Let’s call the Straight Talk Express truth squad in to investigate this one. It’s HOT! While visiting Pittsburgh, John McCain said that while he was captured, he really loved the Steelers! The 1967 Steelers were 4-9-1. (thanks to Scarce)
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When I was first interrogated and really had to give some information… I named the starting lineup, defensive line, of the Pittsburgh Steelers as my squadron-mates!” — Sen. John McCain
McCain also said the same thing about the 1967 Green Bay Packers. McCain was a POW from late 1967 to early 1973.
As Newsweek states: For John McCain, memories seem to be malleable things.
But given that McCain’s misremembering was so politically convenient–what better way to curry favor in a key swing-state city, really, than by slotting a beloved local sports squad into a moving personal tale?–it’s worth recalling that the senator has claimed to have made exactly the same sort of “mistake” repeatedly in recent weeks.
In McCain’s best-selling 1999 memoir “Faith of My Fathers,” McCain writes:
“Once my condition had stabilized, my interrogators resumed their work. Demands for military information were accompanied by threats to terminate my medical treatment if I did not cooperate. Eventually, I gave them my ship’s name and squadron number, and confirmed that my target had been the power plant. Pressed for more useful information, I gave the names of the Green Bay Packers offensive line, and said they were members of my squadron. When asked to identify future targets, I simply recited the names of a number of North Vietnamese cities that had already been bombed.”
In 2005, A&E ran a movie version of “Faith of My Fathers.”
And McCain discussed that precise clip on CNN.
The actor playing McCain, asked to name the men in his squadron, says: “Starr; Greg; McGee; Davis; Adderly; Brown; Ringo; Wood.”
Cut back to real life. The CNN anchor asks McCain: “For those who don’t know the story, were those NFL football players?” “That was the starting lineup of the Green Bay Packers, the first Super Bowl champions, yes,” McCain responded.
UPDATE: Will this story come back to hurt McCain as we move forward in the general election? I think it gets at the truthiness of his character. I’m not sure what we can call this. It’s not flip flopping, is it? And is he starting to use his war record just a little to much to promote himself?
UPDATE II: Does McCain’s pandering to his Pittsburgh audience cheapen his POW experience so much, he needs to refrain from mentioning it?
No Trackbacks To “When McCain was interrogated in Vietnam he loved the Steelers, or was it the Packers?“
This takes pandering to an all new level. Even Pittsburghers didn’t fall for it.
Sorry, but this does not come even close to being a legitimate issue. McCain has so many other serious flaws and has made so many real missteps just this past week that this particular gaffe does not register at all.
The really interesting thing is that John McCain admits that “harsh interrogation tactics” just got him to make up stuff to keep his interrogators happy. Today, of course, Mr. McCain thinks such evidence should be admitted as evidence in military tribunals. Disgraceful pandering…
“Why I Won’t Vote For John McCain” RE: www.military.com
http://www.military.com/opinio....._1,00.html
Nuff said
#2: “Sorry, but this does not come even close to being a legitimate issue. McCain has so many other serious flaws and has made so many real missteps just this past week that this particular gaffe does not register at all.”
Could it actually be that this may prove to be one of his most serious flaws? He’s a liar! That’s can’t be good.
Well, it looks like we’re finally getting around to this now. bout time.
Well Guliani had “9/11.”
Does McCain want to lose? How many faux pas in one week? Of course MSM is treading lightly, but the average American is paying attention( I hope!) Well this whiner is throughly pissed off! If he wins, I think I’ll go to Canada, If I still have money.
tballou @ 2:
I beg to differ.
This goes straight to issues of his character. He is milking his POW experience for all its worth, which in and of itself, is rather sickening.
He’s using it to pander to a city in a swing state.
He’s lying freely about it, knowing that his own memoirs say that he recited the Packers.
Was he lying about the Packers as well, to make his POW experience seem more “Hollywood”?
Don’t forget how much the right wing blogs went apeshit over Hillary’s Bosnia story and even Obama supporters here thought it should have sunk her candidacy.
How is this different?
tballou @ 2:
So, the lying doesn’t matter to you? What’s wrong with calling attention to his lie? I think people can multi-task here and still address his “many other serious flaws.” I think honesty is a damn good trait to look for in a President. Call me crazy…
Do you think maybe if they would have waterboarded him they would have got the real information they where looking for? And it wouldn’t have been considered torture either. Or would it?
