McCain. (long reads)

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Internet VFW > McCain. (long reads)

Zeris: Apr 15, 2003; Quality posting direct from my brain to your face holes.

Talk about McCain.

Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/6pkuyj/john_mccain_is_the_perfect_american_lie/dkqjwd0/

quote:

Here's the thing. John McCain is a loving hero, and a good man. He's courageous and loyal, and he will not intentionally act contrary to his ethics. These are qualities rarely found in a politician these days. While I doubt anyone will argue that last point, I'm pretty sure many would debate those that came before it.

If you haven't read the DFW article referenced in the above-linked article, you ought to. Go read it, then come back and finish writing whatever rebuttal you'd already composing by this point.
Ok, you back? Well, the thing is, that is who I truly want to continue believing John McCain is.

Just to give more of a background of the kind of person we're talking about here: He's the son of an admiral who's a son of an admiral, white and very upper middle class in the middle of the 20th century - in other words, probably one of the safest and most privileged people to have ever lived in all of history. He knows what living comfortably is like.

While he didn't have to join the military I'm sure it was expected of him and with his pedigree he almost certainly got special treatment - he was, after all, fifth from the bottom of his graduating class but still went on to become a Naval Aviator - that's a pretty difficult job to get in the military, it usually isn't possible for a fifth-from-the-bottom-of-the-class officer cadet who runs with a crew he calls "The Bad Bunch" on libbo and expresses that he feels that people of higher rank exercising power over him is "bullshit, and I resent(ed) the hell out of it" especially when it seems (as it does) that he could have done FAR better academically, he just didn't feel like it because he wasn't interested and he preferred to have a good time. His time at the academy makes him look like one of the people that anyone who's been in the military will be familiar with hearing about - the skater, one of those who falls through the cracks when instructors are trying to weed out the people who aren't cut out to succeed in the military. How he could go on to become a Naval Aviator and obtain multiple promotions - despite apparently continuing this pattern of willful underachieving and general disregard for good order and discipline suggests that it was the facts of his lineage that moved him up and along, and not hard work, dedication, and sacrifice.

Moving on, he crashed two jets - in one instance, due to engine failure, and in the other - also engine failure! ...is what he claimed for decades until the official records were released and it was revealed that the cause of the incident was pilot error. He also damned-near destroyed another one showing off and having fun - or as he put it "daredevil clowning." In an extremely expensive military aircraft, and after crashing two other planes, he was "daredevil clowning" so hard that the incident report mentioned that there would have been a crash if it hadn't been for his piloting skill. It's no wonder "maverick" was such a central word in his presidential run... at least up until he was shot down, his life seems to have a lot in common with the movie character. It seems like he had a great deal of talent and potential, a strong pedigree, and the world was his oyster - and that he kind of knew it and took advantage of this to have a good ol' time at taxpayer expense, while still being steadily promoted.
...and let's not forget that the bombing campaign in which he got shot down was a horrifying strategy that accomplished little beyond converting jet fuel and explosive ordnance into highly refined human misery and suffering...but then again, he was following orders, and he didn't follow them in such a way that would make one think he enjoyed burning children alive.

(continues)

David Foster Wallace in 2001:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/david-foster-wallace-on-john-mccain-2000-rolling-stone-story-w493273

quote:

Prologue: Who Cares?

Since you're reading Rolling Stone, the chances are you're an American between say 18 and 35, which demographically makes you a Young Voter. And no generation of Young Voters has ever cared less about politics and politicians than yours. There's hard demographic and voter-pattern data backing this up ... assuming you give a poo poo about data. In fact, even if you're reading other stuff in RS, it's doubtful you're going to read much of this article � such is the enormous shuddering yawn that the Political Process evokes in us now, in this post-Watergate-post-Iran'Contra' post'Whitewater 'post' Lewinsky era, an era when politicians� statements of principle or vision are understood as self-serving ad copy and judged not for their sincerity or ability to inspire but for their tactical shrewdness, their marketability. And no generation has been marketed and Spun and pitched to as ingeniously and relentlessly as today's demographic Young. So when Senator John McCain says, in Michigan or South Carolina (which is where Rolling Stone sent the least professional pencil it could find to spend the standard media Week on the Bus with a candidate who'd never ride higher than he is right now), when McCain says "I run for president not to Be Somebody, but to Do Something,� it�s hard to hear it as anything more than a marketing angle, especially when he says it as he's going around surrounded by cameras and reporters and cheering crowds ... in other words, Being Somebody.

GQ, the other day:

http://www.gq.com/story/john-mccain-is-the-perfect-american-lie

quote:

Seventeen years ago I gave John McCain�s Presidential campaign five bucks. It was my first time donating to a political campaign, much less a Republican one. But like a lot of people, I marveled at his backstory of surviving years and years in Viet Cong captivity (I even read, like, three pages of that big David Foster Wallace story about him), and�more important�I eagerly took all his Straight Talk Express horseshit to heart. Hey, that Republican is saying stuff about other Republicans! He seems like a real rebel!

Back in 2000, McCain scratched that itch for anyone like me who enjoyed pretending to be politically independent, and who happily latched onto McCain as a talisman of that independence. You see, guys! I can vote for a Republican when it�s the RIGHT Republican! And over the course of this century, McCain has dined out on his reputation as The Good Conservative. He�s the senator who gives thunderous copy to reporters, and does SNL, and issues bipartisan reports on the military giving the NFL promo money, and does the occasional cameo on Parks & Rec. He fulfills every Brokawian wet dream certain members of the press still have about politicians setting aside their differences and doing the RIGHT THING, by God.

