Difference between revisions of "John McCain"
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Three months later McCain was shot down over Hanoi and held as a [[Prisoner of War]] for five-and-a-half years.<ref>[http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/john_mccain/index.html John McCain] at the New York Times</ref> | Three months later McCain was shot down over Hanoi and held as a [[Prisoner of War]] for five-and-a-half years.<ref>[http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/john_mccain/index.html John McCain] at the New York Times</ref> | ||
| + | {{cquote|On October 26, 1967, during his 23rd air mission, McCain's plane was shot down over the North Vietnamese capital of Hanoi. His captors soon learned he was the son of a high-ranking officer in the U.S. Navy and repeatedly offered him early release, but McCain refused, ... knowing that the North Vietnamese would use his release as a powerful piece of propaganda. | ||
| − | + | He eventually spent five and a half years in various prison camps, three and a half of those in solitary confinement, and was repeatedly [[US POWs in Vietnam|beaten and tortured]] before he was finally released, along with other American POWs, in March 1973, two months after the Vietnam cease fire went into effect. | |
| − | + | Though McCain had lost most of his physical strength and flexibility, he was determined to continue serving as a naval aviator. After a painful nine months of rehabilitation, he returned to flying duty, but it soon became clear that his injuries had permanently impaired his ability to advance in the Navy.<ref>[http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=9542249 John McCain Biography (1936-)]</ref>}} | |
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| − | + | ||
McCain graduated from the National War College in 1974. Upon his retirement from the Navy in 1981, as a Captain, he had been commended with the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, and Distinguished Flying Cross.<ref> [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=m000303 Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]</ref> | McCain graduated from the National War College in 1974. Upon his retirement from the Navy in 1981, as a Captain, he had been commended with the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, and Distinguished Flying Cross.<ref> [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=m000303 Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]</ref> | ||
Revision as of 22:00, March 12, 2008
John Sidney McCain III (born Panama Canal Zone, August 29, 1936) [1] is the senior Senator from the state of Arizona, having served 20 years after replacing Barry Goldwater in 1986. He is currently the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Armed Services.[2] McCain, a Baptist,[3] has clinched the Republican nomination for President of the United States in the 2008 Election.[4][5]
Contents
Political career
McCain was elected to the House of Representatives from Arizona's 1st district in 1982 and served two terms before being elected to the Senate in 1986. In 2000, he pursued the presidency but lost his bid for the Republican nomination to George W. Bush, the first time he had lost an election.[6] John McCain is currently running for presidency of the United States as a Republican.
Political record
- Patriotism: as a POW for five-and-a-half years during the Vietnam War (see below), McCain is a living symbol of the honor and sacrifice of America's armed forces, and has the greatest claim of any of the candidates to be Commander-in-Chief.[7]
- National defense: McCain, a veteran, has been strong on national defense and a consistent supporter of the Iraq War.
- World affairs: McCain claims little patience for foreign opinion. In 2006, he said, "You can't expect the French to lead. You can't expect the Germans to lead. You can't even expect the British, our friends, to lead. The United States has to lead."[8]
- Israel: McCain has a 25-year pro-Israel voting record, going even further than President George W. Bush in defending Israel's most intense offensive against Lebanon in 24 years in response to Hezbollah's attacks on Israel.[9] The Jerusalem Post observed that McCain has "the best chance of returning his party to the Reagan-era level of at least 30 percent of Jewish voters pulling the GOP lever. In the last five presidential elections it has ranged from 9 to 24 percent."[10] McCain received an extraordinary endorsement for President by the prominent former Democrat Joe Lieberman, a leading spokesman for American-Israeli relations.
- Abortion: On Senate votes directly concerning abortion, McCain has voted on the pro-life side.
- Government Spending. McCain has vigorously advocated for the elimination of so-called "pork-barrel" spending. He voted against President Bush's Medicare Prescription Drug Act on the grounds that it was too costly.
- Evolution: McCain's position is that intelligent design should be taught along with the theory of evolution.
- Campaign finance: In 2002, McCain joined with liberal Democrat Russell Feingold to prohibit independent groups from advertising about a candidate within many weeks of an election. This law prohibits ads that do not even recommend for whom to vote, but merely urge people to contact their representatives concerning a vote that the representatives will make in Congress. A court recently declared this unconstitutional.
- Same-sex marriage: In 2006, McCain joined Democrats and liberal Republicans in voting against the Federal Marriage Amendment to protect traditional marriage. Later, on Hardball, McCain declared, "On the issue of the gay marriage, I believe that people want to have private ceremonies, that's fine."
