Having given up on politics a few years back (its votes versus money, with money winning) I can only credit God for my picking up "Faith of My Fathers," the story of three generations of McCain men, including the one running for president.
When it comes to the Almighty, I sure hope I can buy her a cup of coffee sometime. She handed me a humbling book about courage and pain and determination and faith just when I was going into one of those moods where I don't want to be around anybody. And here's a book about communication as an essential in survival.
So thank you Capt. Lance Sijan. Thank you Jim Stockdale and Jeremiah Denton; Orson Swindle and Bud Day; even those two turncoat bastards that are never even named. Thank you all for your lessons.
And thank you, John McCain III, for making me think about politics again.
Mr. McCain spent five and a half years as a seriously injured and viciously maltreated prisoner of war in Vietnam. Along the way he cracked once, succumbing to disease and four days of beatings to compose a "confession" that no one was going to believe was his anyway. But he also became one of Hanoi Hilton's "Hells Angels," the hard cases the captors needed to separate. Their crimes were high ones.
Holding on to dignity. Refusing to become animals. Keeping in contact with each other.
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If this were merely a revew, it would be a rave. It's not that McCain and his co-author Mark Salter are going to scare Norman Mailer; it's because the tone is perfect. There's an honesty here, and a humble attitude here, and above all else there are some stuffy old-fashioned attitudes here that don't seem like relics of a chivalrous age. Quaint concepts such as being an officer and a gentleman aren't being played out in ballrooms full of men in dress blues. They are being played out in filth, pain and misery. Powerful stuff.
If this were political commentary, I'd note history suggests a tough time for any front-runner going into New Hampshire, and it's no surprise McCain is gaining on George The Sequel Bush. That state has always liked the politcal outsider, and history shows voters have been real kind to war heroes, too.
Since this is new web journalism, let me get to my point right away: Modern politics is dominated by lightweights and McCain is clearly no lightweight. Think of framing the character issue in the old question: "What did you do in the war, Daddy?"
Let's see. If you're Al Gore, you wrote military press releases, and if you believe recent investigations, his Senator father made damn sure he never got in harms way. George The Sequel Bush got some sweetheart noncombat military deal to ride out the war. And now John McCain: "Uh, they pulled my arms out of their sockets wth ropes and my Dad dropped bombs right over my head because he had an entire war to run."
So instead of further bashing the lightweights and dilettantes like Forbes and Trump, let's go back to a moment of McCain's darkest moment even to this day, his day of cracking under torture.
Fearing he was about to start saying more than the name, rank and serial number stuff, John McCain tried to hang himself. An exceptional act that almost qualifies as unexceptional in that crowd. Jim Stockdale slashed his wrists to try to keep from naming names and beat himself up to keep from appearing on camera. Contemplate all that for a moment, then contemplate this "Faith of My Fathers" quote:
"The days and hours are very long, but the months and years pass quickly."
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Months and years pass quickly in this wack 2000 presidential race, too. For reasons unknown outside of incestuous political circles, candidates started begging and pandering more than a year ago. All the big primaries have been moved up for various officially pathetic reasons, which means a lot of politics in a hurry and then three months of dead time between the primaries and the conventions. Here's a hint on the downtime. In war, armies sometimes have to stop and reload; in politics, the ammo is money.
High irony that McCain, whose book tells a moving story of his father defending his credibility before Congress, has been fielding high, hard questions on a supposed influence peddling matter; some connection between a contributor and a political outcome. McCain makes campaign finance reform a priority and suddenly things start getting leaked around town about him. Please excuse my skepticism.
And high outrage that McCain is currently being bashed in a New HampshireTV campaign by anonymous fat cats working through Grover Norquist, the Washington superlobbyist with Microsoft and foreign dictators on his client list.
Unfortunately, it's a far cry from being moved by a book or outraged by a misleading ad campaign to actually voting for a fella. There are things to consider, such as McCain's 17-year anti-abortion record and his vague notions of censoring the Internet.
To be fair, his web site cites his "battles against big tobacco, the sugar industry, oil and gas companies, ethanol producers and other corporate titans." He even sells a $15 pinup of himself on the web site. Check it out -- the young Navy flyboy. Having seen plenty of this rock-hard studhood in bars in Virginia Beach, I'll let him slide on this one. Republicans need to work on attracting women anyway.
Current political wisdom says McCain could easily win in New Hampshire Feb 1, but that for him to derail George The Sequel (and remember, Bush is the greatest GOP money raiser since Nixon's Maurice Stans), McCain must win in South Carolina Feb. 19th. We'll see soon enough.
No, when it comes to John McCain, there's two things I have to do before I can tell him I'm voting for him.
First thing I have to say is thanks. The second thing I want to say is, hey, I would have cracked, too. You did the best you could, and that's all that can ever be asked.
Especially if you're running for president.
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G.L. Marshall, a lifelong civilian who keeps a dog tag on his key ring, regrets to say he takes any politician preaching campaign finance reform with a large degree of skepticism.
