Even in Trump’s “condolences to the family” tweet he couldn’t bring himself to say a single positive thing about McCain himself. It’s no wonder McCain told his friends and family that he didn’t want Trump to attend his funeral.
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Maybe because their honour and service saw to the ruination of at least two countries, and the deaths of well over a million inhabitants?
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He did constantly bring up feeling like he’d made big mistakes.
To me it’s certainly problematic given he was such a war hawk, which led to so many deaths. But I think Cenk from TYT has it right; he was a total mixed bag. Good views on some things like campaign finance and torture. At the end of the day, I have 10 times more respect for him than anyone else in that dumpster fire of an entire party.
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My own personal opinion is that the ongoing debate itself is service to those who might otherwise become ensnared as pawns in a fool’s conflict, as well as those already sent into such conflicts. We constantly revisit history in hopes that we learn from it. We have to constantly revisit it, both because there are media optics that threaten to distort our view but also because the people who know and remember keep dying. Their wisdom—or failing that, knowledge—must be taken up by someone else.
You can, but bear in mind that this stock phrase can come across as inane or even dismissive to those vets who themselves feel conflicted about their engagement. Better still, if you have the opportunity and they have the willingness, would be to talk to them about it. Just by listening to their story you will be showing gratitude.
In 2004, Gary Trudeau addressed some of your thoughts in a storyline involving one of his regular characters B.D., who returns from the U.S.-Iraq conflict with an amputated leg and PTSD. The story was expanded into a book, The Long Road Home: One Step at a Time:
The book project came about when Fisher House officials met Trudeau during his visits to Walter Reed to research the story line about B.D.
He spent time with the amputees in Ward 57, their families and caregivers, hearing the stories and soaking up the atmosphere of pain, anger and bravery.
“Nobody who visits the troops on Ward 57 and elsewhere comes away with anything but awe over the courage with which these mangled men and women face the staggering array of challenges they’re presented with every day,” Trudeau said in an e-mail interview with The Kansas City Star. “There’s almost no self-pity in evidence. It takes your breath away.”
To revisit, one more time, your last question:
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You can say that about any war.
Yep. That’s a stunningly obvious point you made there.
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Why, it’s almost as if wars are run by and for the benefit of nefarious Masters of War.
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Don’t equivocate the Vietcong here. They were far from innocent.
Is that … irony? That must be irony.
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I started crying when I read Obama’s tribute. Not for McCain - because I miss Obama so much.
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BTW…y’all notice how this “don’t speak ill of the dead” stuff only comes up when it’s rich white people?
Nobody is bothered by it when the cops murder yet another unarmed black kid and the media trawls through their school records looking for justification.
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If only we’d killed another million peasants, those hideous villains could have been defeated
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I posted it over in the other thread…
“He’s dead. Good”
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Mixed bag is right.
But, 10 x 0 is still 0 (ok, i’ll give mccain a little respect, but not much)
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Nobody would include you as well, right?
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I think a more accurate way to say this is that we need to be able and willing to cut deals with our opponents. That what politics is, and as Russ Feingold would point out, McCain has a positive track record of this.
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Congratulations on the successful detection of imprecise language. Feel free to replace “nobody” with “very few of the people currently defending this concept”.
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My comment is in tended to lead to a larger point.
What I’m getting at is that all of us are in this together.
Do I need to elaborate further?
I’d prefer not to.
I’d hate to see some of the commentariat’s eulegies for anyone objectively worse than McCain (of whom there are many).
Edit: Important note: The North Vietnamese beat him after this interview for not being appreciate enough of their treatment.
