On the Fairness of Swiftboating
By
Oswaldo
on August 12, 2008 at 04:33 pm
http://www.newtotalitarians.com/JohnMcCainAsPOW.html
Is it fair to “Swiftboat” a candidate? Was it fair in John Kerry’s case?
These remarks are taken from the above link. They do not reflect my personal opinion and are intended to contribute to debates on the delicate issue of Swiftboating as it affected Kerry and could affect McCain.
Extracts from Hannity’s McCain interview. Hannity: Let me start - tomorrow is the 35th anniversary of your return from Vietnam…You were held for five and a half years of your life, tortured, beaten. Take us back to that night when you ended up.
Notice: McCain hasn’t said he was tortured and beaten. Those are Hannity’s words.
Hannity: When you were captured, you had broken your two arms. You had shattered your knee, you broke your shoulder. And then when they captured you, they had beaten you, I read, and stabbed you with a bayonet.
…and then I understand you didn’t get any medical help for nine days. You spent two years of this five-and-one-half year period in solitary confinement. What does that do to a person, to spend that much time in solitary confinement
Notice: Again, Hannity’s words, not McCain’s.
Here is what McCain replied:
McCain: You know, I had the misfortune of landing in a lake in the center of the city of Hanoi, or practically. So the natives were a little restless, as we say. And so it got a big crowd around. I land in this lake. To make a long story short, the army people came up. Otherwise, it might have been a lot worse than that. And took me a very short ride to the prison. So my escape and evasion part of this story is very brief.
And here is what McCain had reported when interviewed elsewhere (by a Cuban) on an earlier occasion and documented, according to the above link:
“I landed in one of the lakes in the center of Hanoi, in the middle of the water. On landing I tried to get free of my parachute, but I could not move, and I did not realize why I could not move my arms or legs, but it was because of the injuries.”
“Many people gathered around since it was the center of Hanoi at midday.”
“From there, they took me to a military hospital in Hanoi, a large hospital where they operated on me and attended to the multiple fractures. I understand I received more than a liter of blood…”
“Were you the object of any physical or moral violence?”
“No, although at the time of capture I could sense the peoples’ hate or indignation, there were no insults of violence of any type. On the contrary, you have seen how I am recovering from my injuries.”
(questionable report since he was being interviewed by a Cuban—see link)
Continuing with Hannity:
McCain: I think it makes you a better person. Obviously, it makes you love America. I really didn’t love America until I was deprived of her company (didn’t love America?).
Hannity: —they offered to give you personal release, and you declined the offer. And then you were beaten for one straight week afterwards
Notice: Hannity’s words, not McCain’s
McCain: Because our Code of Conduct says that everybody goes home in order of their capture. Also, and far more importantly than that, I knew that it would be used as a propaganda tool… I knew that it would be not only propaganda, but also they would call in my fellow prisoners and say, see, the admiral’s son goes home and you stay.
Concerning McCain’s admission to signing a war criminal confession under pressure
Hannity:
…you signed statements that you confessed to be a war criminal. And you said to me - and we had gone through all the torture you had been through, all the beatings, all the broken bones, the five and a half years (Hannity’s words, not McCain’s. McCain has yet to say that he was tortured, by whom, where and when). You didn’t take the opportunity to get out when they gave you the opportunity. And you said, ‘I failed myself, my fellow prisoners, and my family, and my country.’ How could you be that hard on yourself?
McCain: I think I thought that I was unbreakable. You know? - I was a pilot, a Navy pilot. And I thought that I would never show those traits. But I also want to point out that leaders like Colonel Bud Day and Jim Stockdale and Robbie Reisner and Bill Lawrence and so many others, they said, look, you failed, go back again.
Hannity: But you’d have broken arms, and they’d hang you from your arms for hours (again, those are Hannity’s words, not McCain’s) I mean, look, I know Sean Hannity, I’d tell them whatever they wanted to hear. And I think most Americans would (Hannity is saying that most Americans, himself included, would have done what McCain did).
There are documented reports, according to the above link, “authenticated by Department of Defense authorities at the time on the extent to which John McCain ‘sang like a canary’ while in the North Vietnamese hospital and in his ‘room’ [room, yes room, not cell] during the several weeks he was at the Hoa Lo prison before being transferred to The Plantation. ”
“McCain spent those two years at The Plantation, situated on a tree-lined two acres which had formerly been the home of the colonial mayor of Hanoi. “The faded grandeur of the place inspired the nickname ‘Plantation,’ although the prisoners referred to the site by a number of names as well, among them ‘Country Club,’ ‘Funny Farm,’ ‘Holiday Inn’ …
“He revealed military information to the enemy in return for obtaining medical treatment as he had promised his interrogator, ‘Bug.’ Such medical treatment was denied to many other wounded POWs (e.g. Ray Vohden, who two-and-one-half years after his shootdown, had been tortured by the Cubans at the ‘Zoo’”
Is it fair to “Swiftboat” a candidate? Was it fair in John Kerry’s case?
