the Jay Leno show for one. LENO: For $1 million, how many houses do you own? MCCAIN: You know, could I just mention to you Jay, in a moment of seriousness, I spent five and a half years in a prison cell. I didn’t have house. I didn’t have a kitchen table. I didn’t have a table. I didn’t have a chair. And I spent those five and a half years because — not because I wanted to get a house when I got out. … I’m proud of my record of service to this country, and it has nothing to do with houses. It has to do with putting Americans in houses and keeping them in their homes. Why did McCain respond to the question on that with that answer? Here's another example.
Im an idiot? lol so a pow and a poor person have common viewpoints? If you say yes you're the idiot. Well actually i already know you're an idiot cause you're voting for mccain like FB said he cant relate to poor people because he was a pow, he is only pulling that card as a get-out-of-jail-free card. sharing conditions that are the same does not equate to sharing common viewpoints...CAN YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?
I hope to god that his campaign goes that route with some tv ad or something.... "John mccain understands what it means to be poor, because John Mccain was a POW" "John mccain can relate to your problems, he understands, infact he plans to lower taxes on the rich because he knows that poor people want greater inequality" YES YOU'RE AN IDIOT FOR MAKING THIS comparison
Really? I have never seen Obama do anything like the following: REPORTER/HOST: No really, are you sure you're not a muslim. OBAMA: You know, I grew up so poor that for many years we didn't have two m's in my box of letter blocks, so even if I'd wanted to be muslim, I could only have spelled uslim or musli, and well, I hated that cereal, as do most Americans. or REPORTER/HOST: So tell us about Rezko. OBAMA: Where I grew up, we never had money, and we never had sleazy, slick real estate developers. There were years where my family didn't even have a real estate agent. Not even an agent. So that's where I'm coming from and you can quit asking me about Rezko now. etc. That is exactly what it looks (to me) like McCain has done more than once with the POW thing. I'm serious.
I just think we'll have to agree to disagree. To me the question/jokes purpose is to say he doesn't understand what it's like to have material problems. His POW experience is a response to that.
I understand your point but I think that ignores the relevance of the POW experience to being through hard times, at it's core. Those experiences are relevant and to be serious is about as good a response as he's got to the joke. OTOH Barack being poor isn't relevant to Rezko or being Muslim. You know I'm voting for McCain? That's hard to believe since I never said that I was voting for McCain.
It's not really relevant. He's comparing the effects of something. It's like a guy who accidentally shot himself while drunk saying he knows what it's like to fight in a war because he's got a bullet wound. Yeah, he was shot and it hurts just the same...but it doesn't mean he has any clue about an actual gun battle.
More like some who shot himself understands what it is like to be shot. Really I don't understand what the big controversy is. McCain's POW experience and his conduct during that experience are a big testament to his love of country, and to his steadfastness under extreme duress in the service of the country. It isn't suprising nor unreasonable that his campaign makes a big deal out of it. It doesn't absolve him of cheating on his first wife. It does provide some context though, IMO. Does it mean he was poor? No, but it does show that he's lived in substandard conditions and can relate to that experience. Is it objectively an answer for every issue? No, of course not.
I think it does but maybe it just isn't spelled out in the same way I am. Q: So...how many houses DO you own? That question is designed to say that McCain does not understand what it is like to be materially strapped. A: I spent five years as a POW. That answer is designed to say McCain does understand severe hardship.
I largely agree with this; I would just say it's not a "controversy," but for me the idea is a political one. If this is an ace in the hole, when and how often do you show the hole card to the rest of the table. If I'm in his camp, I worry that the POW line will be wrung dry by mid-September, to say nothing of October.
A: I spent five years as a POW. That answer is designed to say McCain does understand severe hardship.[/QUOTE] But his POW status was unrelated to finance or economics.
Well I messed up the quoting in the previous post. Let's try again. Except "materially" is not the proper word there - "financially" is. The idea is that McCain specifically doesn't understand the financial/economic hardships people are going through right now, and specifically in regards to housing and mortgages. But his POW status was unrelated to finance or economics.
Yeah, I think you're spot on. I just think the POW POW POW thing goes beyond saying 'if you overuse it then it becomes background noise' and instead makes his experience a joke. I don't particularly like that. I think this is similar to the causal argument AC was trying to make earlier in the thread. Certainly cause is something Obama can talk about, but that doesn't mean the experience, the result of hardship isn't applicable. Although the causes were different, he can reasonably say 'I know what it is like to live in a terrible situation, I know what it is like to feel powerless against greater forces beyond my control, I know what it is like to be hungry, to be sick with no treatment,' and the like. The biggest issues with poverty/economic hardship are the material restriction and the stress/powerlessness of the situation. He can justifiably say he can relate.
I see what your saying, but hardship is way to broad of a category for his answer to be relevant. If you were telling McCain that you had been diagnosed with cancer and he responded by saying that he was a POW, I would think that you would be baffled at him saying that. Being a POW is a hardship, but it isn't really related to what you as someone who had just been diagnosed with cancer is dealing with. I mean if an answer only has to be connected in such a broad manner as "both hardships" then people could answer anything and it would make sense. If someone told Obama he wasn't experienced enough to be the President, and he said that he had to work hard to pay off his school loans, then it would really be a connection because he had experience in paying off loans. So he really is addressing the issue, because he's talking about his experience.
A POW that broke under pressure and gave his captures whatever they wanted to know. I know street gangsters that will die before giving up their friends. But John McCain gave away his country secrets to stop pain. How about we just thank him for enduring the torture and his service and give him some medical benefits to retire on at his age. President..hell no...we will probably go back to war with vietnam so he can get revenge if he is elected.
