PBS Frontlines is showing an exploitative 'tribute' to McCain. It gushes over his 'service' and sympathizes with him in his feuds with the Tea Party movement's and Trump's rejection of the Washington establishment, both of which are trashed as a central theme. PBS and the left attacked McCain for all the wrong reasons whenever he competed with them for power, but now they gush over him as a vehicle to trash the revolt against the establishment. It may be the first time they have used the phrase "Vietnam war hero" in a positive way.

A question for Gulchers with military experience, how is it in a POW camp?

If notified of impending release, can the prisoner negotiate- I refuse to go unless you . . . ?
I would have thought it would be- Release means walk out or get carried out.

Getting out of a torture prison camp is not a special favor; it's a right. He accepted the torture as a virtue of sacrifice. He did it to himself, but it's unforgivable, let alone his parading of sainthood ever since. This is less about McCain now that he's gone than about how it is widely accepted in the culture. He's 'resting in peace' (which isn't quite accurate -- he's composting, not resting, and "peace" does not apply), but in part because of him we are not at peace.

McCain wasn't in Washington to vote since December of last year. He clung to his position for eight months so the Republican governor could not appoint a replacement.

You wrote: "By your standard Obama occupies a distinctive place in history thanks to his teleprompter." That is a pure invention by you not remotely what I wrote about the importance of ideas and the content of what the politicians say. You also wrote "He [Obama] surely sounded good." Not to me he didn't, I know what he is saying.

I understand that he didn't vote to end Obamacare.
I didn't like his "campaign finance reform"; I believed it was a violation of the First Amendment. In 2008 I voted for Romney in the Va. primary, even though he had dropped out; but I hoped that if he got enough votes, he might get back in. But after McCain got the nomination, I voted for him because I considered Obama too Socialistic.--I still respect him for his
service in the military, particularly what he endured as a POW in Vietnam. I understand that he could have been released, but he refused; it had something to do with a fellow prisoner. I have read in the Code of Conduct: "I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy." Brain cancer is a horrible thing: I
have to regret that he died that way.--I don't think it was necessary to direct that Trump not come to his funeral.--Ah, well. Someone on the radio was remarking about his not resigning from the job even though he wasn't going on to the floor and voting, and that remark made some sense.
But he deserved some respect. So let him rest in peace.

You did not understand my post.

Apparently Obama "sure sounded good" to you. To those of us who understand what Obama means by his "words" he does not "sound good" and it does not justify his actions based on his ideas. No, a "teleprompter" is not the standard for a "distinctive place in history".

"Words" designate concepts, not "sounds good". The facts about Trump are observed. Your own use of words to dismiss what you don't like as mere "words" you cannot discuss or refute is less than convincing. An Ayn Rand forum is not a good place to advocate "instinct" over rational understanding.

McCain is just an emotional manipulator who based his life on the sanctity of self sacrifice. Pretty stupid I say, but he got a lot of goodies for doing it in our present culture of altruism.

One more thing: by your standard Obama occupies a distinctive place in history thanks to his teleprompter. He surely sounded good. Never mind what he did against the nation.

I completely disagree with your post.

You love words as your post indicates and present your "sounds good analysis" as facts.

Your grasp on what Trump is quite superficial, not even close to what he is and capable of accomplishing..

You have the

Exactly. He took full advantage of the teaching of “self sacrifice” as the highest ideal. It got him elected all those years and got him the label of “hero”. Steve Jobs did far more for humanity than mc Cain , but didnt get a fancy label like “hero”. I don’t recall the flags over the white house flying at half mast at all when jobs died, but without jobs we wouldn’t have Apple and the revolutionary iPhone I am using for this message. More than mc Cain ever did that I can see

Most people confuse sacrifice with the essence of morality because it has been drummed into them since they could hear words. Politicians routinely pander to it in the name of their phony moral idealism. McCain was worse in that he publicly oozed it and wallowed in it.

The Vietcong offered to release him because his father and grandfather were admirals. McCain said he declined because it would not be fair to other prisoners, for which his senseless sacrifice doing no good for anyone has been exalted ever since.

He can't be blamed for giving up information under torture; one can only hope that he mixed it up with falsehoods to mislead them. When an American soldier is shot down and tortured by communists there is no question of what side for us to take without qualification. But neither do we go on from there to suspend all judgment about what happened since.

Ideas in rational thought are not automatic, and neither are rational actions. Trump can't find the words because he doesn't have the thoughts. He is an emotional thinker who is basically pro-American, but doesn't understand what that means. The purpose of government is to protect the rights of the individual, not make deals for the sake of making better deals. He takes equally fervent positions on opposing sides of the same issue, reacting emotionally to whatever someone else says at the moment until he's reigned in (somewhat) by his advisors. He's a salesman selling, in his characteristic superlatives, whatever he feels at the moment.

There is no substitute for words, i.e., rational thinking, in "practical reality". That is Pragmatism, not Objecivism. Trump's unprincipled Pragmatism relies on implicit, unacknowledged principles he has adopted -- without understanding -- to declare what "works". If his "instincts" lead to some approximately good position in "practical" reality, which they certainly often do not, it is because of some implicit more or less proper principles that he can't articulate or defend, and it doesn't take much for him to wander off even from that. This is a big problem with Trump idolatry following the 'man on the white horse' without regard to rational principles.

Trump had some approximate glimmer of what McCain was doing in exploiting his (unjustifed) reputation as a "war hero". He knows that being taken prisoner is not a value in fighting war, let alone an exemplary accomplishment, but that's all. As soon as he was publicly challenged with boos and hisses he emotionally reacted to undercut his own statement, apparently under bad advice from his advisors, because neither he nor the rest of them understood the concepts and principles required to make the essential distinctions. They could not expose the package deal promoting sacrifice as a moral criterion, used to overwhelm all other considerations. Trump backing down resulted in a strengthened false moral sanction for McCain. His "instincts" could not and did not help him or us.

Or why that whining RINO shoulda been a Democrat.

I guess he considers sacrifice as the highest goal. Personally I think personal sacrifice is stupid and not honorable at all

I wasn’t aware he chose to stay as a POW. I did hear they called him songbird mc Cain because he spilled any secrets he knew. I do find his emotionally manipulative claim of hero status as disgusting

Your response in the link you sent is right on

We only live once and it’s always best to say what you think and feel. That doesn’t have to be shoved down anyone’s throat. It’s just what YOU are thinking and feeling

He was a supreme emotional manipulator

Yes, Trump is an instinct person and his ability to put his instinct to words is not on par with it.

But he is able to translate his instinct into practical reality which I take any time as a substitute for words.

He was worse than "just sitting there". He refused to leave when given the chance, preferring to remain and be tortured for sacrifice as a moral goal. https://www.galtsgulchonline.com/post...

Trump was right, but as usual couldn't explain it or defend it when he was loudly blasted for it, leaving it remembered as an unjustified attack on a "hero".

More accurate. You are right.

https://www.galtsgulchonline.com/post...