John McCain was a POW for over 5 years. McCain’s service to this country is unquestioned. Barack Obama has always shown respect for this wartime veteran, but his status as a former POW should not be used as a whipping stick. Recently the McCain Gang has started using his POW experience as an excuse for any criticism. The Pensito Review chronicled the misuse today, “For about the past month, John McCain has been pulling a full Rudy by introducing his prisoner of war status seemingly at every turn. As Keith Olbermann put it on MSNBC’s “Countdown” Thursday night, McCain’s campaign has been using “POW as a reflexive non sequitor, a trend now risking self-parody — a noun, a verb and POW.” If he keeps it up, it will also be time to suggest McCain is running for president of the Hanoi Hilton. Here are three recent and increasingly nonsensical references by the McCain campaign to his status as a former POW: On Wednesday, McCain’s campaign spokesman described McCain as “not an argula-eating, pointy headed professor-type … [but] a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years — in prison.” Last Saturday: “The insinuation from the Obama campaign that John McCain, a former prisoner of war, cheated [at the Saddleback megachurch forum] is outrageous,” [McCain operative Nicole Wallace] said. Last week: McCain himself mentioned his POW status when he called Tallahassee reporter Stephen Price to explain why Price, who is black, had been the only reporter who was kicked out of the press area at a rally in Florida. Writing about the call, Price said, “McCain went on to defend his civil-rights legislative record and said he knows what it’s like to have your rights taken away. McCain was a prisoner of war in Vietnam.” Enough already we respect his service, but we will not be held captive to it.
