The Feminist vs. the War Hero
By John Rohan Posted in 2008 — Comments (45) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Promoted from diaries by Mark I.
Yesterday, while stumping for Hillary Clinton, feminist writer Gloria Steinem shamelessly decided to take a swipe at John McCain's service record:
“Suppose John McCain had been Joan McCain and Joan McCain had got captured, shot down and been a POW for eight years. [The media would ask], ‘What did you do wrong to get captured? What terrible things did you do while you were there as a captive for eight years?’” Steinem said, to laughter from the audience....“I mean, hello? This is supposed to be a qualification to be president? I don’t think so.”
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“I am so grateful that she [Clinton] hasn’t been trained to kill anybody. And she probably didn’t even play war games as a kid. It’s a great relief from Bush in his jump suit and from Kerry saluting.”To the Observer, Steinem insisted that “from George Washington to Jack Kennedy and PT-109 we have behaved as if killing people is a qualification for ruling people.”
Sorry, Gloria, but knowing how to defend your nation is a qualification for ruling people. One of the jobs of the President is to be Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces (of the most powerful military in the world). And in my book, that means that military experience is a great asset.
I have some reservations about McCain, but his military service isn't one of them. He spent about five and a half years in captivity, two of those years in solitary confinement. He suffered dysentery, and was tortured repeatedly. Today he walks with a limp and can't raise his arms above his head because of the poor medical treatment and the beatings he received. And in all this, the man loves his country so much that he spent more than four years as a POW than he had to - he refused an early release unless all the prisoners captured before him were released as well.
To explain this point: during the war, there was an informal prisoner code that prisoners would only accept release in the order they came into captivity. Since McCain's dad was an admiral (chief of all Naval operations in the Pacific) they wanted a propaganda victory by releasing him early and showing the world that in the United States, elites get preferential treatment. McCain refused, rather than denigrate his country. This decision must have been very painful for him; on top of everything else, he had a family and a child he had never even seen.
And if you thought she couldn't be any more wrong here:
Steinem has been a Clinton supporter for several years—even though, as she reminded me, she protested against Bill Clinton’s welfare reforms outside the White House.
The welfare reform she is referring to was the 1996 "Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act", which was a huge success, and one of the better bills that came out of the Clinton era. It gave states more flexibility on welfare programs, reduced people on welfare rolls by a whopping 57%, and lowered child poverty rates overall.
Donklefant puts this in a category of "dumb things said by smart people". I'm not sure I would give her that much credit. The reaction from other pundits has been far less generous.
Steinem, whose only act of heroism that I am aware of, was to submit to her third face-lift, went on to laud Clinton
I don't care how much of brain-dead liberal/anti-war/goon you are, if you can't even respect that a man gave five and a half years of his life being tortured while protecting our country than you don't deserve to live here. Get the f*** out, I don't care where you go, just not here. This is one of those instances where I'm fighting the urge to use that word women hate more than any other word.....
Why am I quoting these other blogs? Because those are the only ones I found! Strangely, far-left sites like "Talking Points Memo", "Media Matters", "Crooks and Liars", and "Balloon Juice", who feign outrage whenever they feel guys like Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly denigrate the military in the slightest, had absolutely nothing to say over this.
Ms. Steinem may have done more harm to Clinton's bid than good. To their credit, the Clinton campaign was very, very quick to offer this statement (although it may have been from fear of a backlash):
"Senator Clinton has repeatedly praised Senator McCain's courage and service to our country. These comments certainly do not represent her thinking in any way. Senator Clinton intends to have a respectful debate with Senator McCain on the issues."
Note: This article was cross-posted from my blog here. If you want to read more, go check it out! Godspeed.
Edit: Note to "Mark I" - thanks for the promotion!
multiple more years as a POW.
I agree that there are questions about McCain (especially immigration for me), but I have no questions about his courage.
It's the immigration issue that troubles me as well, but there are few people who have a resume that can even hold a candle to John McCain's.
My website: The Shield of Achilles
My understanding is that the VC took his refusal personally, so it was multiple additional years in what was already a hell hole, with his captors going out of thier way to make things as bad as possible for him.
I'm not crazy about McCain as face of conservatism for the next 8 years, but to say that he's anything other than a certifiable war hero is insane. I've seen the videotape of him calmly sizing up his options and leaping over/through a pool of flaming jet fuel. If there's anyone I'd trust to act rationally under pressure, he's that person.
