Here's one from July 28 Even Cindy's using it. http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/28/mccain-talks-about-pow-experiences/ July 28, 2008, 6:15 pm McCain Talks About P.O.W. Experiences By Michael Cooper BAKERSFIELD, Calif. â For months some nervous Republicans have pressed Senator John McCain to talk more about his experiences as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. While his biography is well known in some circles, they argue, the details of his story are not known by many regular voters.
Mr. McCain has sometimes seemed ambivalent about talking about it too much. He has featured archival footage of himself as a prisoner of war in ads, and spoken about it in detail last fall during a tour with his former prisoner of war colleagues that was meant to support the troop escalation in Iraq. But he rarely mentions it on the stump. On Monday, though, Mr. McCain and his wife, Cindy, both spoke about it at a fund-raising lunch here in California. There remarks came as the McCain campaign has run a television ad faulting his rival, Senator Barack Obama, for not visiting hospitalized troops in Germany during his recent overseas trip. Mrs. McCain, as she introduced him, said that her recent trip to Rwanda, where she met women who were forgiving their tormentors, made her think of Mr. McCain.. âWhat I witnessed was women reconciling, and forgiving those who had perpetrated against them,ââ she said. âThese women are far better than I could ever be, or could ever hope to be.ââ âBut what this also brought to mind for me, and put it all in perspective, is that my husband spent five and a half years in a prisoner of war camp,ââ she said. âHe was mistreated. He wonât say it, but I will. He was mistreated during those times. He came home and overcame, much like those women did, overcame what had been done to him and what had happened. He reconciled. He became a part of the process that enabled Vietnam to have a normal relationship with the United States, the normalization, as you all remember. In my opinion my husband embodies the essence of what America is all about. The essence of hope, freedom, forgiveness, understanding and world leadership. It takes a strong person to do what he did. Iâm very proud of my husband.ââ Mr. McCain spoke about his time in the prison camp during his concluding remarks. âIâve had the great honor of serving my country, and Iâve always put my country first. And one of the times I had that test was years ago, and far way, in a North Vietnamese prison camp, when our North Vietnamese captors came to me and said: You can go home early,ââ he said. âWell my friends, our code of conduct said that we go home in order of capture.ââ He recalled a friend from California who was shot down before him. âSo I said no, and I put my country first,ââ he said. âAnd I promise you, as president of the United States, I will do what the American people want. And we will disagree from time to time on a specific issue, and thatâs healthy. Itâs healthy for us to have differences and debates and discussions on issues. But I want to assure you that any decision I make and anything I do, if I am fortunate enough â and I am certainly humbled to have the nomination of the party of Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan â that I promise you that I will always, always put my country first, and I will never let you down.ââ >Heard on NPR, by McCain, approx 4:12pm CST possibly addressing Katie >Couric or some hispanics in response to his forgetting how many houses >he has and therefore how many kitchen tables: > >"friends, I didn't have a kitchen table - or chairs - for a lot of years" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;203748912;27390454;j Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:266588 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
