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Audacity of Truth
Whiner-in-Chief:
"[W]hether the grumbling is about Republicans on Fox or bloggers in pajamas, there's a word for what the president and his aides are doing. That word is "whining." And nothing [...] does more damage to Obama's credibility or authority than the sense that a popular president is becoming the whiner-in-chief."
- John Nichols, Nation Magazine - 10/12/09
LA Times questions McCain’s ability to serve as prez based on ‘nam injuries
File this under “you know it’s a slow news day when”:
John McCain gets tax-free disability pension
The disclosure of the Navy benefit for injuries incurred as a Vietnam POW may raise fitness questions.Sen. John McCain has long said he is in robust health and is strong enough to hike the Grand Canyon, but he also is receiving what his staff Monday termed a “disability pension” from the Navy.
When McCain released his tax return for 2007 on Friday, he separately disclosed that he received a pension of $58,358 that was not listed as income on his return.
If McCain had to pay taxes on the full amount of the pension, it would have increased his tax bill by about $18,000 based on the percentage of his income he paid to the federal government.
McCain spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war in Hanoi. After he was released in 1973, he returned home on crutches and began a painful physical rehabilitation. He later regained flight status and commanded a Navy squadron before retiring from the service in 1981.
McCain would be the oldest man to enter the White House if he is elected president, and questions have been raised about his health.
McCain has twice developed melanoma, a potentially deadly form of skin cancer.
The fact that he is legally designated with a disability pension may raise further questions.
“It is a legitimate question to ask about the commander in chief: Is he fit to serve,” said Robert Schriebman, a senior Pentagon tax advisor and tax attorney who recently retired as a judge advocate for a unit of the California National Guard.
If McCain can hike across the Grand Canyon, then why should he be getting disability payments from the government that are tax-exempt, Schriebman asked.
McCain shattered his knee and broke both arms when he was shot down over North Vietnam in 1967.
Dafydd at Big Lizards has the appropriate take down for the LAT here.
I don’t have any issues with the public’s “right to know” about our president’s – or potential president’s – health condition, because we want assurances that he or she can or will be able to physically hold up against the weight associated with holding the highest office in the land, but this article goes off a cliff by suggesting that McCain’s inability to raise his arms over his head “raises further questions” about his fitness to serve as president.
I think if McCain can endure 5 and a 1/2 years as a POW, and go on to serve multiple House and Senate terms, the presidency – though an incredibly tough and trying job, no doubt – should be a walk in the park via comparison. Apparently the LAT believes otherwise.
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10 Responses to “LA Times questions McCain’s ability to serve as prez based on ‘nam injuries”
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Sadly, that’s typical for my local rag’s reporting when it comes to Republicans.
Just when I think the left can’t get any lower…..
From the LAT article:
Well, there’s the problem. Everyone knows the right way to surrender is to raise your hands over your head and scream “I give up.” Clearly, this LAT reporter is concerned that McCain might not be able to surrender to the islamofascists.
And someone also ought to remind the LAT about FDR. Or maybe his physical disabilities didn’t count because he was a Democrat.
But they support the troops!
This is only the tip of the iceberg. The media would’ve begun smearing McCain long ago if only a Dem nominee had emerged.
Now let me see–McCain can walk across the Grand Canyon so he shouldn’t be getting disability payments. And never mind that he can’t raise his arms above his head.
Ri-ight.
Having dark skin or being a woman should be enough to get you IN. Being disabled is a sufficient reason to keep you OUT. Being gay…well, we’re waiting for the ivory tower types to give us our marching orders about that one. They’ll let us know as soon as they decide.
I am sorry but I don’t believe that John McCain should be getting a pension for this. This should be classified as “double dipping”. My Mom is not going to get a dime of her Social Security due to the fact that she has been in Civil Service for the last 30 years, and her Social Security is considered “double dipping”. She won’t get a dime of her survivor’s benefit from my Dad’s SS, for the exact same reason. It is wrong that the Congress that makes these rules for us Po’dunks, won’t keep themselves to the same rules. As long as he is collecting a Federal salary or a Federal pension, his Navy pension should be surrendered. – Lorica
If physical injuries can disqualify someone from being President (as the Times frantically hopes), then should not the fact that He Whose Middle Name Must Not Be Mentioned is obviously brain-dead also be considered?
Or am I just being a typical white person?
Since when is this the standard that we hold people to determine if they are handicapped????
So since all those Iraqi War veterans who only lost their arms or eyes can technically walk across the Grand Canyon, are they not disabled???
What an unbelievably stupid article. I am receiving disability payments and yet I still work as a full time police officer. Is it better for someone who can work, sit on their butts all day and just collect a check? Perhaps the Times should focus on the tens of thousands of people ripping off taxpayers every year by sitting around collecting money when they are perfectly capable of working.