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"You can't save the Earth unless you're willing to make other people sacrifice" - Scott Adams (speaking through Dogbert)
Glorai Steinum and the mind of a New Leftists. These people are evil and twisted.
Didn't she use to claim she was relevant or something?
the walking dead....she means nothing to any woman who is not associated with Hillary or Barbara Streisand....old bitter bitties....aww heck lets throw traitor Jane Fonda in with the old witch gang.
Freedom of Religion not Freedom from Religion
Killing people is a qualification for ruling people!
Just ask Fidel Castro, or the late Saddam Hussein. *wink*
(An absurd statement deserves an absurd answer)
I wonder what Gloria Steinem would say about this female Air Force pilot:
She can't give her real name (her call sign is "KC"). And in Iraq, her job was flying close air support missions in A-10's. That means, basically, strafing the enemy on the ground, up close and personal. She brought her crippled aircraft home even after it was severely damaged by enemy anti-aircraft fire.
http://userpages.aug.com/captbarb/KCpilot.html
It would be fun to see if Gloria Steinem thinks this woman is qualified to hold any public office, after the body count she has undoubtedly racked up.
she wants to be able to pick and choose what women's choices would be...she's not a feminist she is a socialist...as most of her kind are.
Freedom of Religion not Freedom from Religion
That was sort of my point:
Women now have so many opportunities that the brand of feminism Steinem espouses now actually works to restrict the choices women now have.
As we have seen with the introduction of women into combat situations in Iraq:
Women are now learning how to kill for the right cause. And even take a bullet if necessary:
And they're doing well at it.
Sorry, Gloria.
The thing about these radical feminists is, they don't have any children of their own. A disproportionate number of them are lesbians.
That's why they think that being a woman and being capable of using force in self-defense don't go together.
If you think a woman is less capable of violence, try harming her child right in front of her.
I haven't been trained to kill, but I would kill in an instant if one of my children were about to be harmed. And I wouldn't think twice or have one iota of remorse for the poor b*st*rd that found himself dead on the floor.
send her to Iraq and let her get captured, on a trial basis only, and see if she has the same opinion when the trial period is over. Full money back guarantee if she isn't satisfied at the end of the trial period, or even before it has ended if she isn't happy.
A government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have - Thomas Jefferson
Sid C
Sorry, Ms. Steinem, but it's not about killing people, but how one behaves under great stress and trauma--something you know nothing about.
Wonder what her life would have been like without that Playboy stint?
In Vino Veritas
Pain, how much could Gloria endure? McCain's every waking hour was full of pain both mental and physical. Walk a mile in McCain's shoes and Glori would just sing like a canary.
Few of us have experienced extreme pain on any kind of an ongoing basis, especially in a situation of torture where those inflicting pain know how to make sure the victim experiences the maximum level of pain. I am a guy - not the toughest, but not the wimpiest. With what I've experienced in the pain category, I doubt I would make it 500 yards in McCain's "hanoi hilton" shoes.
Sen. McCain was a POW for 5.5 years, not 8 years. Hillary was first lady for 8 years. Is Steinem equating being first lady with being a Vietnam POW???
I seem to remember it being the pro-feminist Democrats who were jumping over each other to try to poke holes in the Jessica Lynch capture story, and to prove that she wasn't valorous in the least.
Steinem's comments are offensive. McCain served his country with distinction. His conduct in the famous fire on the USS Forrestal showed his courage and ability to act quickly in a tremendously dangerous situation. His remaining a POW five years longer than he needed to makes him a hero. He would be worthy of historical mention even if he had not served over two decades in elected office. Steinem should retract and apologize.
But this kind of nonsense should be expected given the awful treatment of John Kerry in the 2004 campaign. Thanks to the Swiftboaters, nobody's military record is safe from attack. Bush could have won without that kind of attack.
Also, it doesn't necessarily follow that military experience is an asset to being President. Neither Woodrow Wilson nor Franklin Roosevelt ever served a day in uniform. And two of the three career military officers who became President -- Taylor and Grant -- rank near the bottom of the rankings of Presidential effectiveness. (Eisenhower was the third and ranks in the middle; McCain would be the fourth.) This is not a winning argument, especially in a country where today most young people do not serve in the military.
Only because the Left and their running dogs in the media acted in lockstep to minimize the fact checking of the Swift Boat vets and others did he escape the universal approbation he deserves.
