Thursday, September 4, 2008

Selling McCain

Ok, on to part two. Didn't want to lay it all on you at once. It's about the POW thing. John McCain is a POW. We are all aware of this fact. He provided a great service to his country, and in the performance of his duty, was captured and was in a POW camp for five years. This is something that I admire him for living through and continuing to live with as a part of his life history.

What I don't like about it is the fact that everyone that gets up to talk at the Republican Convention throws it around. I feel that it is hugely disrespectful for Guliani to use it as a marketing tool, Palin to sell a man based on a horrible experience, and a Republican crowd to cheer when a man’s long, horrible experience is trotted out as a talking point. They even had a country singer sing a song he wrote, wherein an entire verse was dedicated to the candidate's torture.

This was a real experience, it must have had a huge impact on his life. To treat it as political experience that qualifies him to be president seems, to me, to belittle the man's experiences. I’m all for him using this experience to promote himself; it was his experience, and he can do with it what he likes. But to hear every Republican in America to celebrate the capture and torture of a soldier seems really sick and twisted.

1 comment:

Erin Williams said...

And to further the point, where exactly on the presidential job description is “surviving torture?” That’s like showing up to a job interview you are clearly not qualified for and giving the “but I have a great personality!” Or “I’ve been in a beauty contest!” Seriously? But my favorite part is how the interviewer, in this case the bleating American Right, all nod and say “why yes, she does have a great personality!” or “why yes, he did survive torture.” As if that makes up for a total lack of qualification.

Freakin’ Morons.