Not defending McCain's flight record (like everyone else here, I don't have the knowledge base to do so), but it seems extremely petty and partisan to try and hold this against him:

It's not like the pilots on an aircraft carrier get to decide where they will stage to await launch. And it's not like McCain was responsible for the rocket launch.

Sadly, partisanship overwhelms reason in our politics now. This "my team" rah-rah that substitutes for political discourse would have made the founding fathers puke dayglo.

Matt

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De duobus malis, minus est semper eligendum

Again, those incidents do not paint the picture of an incompetent pilot. Of those 5 "crashes" you brought up (and that are reference in that site) only 3 are actually crashes: two owing to mechanical failure, and one to enemy fire. Of the other two: he clipped a power line while flying low (but didn't crash), and for the other he was sitting in his aircraft on the flight deck when ANOTHER aircraft had a malfunction and discharged rockets into this plane.

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Success is measured in blood; yours or your enemy's.

I count five... the flameout over the gulf, the clipping of the wires while flying too close to the ground, the flameout returning from an army navy game, the forrestal inferno and his being shot down...

my credentials are not germaine to the discussion any more than yours are...

but...

I served ON THE GROUND in Viet Nam... did you?

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I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.
~~ Socrates

If you want to make a case as being the "goats " or close to it ( a euphemism for those last in their classes at the service academies), I suggest you take a look at whom in the past has been the goat and of course whom has gradated first.

I think you'll find that, there is very little practical difference once the balloon goes up. There have been goats that have gone on to great success and 1st in their classers that have crashed and burned…and vis versa, all in all its a poor metric in this case.

He was a General in the Army... in my book, that gives him more command judgement about military qualifications than anyone on this board... that he is against your candidate obviously clouds your judgement of his.

I bet if he was in McCain's corner, you'd have no problems at all with General Wesley Clark's observations.

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I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.
~~ Socrates

I have provided a link to my assertions, where is yours?

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I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.
~~ Socrates

so what? as a grunt or a Pogue? this makes a difference as to who we think has more military chops for c in c?

and yet, even though good ol Joe corrected him that day, McCain made the same claims again the next day.

Got senior moments?

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I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.
~~ Socrates

That isn’t what he said. What he said it “was common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran, that’s well known. And it’s unfortunate.” That’s almost a half degree of separation from “Al Qaeda members received advice and training from [the Iranian-backed terrorist group] Hezbollah.”, as was reported in the 9/11 Commission Report.

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Election 2008 – Addicted to Placebos

wrong... crashes are crashes... most pilots would be grounded when they destroy aircraft under their command... not so the admiral's son... he got to keep flying...

why? not because he loved it or was good at it.... because his daddy pulled strings...

McCain is an elitist used to getting everything he wants...

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I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.
~~ Socrates

uh huh, but we KNOW where you stand and we do know where he stands, and I have already stated like 40 fucking times, he’s got no higher command experience BUT the issue here is, we are better off with a 47 year old wide eyed wonder with ZERO?


and of course your soooo non partisan....drop the cross please.

A half degree?

Get real.

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Who does vote for these dishonest shitheads? Who among us can be happy and proud of having all this innocent blood on our hands? Who are these swine? These flag-sucking half-wits who get fleeced and fooled by stupid little rich kids like George Bush?

--Hunter S. Thompson

He recieved a Bronze Star and a Navy Commendation Medal for his missions.

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Success is measured in blood; yours or your enemy's.

not true- there are investigations after every crash, if hes culpable, he should be grounded and re certified, if not, hes not.

You are determined to make him a scape goat dude your bias is now overwhelming ………take a breather…

we're down to questioning the viability of giving an award to a 5 1/2 pow ...this dudes whacked.....