The man got it wrong. He was trying to emulate his "hero" JFK and get a war record for his political career - a low cost, low risk war record. He willfully and cynically jumped at every chance to get a PH for the slightest scratch and manipulated the medal game, a game unfortunately all to easy to play in a war becoming unpopular. He got his three PHs quickly so he could get out quickly and pursue his political career as a war hero, but the political earth had moved under his feet and the good people of MA weren't into war heros. So, in search of political glory under the new formula, he became a self-styled anti-war hero, betraying his fellow soldiers and his Country in the process. That is the long and short of it. I'm no McCain fan, but how dare you compare that self-serving coward and traitor Kerry to a man who genuinely did serve his Country valorously?
In Vino Veritas
rxfeather
What is the source of your calling Kerry a self-serving coward and traitor? Cite your documents and put up or shut up about Kerry. At least he served his country while Cheney and Bush were avoiding Vietnam service. I served 32 years in the U.S. Navy as a Naval Aviator with four flying combat assignments in Vietnam so be careful with your words. I supported Kerry and am proud of it. I also support John McCain but not for POTUS.
...except that I'm not particularly thankful. We don't tolerate chickenhawkers here.
The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC. I've been usurped!
in which he called our soldiers murderers -- Ghengis Khan ring a bell? -- that was self-serving and cowardly. And the way he called our troops in Iraq murderers -- again reprising his 1972 testimony -- self-serving and cowardly...
Achance called it correctly...ya chickenhawk
...but self-serving coward (purple hearts for little ouchies as a ticket out of Nam) and traitor (Paris) are well-documented matters of public record.
And were you still here, maybe you could do some of that documenting yourself regarding Bush's 'avoiding Viet Nam service'.
Kill the terrorists
Protect the borders
Punch the hippies -- Frank J
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"If we want to take this party back, and I think we can someday, let’s get to work." – Barry Goldwater
He could give Dan Blather a call, since that guy's not all that busy of late...
Kill the terrorists
Protect the borders
Punch the hippies -- Frank J
on Lake Champlain, dammed the torpedoes with Farragut at Mobile Bay, stood by Admiral Dewey at Manila, and skippered the PT boat that got MacArthur's ass out of the Phillippines.
Where were you?
So you be careful with YOUR words !!
Oh, and you missed T Boone Pickens $1MM offer to Kerry to disprove one thing the Swiftboat vets said about Kerry. Kerry said he would.
Pickens is still waiting !
"a man's admiration for absolute government is proportinate to the contempt he feels for those around him". Tocqueville
But this kind of nonsense should be expected given the awful treatment of John Kerry in the 2004 campaign. Thanks to the Swiftboaters
I disagree with you, but the irony is that if you are right, that only highlights the hypocrisy here even more. The same popular web sites who were complaining so loudly about the swiftboaters haven't said anything at all about Steinem's statements (they still haven't - I just went to their web sites and checked again just now).
My website: The Shield of Achilles
Diarists, take note: when you edit promoted diaries after the fact, they drop off the front page. When we place your diary on the front, it's becuase the editors want it to stay there.
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Damn the Obama! Full speed ahead!
Sorry, I didn't know that - never had one of my blog posts promoted before! Thanks for the info.
My website: The Shield of Achilles
I doubt that killing people and withstanding the horror of war, the tests of courage, leadership, tactics, all while defending your nation is less than sitting in the White House in a roaring rage over your husband's sexual lusts.
There is a marked difference in experience there, you might say Honor vs dishonor.
In any case Gloria enjoy Hillary while you can, the tugboat is about to sink.
"a man's admiration for absolute government is proportinate to the contempt he feels for those around him". Tocqueville
We owe Goria Steinem a thank you (of sorts) for so clearly stating the Democratic view of government. Democrats see an ignorant people who need a ruler to keep them safe and orderly.
You can't afford the price of free corn.
Just two years ago, the Dems were running a bunch of former veterans like Jim Webb and saying that we had to support them because only they understood the world and Iraq. And of course, in 2004, we heard about Kerry's Band of Brothers ad nauseum. But now the Dems don't have a veteran leading their ticket, and the GOP does, so they have to switch.
Listening to Dems changing their talking points is enough to give you whiplash.
This might be a good place to insert a quote from RAF Air Marshal Sir John Slessor:
"It is customary in democratic countries to deplore expenditures on armament as conflicting with the requirements of the social services. There is a tendency to forget that the most important social service a government can do for its people is to keep them alive and free".
Are you hearing this Gloria?
... but being a woman and sleeping with the President for 8 years is.
"If all men were just, there would be no need of valor."
- Agesilaus
I have been covered up in work and have not been keeping up with details well over the past two weeks. Thanks for bringing this here.
MelZ