Also, McCain's home state of Arizona was the only state to defeat a marriage referendum (in 2006), as McCain did nothing to support it. - Gambling: The McCain-Feingold campaign finance law allows Indian nations (which get nearly all their money from unregulated casinos) to make unlimited political donations, even though political donations by American citizens are strictly limited and political spending by corporations is prohibited.
- Tax cuts: McCain opposed President George W. Bush's tax cuts, on the argument that cutting taxes without also cutting spending was not actually a tax cut, but was a tax on future generations. He now supports keeping the Bush tax cuts in place.
- Criticism of the religious right: In his unsuccessful campaign in 2000, McCain criticized elements of the religious right because they were backing George W. Bush.
- Gun control: In 2004, McCain held a "C" rating by the NRA on a scale from "A" to "F".[11] In 2000 he campaigned as an advocate of the Second Amendment, but in 2002 McCain supported gun control by joining with Democrat Joseph Lieberman to push legislation that would shut down gun shows.[12]
- Immigration: In 2005-2006, McCain joined with liberal Senator Ted Kennedy to support a sweeping bill that was favorable to illegal aliens. It has not passed.
- "Gang of 14": On May 23, 2005, McCain was part of a group of 14 Senators who blocked the planned "nuclear option" for confirming blocked Republican nominees for the bench. Under this compromise a few judicial nominees were allowed to be confirmed (Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owen and William Pryor), but others (e.g., Henry Saad) remained blocked and had to withdraw.
- Senate Attendance Record. McCain has missed 33% of the Senate votes in early 2007, far more than the leading Democratic contenders.[13]
Electability
He has been called "the Democrats' worst nightmare".[14]
Of the major contenders, only McCain has a background that includes military service. Colonel Bud Day, the United States' most highly decorated officer, and the most decorated since General Douglas MacArthur, said: "Having stood side-by-side with John McCain on the battlefield, I know that he has the character and will to lead this great country. John McCain is the Commander-In-Chief our military needs during this generational struggle against global terrorism."
McCain has the reputation as an independent-minded maverick[15] and favorite of the media.[16] David Limbaugh said, "McCain is not only not conservative enough; he has also built a reputation as a maverick by stabbing his party in the back -- not in furtherance of conservative principles but by betraying them. McCain delights in sticking it to his colleagues while winning accolades from the mainstream liberal media." [17]
John McCain was a member of the Keating Five, a scandal relating to the Savings and Loan Crisis. The Senate Ethics Committee criticized him for "questionable conduct."
John McCain has cancer (melanoma) and has undergone multiple operations for it.[18] Cancer was an issue that hurt the presidential candidacy of Paul Tsongas in 1992. However, it was not even mentioned in the 2004 presidential campaign, despite the fact that John Kerry was treated for prostate cancer in early 2003.
John McCain is 71 years old, making him one of the oldest candidates to seek the presidency. Several issues relating to McCain's advanced aged and health have been discussed in the media.[19]
Military career
McCain served in the United States Navy from 1958 to 1981. By 1967, McCain was a veteran pilot aboard the USS Forrestal aircraft carrier off the coast of Vietnam. On 29 July 1967, while preparing to take off on a bombing run over North Vietnam a missile accidentally fired from another plane, hitting the fuel tanks on McCain's aircraft and triggering explosions and fire. McCain escaped from his plane by crawling onto the nose of the aircraft and diving on to the ship's deck which was ablaze from burning fuel. His attempt to rescue a fellow pilot whose flight suit was on fire was prevented when McCain was blown over by further explosions. When the fire was contained 24 hours later, 134 men had been killed and hundreds more injured. It was called the worst non-combat-related accident in U.S. naval history.[20]
Three months later McCain was shot down over Hanoi and held as a Prisoner of War for five-and-a-half years.[21]
| “ | On October 26, 1967, during his 23rd air mission, McCain's plane was shot down over the North Vietnamese capital of Hanoi. His captors soon learned he was the son of a high-ranking officer in the U.S. Navy and repeatedly offered him early release, but McCain refused, ... knowing that the North Vietnamese would use his release as a powerful piece of propaganda.
He eventually spent five and a half years in various prison camps, three and a half of those in solitary confinement, and was repeatedly beaten and tortured before he was finally released, along with other American POWs, in March 1973, two months after the Vietnam cease fire went into effect. Though McCain had lost most of his physical strength and flexibility, he was determined to continue serving as a naval aviator. After a painful nine months of rehabilitation, he returned to flying duty, but it soon became clear that his injuries had permanently impaired his ability to advance in the Navy.[22] |
” |
McCain graduated from the National War College in 1974. Upon his retirement from the Navy in 1981, as a Captain, he had been commended with the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, and Distinguished Flying Cross.[23]
Fundraising in 2007
McCain struggled to raise money for his 2008 presidential campaign, a sign of weakness for a front-runner. "Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney raised $23 million for his presidential campaign in the first three months of [2007], almost doubling the total of top Republican contender John McCain. McCain, an Arizona senator, brought in about $12.5 million in the first quarter, his campaign said. 'We had hoped to do better,' said Terry Nelson, his campaign manager. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said he raised $15 million, including more than $10 million in March alone."[24]
However, for all his money and spending, Rudy Giuliani won only one delegate.
