Common People it's totally Obvious that if your a POW you can be excused for anything.. This video proves it. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Da4N-CTTRIM&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Da4N-CTTRIM&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Hannity on Edwards: "If you can't keep the promise to your family? Can't keep the promise to your wife? Your having an affair your lying about the affair? Why should the people trust you?" Colmes: "Then how can we trust McCain he cheated on his first wife" Hannity: "That's different he was a POW for 5 years" WTF???
Pointing out someone trivializing their own past does not equal trivializing their past. McCain and his cronies in the media using it to excuse gaffes or other wrong-doings (like cheating on his wife) is certainly trivializing not only his terrible time as a POW, but others who were as well.
classic video. just look at the bewilderment in the eyes of the 3 republican pundits and hannity... i was shocked that colmes had a pair...
First, whether or not you are correct does affect whether or not equating one's feeling about W to a POW experience trivializes that experience. That IS trivializing the POW experience. What McCain has or hasn't done does not affect that conclusion. Second, tying in the POW experience with his cheating on his wife doesn't necessarily trivialize his POW experience. The post Traumatic Stress Syndrom FROM the POW experience is relevant to one's state of mind when dealing with relationships. It is well documented that it is a huge burden on relationships in the years after the incident.
I never did that, nor do I recall the Obama campaign doing that. Ok, point taken. But that's not the only time his campaign has brought it up as a defense for something. They referenced it during housegate and on many other issues.
No, it wasn't you. It was someone else earlier in the thread. I think it probably is relevant to the earlier marraige question but I'm not disagreeing that his POW experience shouldn't be used as a club to beat back any and every challenge.
i am gravely concerned about how his severe and obviously still present post traumatic stress syndrome will affect his relationship with congress, foreign leaders and, most importantly, the american people. he should seek treatment not the highest office in the land. an american hero he is, competent to serve as commander and chief... oh god, please no.
Almost every single person that has cheated in a marriage has their own set of extenuating circumstances about why they cheated. There almost always is. I'm sure Edwards has some as well. Regardless of those circumstances in any case it doesn't make the act of cheating different.
Sure it does. Existence of mass trauma creates extenuating circumstances. It doesn't make it right, but having PTSS is not the same as someone living a regular life getting a little on the side.
Okay, but if McCain cheating with Cindy was PTSS, don't you think it's odd that me married her? If he was acting crazy you'd think he would've wised up by now. And we can't forget this quote (I'm sure it's been posted before, but, hey)
having ptss is a circumstance. There are people who cheat because their wife or husband is manic, or clinically depressed, or just in the dumps because they got laid off, or other disorders that are hard to live with. Some people cheat because they are traumatized because their spouse cheated. Some people cheat because they travel a lot for work, or their spouse is away traveling a lot for work. Cheating is almost hardly ever just "getting a little on the side". It's almost always tied to other circumstances. It's always still cheating. It's always still betrayal.
This I don't get. He's allowed to use his POW experiences as an excuse for present day errors, but its not okay to flip that back in his face saying that his present day errors are due to the present psychological effects of being a POW. Both are essentially saying the same thing, except the former is used an excuse, and the latter is placing blame because of his POW experiences. I don't buy either way you spin it, but the fact that it's used at all is pretty pathetic.
Hayes, I have sympathy for your posts in this thread, which is not a new phenomenon. However, I must instead agree with Trader_J's version of McCain's failed marriage. Instead of some sort of erratic behavior, it was more likely coldly calculated. Let's see here: attractive, younger, and rich beyond my wildest dreams? .... Arhhgghhh -- I'm having a post-traumatic attack of uncontrolled self-serving spouse upgrading! Can't seem to... stop self! This was not exactly someone he met at the miss buffalo chip contest in South Dakota for a wild fling...
I think the timeline is getting confused. PTSS is a viable explanation for his having cheated on his first wife (studies show it causes those afflicted to withdraw from family and friends, be consumed with guilt and heavy practitioners of avoiding things that remind them of who they were/how they felt before the trauma - marriages suffers tremendously because of the loss of intimacy and attachment that results). That was in the 70s, not in the present day. That doesn't mean that now, almost thirty years later, he is having the same problems. Yes, of course it is still betrayal. But it's pretty ridiculous to compare being down from getting laid off to being a POW. PTSS is not someone having a bad day. Despite that, as Apollo's quote of McCain above shows, McCain himself doesn't use it as a reason for his actions, even though IMO it isn't hard to show that it very well could be related (ie it would fit the pattern of thousands of other cases of PTSS experienced by POWs in particular and veterans in general).
No, I understood exactly what you meant. It doesn't excuse his actions. McCain was never forced to cheat on his wife.
Thing is his POW experiences are used as an excuse past marital infidelity. It's like some sort of immunity card from criticism when he makes an error in judgment. Frankly I can understand cheating on a relationship. I disagree with it, but I can understand being vulnerable and lapse in judgment. I can't vouch for this being accurate but I believe someone on here said he didn't cheat until 7 years after being a POW. I'm not an expert on PTSS but I would think with the proper care someone would be coping well with it after 7 years. Especially someone that is supposed to be tough minded to accomplish what he's done in his political career. I can't bear a grudge or judge another person when an issue like cheating is aired out in the open. It's a private matter between the couple and family if kids are involved. Any sort of closure reached within the family should be accepted by all parties and judgment should be cast aside. Unfortunately this is not the case much like the John Edwards case. Airing dirty laundry like that is sickening to me. I just want to make that clear. I just don't buy the excuse of being a POW for every mishap in his campaign for presidency. That is sickening to me also.
