Liberals Wrong About Cindy McCain's POW Experience and PTSD
The latest issue of Marie Claire magazine carries an interview I had with Cindy McCain, and left-wing commentators are having a field day over comments she made about her husband's POW experience. MSNBC's Keith Olbermann was particularly exercised, calling McCain's comments "a mendacious attack on the troops" and "callous."
So what was her offensive comment? Here's the interview transcript:
MC: You met your husband after his POW days. To what extent is that still with you—or is it a part of history?
CM: My husband will be the first one to tell you that that's in the past. Certainly it's a part of who he is, but he doesn't dwell on it. It's not part of a daily experience that we experience or anything like that. But it has shaped him. It has made him the leader that he is.MC: But no cold sweats in the middle of the night?
CM: Oh, no, no, no, no, no. My husband, he'd be the first one to tell you that he was trained to do what he was doing. The guys who had the trouble were the 18-year-olds who were drafted. He was trained, he went to the Naval Academy, he was a trained United States naval officer, and so he knew what he was doing.
Sorry, but I fail to see how this disparages soldiers or makes light of post-traumatic stress syndrome.
Is it really that far-out to suggest that a gung-ho fighter pilot might be more mentally prepared for war's uglinesses than soldiers who were drafted?
Before complicating his rant by interviewing a liberal veteran, Olbermann himself acknowledged as much: "Even if we grant some element of truth here—that training might mitigate psychological impacts of injuries and combat experience and captivity—what should we make of Mrs. McCain's statement there?"
My suggestion: that there's some element of truth there.
Tags: POWs | presidential election 2008 | veterans | military | Vietnam War | Cindy McCain
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Reader Comments
Cindy McCain/PTSD
It's obvious Sam you don't suffer from PTSD or even know someone that suffers from PTSD. Cindy McCains statement is an afront to all veterans and speaks to the lack of knowledge and compassion to those that are afflicted by the Republican party in general. McCain has voted against veterans programs, with Bush, while claiming great affection for the troops to the public to bolister is public image.As a Vietnam vet that has endured decades of nightmares, cold sweats, trust issues and so on as well as my physical injuries I take this issue very seriously. McCain is so out of touch with real people and real combat veterans it's hard to beleive he has garnered any support.It's only the dirty tactics of the Republician Party that were used by Bush that have kept him in the race this far. America is tired of these tactics and he will lose because he has discarded his honor to win at any cost.
Anything that McCain says will be ridiculed
Did anyone notice Obama's response when Bob Scheffer asked him last night about his negative ads? He was SMUG! Smug grin, smirk even, then 'well, this is politics after all..'
Then when John McCain said that his feelings were hurt that he was compared to Geo. Wallace, Obama derided him as the bully that he is about his 'hurt feelings.'
Why, oh why, would Mrs. McCain admit to one tiny thing about her husband's private mental health? So the liberal media would/could find some way to better belittle him?
Double standards being so accepted at this time, Mrs. McCain did what any wife would do; she protected her husband.
Cindy McCain is clueless
My husband is a Viet Nam Vet and has PTSD. I believe from reading I have done about Sen McCain that he had issues long before he went to Viet Nam. Anger management issues. Now I believe he has PTSD as well. My husband has it, I know the signs and if Cindy would like to deny it in her husband that is her choice. Being in denial isn't going to make this go away. Maybe that is why Cindy did drugs. Who knows?? But I do know that hiding from it, or doing drugs doesn't change the facts.
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