So I heard Woody on the radio (I have a love-hate relationship with The Woody Show on Live 105 in San Francisco) say that McCain is a hero. "Just look at what he went through as a POW" or something to that effect.

It's hard to know where the truth is nowadays. The only news outlets I find worth reading nowadays are BBC and the Associated Press.. except the latter is scattered across a hundred newspapers so I have to click and click and click and click to get the news. Lately, when it comes to politics, I've been reading less of what I used to (Huff Post, NYT, CNN) and more of neutral-party sites like FactCheck.org. Thank goodness someone came up with that because Democrats and Republicans alike can go to that site and also PolitiFact and get their information without accusing somebody (or everybody) of bias.

Anyway, after hearing that on the radio, I thought about that Rolling Stone article I read that revealed so much about John McCain. A hero? Let's see what Tim Dickinson had to say:

1) "Although he would soon regale The New York Times with tales of the heroism of the brave enlisted men who "stayed to help the pilots fight the fire," McCain took no part in dousing the flames himself. After going belowdecks and briefly helping sailors who were frantically trying to unload bombs from an elevator to the flight deck, McCain retreated to the safety of the "ready room," where off-duty pilots spent their noncombat hours talking trash and playing poker."

2) "McCain performed adequately on the Oriskany. On October 25th, 1967, he bombed a pair of Soviet MiGs parked on an airfield outside Hanoi. His record was now even. Enemy planes destroyed by McCain: two. American planes destroyed by McCain: two."

3) "But during the course of his medical treatment, McCain followed through on his offer of military information. Only two weeks after his capture, the North Vietnamese press issued a report — picked up by The New York Times — in which McCain was quoted as saying that the war was "moving to the advantage of North Vietnam and the United States appears to be isolated." He also provided the name of his ship, the number of raids he had flown, his squadron number and the target of his final raid."

4) "'John allows the media to make him out to be the hero POW, which he knows is absolutely not true, to further his political goals," says Butler. "John was just one of about 600 guys. He was nothing unusual. He was just another POW.'"

5) "'It took guts to go through that and to come out reasonably intact and able to pick up the pieces of your life and move on," says Wilkerson, Colin Powell's former chief of staff, who has known McCain since the 1980s. "It is unquestionably a demonstration of the character of the man. But I don't think that it is a special qualification for being president of the United States. In some respects, I'm not sure that's the kind of character I want sitting in the Oval Office.'"

Yes, he was a hero- he did shoot down two enemy planes, after all. So were the other 600 guys who were imprisoned in Hanoi. That doesn't make him any more qualified than Barack Obama. Yes, McCain has significantly more Senate experience than Obama- that SHOULD make him more qualified, right? Well, this maverick has changed his game since his run for the White House began- so much for being a maverick, eh?- and condoned mudslinging (by not speaking out against Sarah Palin's mudslinging) even though very early on he spoke out against it, and THAT negates his edge over Obama, IMHO.

Oh, and the TV ad he approved that put Paris Hilton's and Britney Spears' pictures next to Obama's picture. Don't call me childish and then say that THAT move isn't childish. If you are a McCain supporter, please explain that ad to me. It's okay to say that it doesn't make sense; that's an explanation too.

The whole "it's time to have a hockey mom in the White House" gag is getting old and lame. I have known plenty of soccer moms (I was a Girl Scout, after all- plenty of Girl Scout moms too!), but they were all very active and effective in their communities and the various committees and councils for school, local government, etc., but that doesn't mean they should all run for mayor or governor or VP! I remember Morgan's mom studied political science in college. Nikki's mom graduated from college too. Gee, both of them probably would make a much better VP than Palin! *LOL*