With the huge ad campaigns some left wing groups are planning to attack McCain with, I wouldn’t be surprised if you see a resurgence of Republican and Conservative support for him SIMPLY because we do not like liberals attacking our own.

“the worst and most costly years sealed away”

it makes me want to swear. and curse.

at best, I can come up with “that phrase is seared, seared into my memory.”

Seared.

When I first read Steyn’s post at The Corner, I have to say the attitudes presented pissed me off royally. Where do these idiots think he spent his time in Vietnam? How on earth can one be sealed away from the atrocities of war while one is being tortured? Just because he failed to acquire the proper MSM indoctrination during Vietnam, his view of the country and its military is somehow not as valuable? What are these people smoking?

I’ve heard from a couple vets that McCain’s relationship with a lot of veterans groups is strained. Do you actually disagree with the article, or just think it’s icky?

Adrian, veterans groups disagreement with McCain’s policies have nothing to do with his service and sacrifice during Vietnam. There is strain in the relationship because of his stance on torture, which is understandable given his history.

What’s maddening, infuriating, about that article is the complete lack of understanding of what it was that McCain endured for 5 years while held captive in Vietnam.

Boil it down, and they’re saying that McCain doesn’t understand the brutality of war because he was in a Viet Cong prison camp.

If it weren’t that people are too dense to get the joke, the proper response would be laughter, rather than outrage. It’s the fact that people don’t get it for the obvious absurdity that it is, that is infuriating.

“Boil it down, and they’re saying that McCain doesn’t understand the brutality of war because he was in a Viet Cong prison camp.”

That is not what the article says. It is talking about McCain having a black vs. white view of war, while Kerry, Hagel and Webb see it in shades of gray. It’s not about brutality, its about the ambiguities.

And is that a defensible assertion, that McCain does not understand the ambiguities and has a black/white view? Is that why he’s one of the few leading Republicans with a prominent anti-torture position?

IOW, the absurdity of the claim that McCain does not understand the ambiguities of war is what sent me seeking for some other underlying meaning. Maybe I found the wrong one, but that’s still an absurd assertion.

One can say what one likes about the differences in perspectives of those whose trials were the mixed success of their propaganda, and those whose trials were being beaten and tortured for the propaganda value of breaking them.

But “the worst and most costly years sealed away” is an act of senseless evil. costly to whom? and sealed in what sense? and away from what?

This, this is the force of words that is properly termed violence.