Talk about it here.

# ? Jul 26, 2017 22:26

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# ? May 3, 2024 16:59

EBB: Feb 15, 2005

McCain...bad?

# ? Jul 26, 2017 22:37

ded: Oct 27, 2005; Kooler than Jesus

# ? Jul 26, 2017 23:28

Vasudus: May 30, 2003

# ? Jul 27, 2017 00:44

EBB: Feb 15, 2005

Sorry Zeris this is going to be the general poo poo on McCain thread

# ? Jul 27, 2017 00:55

Proud Christian Mom: Dec 20, 2006; READING COMPREHENSION IS HARD

The only thing I want to read about McCain is an obituary.

# ? Jul 27, 2017 01:01

Zeris: Apr 15, 2003; Quality posting direct from my brain to your face holes.

tastefully arranged labia posted:

Sorry Zeris this is going to be the general poo poo on McCain thread

I know... Just do it

# ? Jul 27, 2017 03:51

EBB: Feb 15, 2005

Why did McCain never take R&R in Thailand?

He was too busy loving Asians in the sky.

# ? Jul 27, 2017 04:23

3rdEyeDeuteranopia: Sep 12, 2007

I am deeply disturbed by this thread.

# ? Jul 27, 2017 09:25

Zeris: Apr 15, 2003; Quality posting direct from my brain to your face holes.

3rdEyeDeuteranopia posted:

I am deeply disturbed by this thread.

Welcome back buddy

# ? Jul 27, 2017 18:36

PookBear: Nov 1, 2008

McCain sold his soul to the Koch brothers when he was told he could run for president but only if Palin was his VP.

# ? Jul 27, 2017 20:19

Larry Parrish: Jul 9, 2012; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Proud Christian Mom posted:

The only thing I want to read about McCain is an obituary.

# ? Jul 27, 2017 22:48

Commoners: Apr 25, 2007; Sometimes you reach a stalemate. Sometimes you get magic horses.

Reverand maynard posted:

McCain sold his soul to the Koch brothers when he was told he could run for president but only if Palin was his VP.

McCain wished that he could run for the presidency, and one of the Koch brother's shriveled fingers curled up and the rest is history.

# ? Jul 28, 2017 03:29

A Festivus Miracle: Dec 19, 2012; I have come to discourse on the profound inequities of the American political system.

The least smelliest member of a pile of poo poo is still a turd.

# ? Jul 28, 2017 05:46

Kawasaki Nun: Jul 16, 2001; by Reene

A White Guy posted:

The least smelliest member of a pile of poo poo is still a turd.

"He's a jerk and I hate him!!!*" - gip

*Dad

# ? Jul 28, 2017 20:04

EBB: Feb 15, 2005

Kawasaki Nun posted:

"He's a jerk and I hate him!!!*" - gip

*Dad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc7c7Cdfjik&t=58s

# ? Jul 28, 2017 20:57

Diarrhea Elemental: Apr 2, 2012; Am I correct in my assumption, you fish-faced enemy of the people?

I wonder what McCain had to pay to get his spine back from the Vietnamese, maybe it's just a lease or a loaner.

# ? Jul 28, 2017 22:23

Proud Christian Mom: Dec 20, 2006; READING COMPREHENSION IS HARD

Diarrhea Elemental posted:

I wonder what McCain had to pay to get his spine back from the Vietnamese, maybe it's just a lease or a loaner.

A small piece survived and the cancer meds made it start growing

# ? Jul 29, 2017 01:15

Time Crisis Actor: Apr 28, 2002; by Hand Knit

McCain? More like McLAME lmao!!!!

# ? Jul 30, 2017 13:16

UP THE BUM NO BABY: Sep 1, 2011; by Hand Knit

I love how McCain is a maverick because every now and then he does the objectively right thing. It's like being called a daredevil because you once bunny hopped a razor scooter.

# ? Jul 30, 2017 15:56

Zeris: Apr 15, 2003; Quality posting direct from my brain to your face holes.

Yeah except the scooter judges were like "you don't have to bunny hop this scooter, we'll still give you a perfect 10/10, your parents are very special, just say the word"

# ? Jul 30, 2017 18:51

Mr. Nice!: Oct 13, 2005; c-spam cannot afford

JSM Sr. and JSM Jr. were actually great officers by all rights and good men, too.

# ? Jul 30, 2017 23:17

bird food bathtub: Aug 9, 2003; College Slice

If this end up with McConnell on his back in a desert and nobody helping him I'll forgive McCain about half of what I've said.

# ? Aug 1, 2017 16:55

Scratch Monkey: Oct 25, 2010; 👰Proč bychom se netě�ili🥰kdy� n�m P�n Bůh🙌🏻zdrav� d�💪?

Mr. Nice! posted:

JSM Sr. and JSM Jr. were actually great officers by all rights and good men, too.

I think Sen McMain hated his dad on a lot of levels

# ? Nov 6, 2017 13:13

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# ? May 3, 2024 16:59

Mr. Nice!: Oct 13, 2005; c-spam cannot afford

McCain III was well known to be a lazy pos, never put effort forth, cheated on everything he could from wives to academy exams, and only got to the places he did because of his dad.

I can easily see why he butted heads with his WWII era admiral father.

# ? Nov 6, 2017 14:47

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Internet VFW > McCain. (long reads)