk who has skirted on the edges of treason more than once in his existence. He is not a hero.