These remarks are taken from the above link. They do not reflect my personal opinion and are intended to contribute to debates on the delicate issue of Swiftboating as it affected Kerry and could affect McCain.
Extracts from Hannity’s McCain interview. Hannity: Let me start - tomorrow is the 35th anniversary of your return from Vietnam…You were held for five and a half years of your life, tortured, beaten. Take us back to that night when you ended up.
Notice: McCain hasn’t said he was tortured and beaten. Those are Hannity’s words.
Hannity: When you were captured, you had broken your two arms. You had shattered your knee, you broke your shoulder. And then when they captured you, they had beaten you, I read, and stabbed you with a bayonet.
…and then I understand you didn’t get any medical help for nine days. You spent two years of this five-and-one-half year period in solitary confinement. What does that do to a person, to spend that much time in solitary confinement
Notice: Again, Hannity’s words, not McCain’s.
Here is what McCain replied:
McCain: You know, I had the misfortune of landing in a lake in the center of the city of Hanoi, or practically. So the natives were a little restless, as we say. And so it got a big crowd around. I land in this lake. To make a long story short, the army people came up. Otherwise, it might have been a lot worse than that. And took me a very short ride to the prison. So my escape and evasion part of this story is very brief.
And here is what McCain had reported when interviewed elsewhere (by a Cuban) on an earlier occasion and documented, according to the above link:
“I landed in one of the lakes in the center of Hanoi, in the middle of the water. On landing I tried to get free of my parachute, but I could not move, and I did not realize why I could not move my arms or legs, but it was because of the injuries.”
“Many people gathered around since it was the center of Hanoi at midday.”
“From there, they took me to a military hospital in Hanoi, a large hospital where they operated on me and attended to the multiple fractures. I understand I received more than a liter of blood…”
“Were you the object of any physical or moral violence?”
“No, although at the time of capture I could sense the peoples’ hate or indignation, there were no insults of violence of any type. On the contrary, you have seen how I am recovering from my injuries.”
(questionable report since he was being interviewed by a Cuban—see link)
Continuing with Hannity:
McCain: I think it makes you a better person. Obviously, it makes you love America. I really didn’t love America until I was deprived of her company (didn’t love America?).
Hannity: —they offered to give you personal release, and you declined the offer. And then you were beaten for one straight week afterwards
Notice: Hannity’s words, not McCain’s
McCain: Because our Code of Conduct says that everybody goes home in order of their capture. Also, and far more importantly than that, I knew that it would be used as a propaganda tool… I knew that it would be not only propaganda, but also they would call in my fellow prisoners and say, see, the admiral’s son goes home and you stay.
Concerning McCain’s admission to signing a war criminal confession under pressure
Hannity:
…you signed statements that you confessed to be a war criminal. And you said to me - and we had gone through all the torture you had been through, all the beatings, all the broken bones, the five and a half years (Hannity’s words, not McCain’s. McCain has yet to say that he was tortured, by whom, where and when). You didn’t take the opportunity to get out when they gave you the opportunity. And you said, ‘I failed myself, my fellow prisoners, and my family, and my country.’ How could you be that hard on yourself?
McCain: I think I thought that I was unbreakable. You know? - I was a pilot, a Navy pilot. And I thought that I would never show those traits. But I also want to point out that leaders like Colonel Bud Day and Jim Stockdale and Robbie Reisner and Bill Lawrence and so many others, they said, look, you failed, go back again.
Hannity: But you’d have broken arms, and they’d hang you from your arms for hours (again, those are Hannity’s words, not McCain’s) I mean, look, I know Sean Hannity, I’d tell them whatever they wanted to hear. And I think most Americans would (Hannity is saying that most Americans, himself included, would have done what McCain did).
There are documented reports, according to the above link, “authenticated by Department of Defense authorities at the time on the extent to which John McCain ‘sang like a canary’ while in the North Vietnamese hospital and in his ‘room’ [room, yes room, not cell] during the several weeks he was at the Hoa Lo prison before being transferred to The Plantation. ”
“McCain spent those two years at The Plantation, situated on a tree-lined two acres which had formerly been the home of the colonial mayor of Hanoi. “The faded grandeur of the place inspired the nickname ‘Plantation,’ although the prisoners referred to the site by a number of names as well, among them ‘Country Club,’ ‘Funny Farm,’ ‘Holiday Inn’ …
“He revealed military information to the enemy in return for obtaining medical treatment as he had promised his interrogator, ‘Bug.’ Such medical treatment was denied to many other wounded POWs (e.g. Ray Vohden, who two-and-one-half years after his shootdown, had been tortured by the Cubans at the ‘Zoo’”
