Happy Birthday to John McCain, Nearly an Entire Nation Admires You

Arizona Senator John McCain turns 81 today.  Few, if any people have given more to this country than Mr. McCain.  He was a Navy hero who was shot down and held as  Prisoner of War.  He has served in Congress with dignity for 35 years.   He was the Republican Nominee for President in 2008 against Barack Obama.  During the campaign he treated his opponent with class, shutting down people who attacked Obama’s character and background.  Six weeks ago he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer.  Even so, just days after surgery on his brain tumor, he defied Doctor’s orders to cast a deciding vote on a Senate Bill which would have repealed the Affordable Care Act.  Senator McCain has earned the respect of the vast majority of Americans, even those who politically disagree with him.

Senator McCain Was shot down over Vietnam in October of 1967 by a Russian missile he says, “was the size of a telephone pole.”  He plunged 4500 feet, broke his knee, his right arm in three places, and his left arm.  He was briefly unconscious, but became alert right before he dropped into a lake outside Hanoi.  He was wearing fifty pounds of equipment.  A North Vietnamese man swam into the lake and pulled McCain to shore.  A crowd surrounded him, stripped him, hit him with a rifle butt, and kicked him.  He was also stabbed with a bayonet in the stomach and foot.

He was then taken into custody by the North Vietnamese.  They found out that his father was a high ranking official in the Navy.  They offered to release him as part of a propaganda campaign.  McCain refused, saying he would not agree unless every man who was under his command and held as prisoner was released.  There were 335 of them.  McCain knew every one of their names, and still can recite each of them.

McCain was held in solitary confinement, and beaten every day for over two years.  He spent a total of five and a half years as a Prisoner of War.  Because of the abuse he suffered, he has never been able to raise his hands above his shoulders since.  Someone else has to help him put on his jacket and comb his hair for him each day.

Most people would have left the Navy after all this.  Not McCain.  He served another eight years after Vietnam until 1981, when he ran for Congress.

Some people have been upset with McCain due to his vote against his party on the health care bill.  In fact at a rally last week, one man even shouted, “McCain must die.”
There is a story floating around the internet that McCain was a convicted war criminal and had to be pardoned by President Nixon.  It is one hundred percent false.

People who call for McCain’s death and post lies about his service on the internet should stop calling themselves patriots, and probably Christians.  Thankfully, those who do not treat Senator McCain with respect are a very small minority in this country.

Those who disrespect Senator McCain by saying nasty things about him only make one person look bad, themselves.