Thread: An odd endorsement for McCain!

Originally Posted by Jimbo

Oh.... I thought Stockholm syndrome was what happened to you when you were tortured with too much ABBA...

James.

Funny you mention that.

John McCain 2008 - John McCain for President

Edit: I find it interesting that the title of the page was automatically added to the link, I'd wanted the url to show, so it would be easier to see it is actually from Senator McCain's website.

Originally Posted by Nickelking

Right, it rarely gets to that kind of macro degree, but it's fairly common for it to occour in a micro degree. I don't find it surprising that Sen. McCain's captor eventually got to talk to him as a person and that they found a mutual respect despite being on opposite sides. Mutual respect ws often found in those camps after a period of time.

[snark]And having seen Hogan's Hero's it's obvious that POWs were good friends with their captors.[/snark]

The article I posted only gave one side of the story! At no time in the article did it say that the two of them ever talked after Viet Nam Nor did Senator McCain ever confirm that they talked as friends while he was captive!

Originally Posted by JMS

The article I posted only gave one side of the story! At no time in the article did it say that the two of them ever talked after Viet Nam Nor did Senator McCain ever confirm that they talked as friends while he was captive!

Right, I wouldn't expect Sen. McCain to confirm that anymore than I would expect that he admitted that he tortured McCain. If McCain didn't take an opportunity to talk to his captors if there was a chance (which for this endorsement to really make any sense he would have) I'd be shocked.

I'm not saying that they became the best of buds or anything along those lines, but I'm sure a mutual respect was found. If Senator McCain's history has proven anything it's that he's a charismatic figure and able to make friends in adverse situations.

Originally Posted by Nickelking

Right, I wouldn't expect Sen. McCain to confirm that anymore than I would expect that he admitted that he tortured McCain. If McCain didn't take an opportunity to talk to his captors if there was a chance (which for this endorsement to really make any sense he would have) I'd be shocked.

I'm not saying that they became the best of buds or anything along those lines, but I'm sure a mutual respect was found. If Senator McCain's history has proven anything it's that he's a charismatic figure and able to make friends in adverse situations.

And you would respect me beating you silly?

with enough time starved for any contact, if you eventually showed a bit of humanity, knowing that the beating was done on an ideological rather than personal level. I think anybody would make an allowance to touch humanity in any form (note that it's not respect for the beating, but for the person serving his government that demands the beating.)

If Sen. McCain thinks less of someone for following their governments ideology that degrades his image in my opinion. Granted I don't think much of him as it is; but I do hope he'd respect someone devoted to their country, regardless of his own suffering as a result. If he didn't he's be just another warmonger trying to instill his worldview on the rest of the world. I respect him to much to think that he'd be so disrespectful of another countries citizens patriotism.

Now I know he wasn't held under the best of circumstances, far from it. As a matter of fact I despise the term Hanoi Hilton being used for Hoa Lo Prison, even if that's the term the prisoners used, the term degrades the atrocities done there. But I refuse to believe that he would not see his captors as patriots of their own country.

Of course I also refuse to think anything regarding his imprisonment has a bearing on his qualifications for the position of POTUS.

Originally Posted by Wildtim

Lets see the BBC took the time to go to Vietnam, look this guy up, and then ran the story.........I think we can tell who the BBC would vote for.

If he isn't sticking with the government line with his comments I'd say his speech was scripted by the BBC.

Of course its not to often that you will talk to anyone and they will say "yea, sure we beat the crap out of him daily" or "torture, we were all about torture!" . I think his comments were pretty predictable.

I highly doubt that. The BBC are known for their (almost) unbiased reporting. In fact they're regarded to be the top news service when it comes to this.

Maybe it was NK government influenced...but BBC influenced is very unlikely.

An interesting sidenote:

Oleg Penkovsky is well thought of because he turned to the CIA, but the rosenbergs are reviled for doing the same thing but the other way.
I can see them being convicted for treason allright, but it is not possible to condemn them on moral grounds without also morally condemning Oleg Penkovsky for being a traitor.

The people in gitmo handling the detainees, are they patriotic or evil if torture is involved?
The people who transport detainees to other countries for serious torture and killing, are they patriots or evil scumbags who should burn in hell? 'Following orders' doesn't cut it anymore since nurenberg

Morality and patriotism are difficult to mingle.
If you respect your guys for doing something for their country, you have to respect your enemies who do the same thing.

Originally Posted by LX_Emergency

Maybe it was NK government influenced...but BBC influenced is very unlikely.

I have no government! Oh... the other NK.

As a sidenote, negotiations with north korea are going so well that it's expected for the administration to request that congress take them off the terrorist watch list.

Originally Posted by Bruno

'Following orders' doesn't cut it anymore since nurenberg..

One of the more interesting quotes I heard after the supreme court ruled that GITMO detainees were entitled to a day in court was "we're treating them better then the Nazis!" Because we let them go to court and we didn't let the nazis apparently.