Well, we know he couldn’t have “misremembered” or “misspoke” because Hillary was already crucified for that!…Not that anyone would take a shot at an old, snarling war HERO!!! Good to know that as one of the “keep it going” commenters on COUNTDOWN (Alter, I think) said…”He’ll get it together eventually”…because they wouldn’t want to go for his throat as if he were say, A CLINTON!!! Must treat the old hero, maverick, “strait-shooter” with kid gloves…and hope no one will notice…usually works just fine…
After ditching the press earlier this week they are starting to cover a few more of his gaffes, but not enough. This should be covered 24/7 the same way it was when Obama chose not to take public financing.
“If the national media, commentators, editorial writers, and political observers are so concerned about defending a broken public financing system, it’s not Barack Obama who ought to be singled out for breaking it. McCain’s campaign, in announcing a $400 million campaign, has exposed the absurdity of claims that the current public financing system replaces private money and that candidates who take public money would be removed from the money chase so that they can focus on voters and important issues.”
he’s got 30 more teams as he crosses the country
in the bull shxt express. when in dallas he’ll say i told the enemy the dallas cowboy offensive line names…..even if he gets caught it will be considered cute/cuddley old grandpa talk.
Ringo?!? Jesus, Ringo hadn’t been a member of the Packers for three years (four years, if McCain was shot down in late ‘67) when the team won the Super Bowl. He was in Philly. The Packers center was Ken Bowman.
{Deleted, While we appreciate your in put, you’re off topic Sorry. Take it to an open thread.SiteMonitor}
An old conservative guy traveling around the country telling great ’stories’ in which the ‘facts’ change constantly? Isn’t McCain’s behavior the definition of ‘Reaganesque’? How can this possibly hurt him? Throw in some ‘morning in America’ BS and he’ll be Pres. McCain.
Rico @ 1:
Is it pandering or just another brain cramp, one of way too many? Either way, not too happy a situation.
tballou@ #2 It shows a pattern of lying repeatedly! I gotta wonder if he ever tells the TRUTH. Seriously, this guy lies as much as Bush and is just about as competent. It cracks me up to see conservatives in his home state disown this lying two-timing, warmongering liar. Obama leads McNasty in McNasty’s own home state according to Zogby.
Andy K Jong Il @ 15:
McCain sure is lucky you turned down that prison guard job in North Vietnam back in ‘66. I understand the pay was good, and the medical and dental as well but - fuckin’ commies - no 401k.
BTW, Ken Bowman was part of the play that won the Ice Bowl, but Jerry Kramer is a much better self-promoter. FWIW. :D
I’d heard about the Packers thing, but not the Steelers variation. And yeah, the Steelers weren’t really a great team until a few years later.
Yeah, joe, I turned down the offer. Optical was the sticking point.
RepubAnon @ 3:
Precisely what popped into my mind. McCain is living, high profile proof that torture doesn’t work and yet he endorses it.
Either McCain is a damn liar or has another memory lapse.
His campaign is one big joke!
My god how did he ever become Senator?
Andy K Jong Il @ 23:
The dental looked good though.
McImbroglio
AHD:
im·bro·glio (¹m-br½l“y½) n., pl. im·bro·glios. 1.a. A difficult or intricate situation; an entanglement. b. A confused or complicated disagreement. 2. A confused heap; a tangle. [Italian, from Old Italian, from imbrogliare, to tangle, confuse : in-, in (from Latin; see IN-2) + brogliare, to mix, stir (probably from Old French brooiller, brouiller; see BROIL2).]
I think #2 fits best.
Maybe this is why the starting lineup of the Kabul cricket squad is locked up in Guantanamo…?
Carol @ 25:
The way most do, Lying.
The Steelers flat out stunk back then, Batochio. Not that I remeber it- I was born in ‘65. But I’m a fourth generation Packers fan…And the first books that I got to choose for myself at the bookstore (circa ‘71-’72) were all books about the NFL. My dad’s buddies had me answering all their NFL trivia questions when I was 9.
I don’t know how many votes this will cost McCain in Green Bay, ’cause my sense of the town (I go there for games once or twice a year) is that it’s kinda rah-rah Republican territory, but it will cost him a few.
I think it was the Bedrock Raptors. Cliff Gneiss was quarterback.