Votes missed
As of August 2007, McCain had missed more votes during the current session of Congress than any Senator other than South Dakota Democrat Tim Johnson, who had suffered a brain hemorrhage that had kept him from Congress. He had missed over 48% of his votes. [25] This is due to the fact that he is running for President, and he has to attend political rallies across the country.
Personal life
McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone. He was educated in Alexandria, Virginia before receiving his Bachelors of Science from the United States Naval Academy in 1958.[26]
McCain has been married twice. His first marriage, to Carol Shepp, ended in divorce in 1980. His second and current wife is Cindy Lou Hensley.
His son John Sidney IV is a Midshipman at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, and his son James is a non-commissioned officer in the United States Marine Corps, who has served in Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
McCain's family
- Wife Cindy
- 4 sons
- Douglas
- Andrew
- John ("Jack") Sidney IV
- James
- 3 daughters
- Sidney
- Meghan
- Bridget
- Parents
- Admiral John Sydney McCain, Jr. (from Indiana)
- Roberta Wright McCain (from Oklahoma).
Books
- Faith of My Fathers (Random House; 1999) ISBN 0-3755-0191-6
- Odysseus in America (Scribner; 2002) ISBN 0-7432-1156-1
- Worth Fighting For: A Memoir (Diane Publ. Co; 2002) ISBN 0-7567-6759-8
- Medal of Honor (Artisan; 2003) ISBN 1-5796-5240-9
- Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life (Random House; 2004) ISBN 1-4000-6030-3
- Character Is Destiny: Inspiring Stories Every Young Person Should Know and Every Adult Should Remember (Random House; 2005) ISBN 1-4000-6412-0
- Hard Call: Great Decisions and the Extraordinary People Who Made Them (Twelve; 2007) ISBN 0-4466-9911-X
Further reading
- McCain, John My six years of hell: John McCain recalls life as a prisoner of war in Vietnam 8 February 2008 Daily Mail. Accessed 9 February 2008
See Also
External links
- John McCain: Courageous Service - Streaming video documentary hosted at YouTube, including footage of McCain's time as a POW and the Forrestal incident.
- John McCain Biography
- Evangelicals for McCain - Christians, Families and Patriots for John McCain
- McCain's Mom Pops Off
- Presidential Candidate John McCain on the Issues
References
- ↑ Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- ↑ Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- ↑ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296973,00.html McCain Identifies Himself as a Baptist
- ↑ McCain clinches GOP nomination; Huckabee bows out 5 March 2008 IndyStar.com
- ↑ John McCain Announces Plans for '08 Presidential Candidacy on 'Late Night With David Letterman', Associated Press, 1 March 2007
- ↑ John McCain at the New York Times
- ↑ Obama and Clinton have both gone on public record as stating that the other did not "meet the experience threshold" for the role of CinC, while Clinton has asserted that McCain does, and Obama has remained silent on the subject of McCain's "experience threshold".
- ↑ http://www.azstarnet.com/news/138072
- ↑ http://www.azstarnet.com/news/138072
- ↑ http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1202211060463
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ "Gun Shows and Gun Control: McCain Is at It Again!"
- ↑ http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0331missedvotes0331.html
- ↑ Democrats Worst Nightmare Accessed 5 March 2008
- ↑ McCain Fighting to Recapture Maverick Spirit of 2000 Bid, Michael D. Shear, Washington Post, March 15, 2007
- ↑ McCain Mutiny, Max Blumenthal, The Nation, February 21, 2007
- ↑ 'Maverick' and 'Conservative' Aren't Synonyms, David Limbaugh, Human Events, 01/25/2008
- ↑ http://www.riskworld.com/PressRel/2001/01q3/PR01a027.htm
- ↑ http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/18/mccain.ap/index.html?eref=rss_politics
- ↑ The coronation of the ultimate survivor, John McCain 5 March 2008 Daily Mail
- ↑ John McCain at the New York Times
- ↑ John McCain Biography (1936-)
- ↑ Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- ↑ http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aZ7SuEo0wuMM&refer=home
- ↑ Lawrence Journal-World, August 10, 2007
- ↑ John McCain at the New York Times