I think it’s kind of fascinating that the man can’t remember how he voted on any particular bill or what his position is on any particular issue from week to week but he can remember the starting lineups from sports teams long ago. Interesting priorities.
people misremember stuff all the time. The essence of his story remains the same. I’m surely not voting for him but sometimes I call my nephews by the wrong name. If Obama did this I’d think it nothing, too.
Can’t we keep it to substantive issues. I’m tired of the Right focusing on non-essential stuff just because they disagree with someone’s politics - do we have to do it too?
formerpro @ 33:
Yeah, just a coincidence the team changed to the Steelers while McCain was speaking in Pittsburgh. Coulda happened to anyone…
formerpro@33
You’re right. Both versions smell like bullshit.
amato, i’ve always been in favor of going after mccain’s military “cred”.
if anything, i learned from karl rove (who’s probably a certified war criminal deserving of some new form of execution heretofore undevised) that you gotta hit ‘em where it hurts most.
if mccain’s “war hero” status is bull$#!+, the people gotta know.
call yourself a christian? call yourself a catholic? call yourself a pacifist?
then how does a thorough re-examination of mccain’s civilian bombing rap sheet make you unpatriotic?
did he spill the beans to ho chi minh’s half-retarded poet step-child over a candlelit rice, beetle grub and sake dinner?!
RepubAnon @ 3:
Why torture is somehow seen as an effective information gathering tool is beyond me. Has 24 rotted people’s brains that bad?
God, this is the 80’s and Reagan all over again. At least I was stoned during the 80’s.
formerpro@33
Isn’t it substantive enough that the guy lies at his own leisure? There isn’t much that differentiates this from McCain taking credit for VA funding that he voted against.
hope stewart and colbert have been taking notes the last 2 weeks, because when they return on monday they have a whole lot of shit to cover concerning mccain and all of his lies and fuckups. for sure the msm won’t cover any of it.
#36 Bullfrog - There’s an interesting website called Vietnam Veterans against John McCain that has some very interesting information; also information on his co conspirator Bud Day. I’d link it but I’m an eejit. The google gets you there.
personally i have come to the conclusion that his myth has been mostly fabricated. i mean it’s a story
that practically writes itself. people want to create a myth like that and he
has been more than willing to take advantage of it.
msnbc pointed out that neither team was popular at the time of his “captivity” yet they were popular when
the time was ripe. he is a con man.
Mickxotic @ 41:
Just as an FYI, the Vietnam Vets against McCain is run by one Ted Sampley who was part of the Swift boat crowd against Kerry and has been part of some of the Obama smears as well. Sampley is notorious for being a leech in a lot of ways.
I don’t recall all of the specifics but know that he has used Vietnam memorial images without paying any fees to the Vietnam memorial groups.
As #s 3, 24, and 37 pointed out, McCain now believes in torture. How long can the media go w/o asking about this?
carefulwiththatAXEeugene @ 43:
Actually when he was captured, the Packers were at the end of a long run of about five years of championships including Super Bowls I & II
For a guy that can’t find his ass with both hands, I give him credit for naming ANY NFL defensive front four. A feat like that would be an intellectual flash he has yet to show.
carefulwiththatAXEeugene@43
The Packers weren’t popular in ‘67?!?!
They won NFL championships in ‘61, ‘62, ‘65 and ‘66. They won Super Bowl I following the ‘66 league title. They were on their way to winning both the league championship and Super Bowl II in ‘67. They were pretty popular. Hell, it might be arguable, but that dynasty is the standard to which all others in the history of the league are compared. “Yeah, but how would they hold up against the Packers of the ’60’s,” is something you hear all the time…if you’re listening at all, I guess. :D
Come on people, is this really what we care about? Take a look at his ludicrous budget balancing proposal, what’s going on in Iraq/Afghanistan, or any of the other serious issues facing the nation. It’s not like he made up being a POW - he switched football teams. Everyone does this when they tell stories. How many inconsistencies would you get caught in if you were on the record all day every day for 20 years?
The Hillary Clinton in Bosnia story would only be similar if she had told the truth about the absence of fire but claimed to visit with Martin Lawrence instead of Sinbad. She lied about a substantive aspect of the story (and it was still pretty irrelevant). He lied or misspoke about football lineups - it just doesn’t matter. If we want to be able to ignore the Republican nonsense about Obama being a Muslim and Reverend Wright, we have to pass this stuff up. It makes the discourse stupider to latch on to it.