Bizarre, Politics, Society

White House Aide And Former Fox Expert Mock McCain As Dying and A Traitor

225px-John_McCain_official_portrait_2009Most Americans rightfully view Sen. John McCain as a genuine war hero and American icon.  That view is not shared by President Donald Trump’s supporters, it would appear. Kelly Sadler, a special assistant to the presidend, is under fire for telling staff that they should laugh off McCain’s opposition to Gina Haspel as CIA director over her record of torture because his opinion “doesn’t matter” since “he’s dying anyway.”  On Fox Business, Thomas McInerney, a former Fox News military analyst, rebuked McCain by saying torture clearly “worked for John” and that is why is calling “Songbird John” for cracking under torture.

Sen. Lindsey Graham responded by saying that “no one is laughing in the Senate.”

McCain, 81, is suffering from incurable brain cancer. His wife issued a statement that was short and lethal for Sadler (who later called to apologize):

Cindy McCain

@cindymccain

@kellysadler45 May I remind you my husband has a family, 7 children and 5 grandchildren.

McInerney’s comments to Charles Payne has led him to be barred from any further appearances on Fox and Payne has apologized.

I have long shared McCain’s view of waterboarding and I do not support the Haspel nomination on that basis, including her destruction of tapes when investigations began into the torture program (To his credit, Trump at least is honest and refers to waterboarding as torture, but insists that he supports the use of torture).  However, this is a more fundamental problem of civility and decency.  The sheer hatred and anger often vented in our public debate is chilling.  People no longer listen to others or care about how their words can be hurtful or hateful.  We are losing not just our collective demeanor but our decency as a nation in these divisive political times.

377 thoughts on “White House Aide And Former Fox Expert Mock McCain As Dying and A Traitor”

  1. Ask a POW – torture forced them to talk, but they always gave the Vietnamese bogus, or information of little value. The guys that were viewed as traitors were those who accepted special favors.

  2. Never speak ill of the dead or dying unless thier name is FDR or LBJ

  3. Wasn’t he the one that claimed that the missing plane had been taken by terrorists to the Middle East

    Sent from my iPhone

    >

  4. No question McCain suffered torture at the hands of the North Vietnamese. But what about the bombs he dropped on civilians? In an undeclared war? He was part of a campaign to obliterate people whom we had no quarrel with, other than they were fighting for independence from a corrupt regime whom we supported.

    McCain is no war hero to me.

    1. I would say the same about the voters that elected LBJ who started that conflict based on a false lie about Tonkin Gulf. But then the war mongering record of the progressive left since 1909 is so heavily weighted they will never be able to deny the War Monger Title. Source Any world Almanac. Results 810,000 dead us military and who knows how many others.

    2. Paul: why don’t you take up your objections to Viet Nam with the people who profited from the conflict and wanted to keep it going, instead of those called on to do the actual fighting? What choice did McCain or any other US military member have about what they did?

      1. Paul: why don’t you take up your objections to Viet Nam with the people who profited from the conflict and wanted to keep it going,

        And who would that be in your addled head?

        1. Well, why don’t you read about Gen. Eisenhower and why he coined the phrase: “military industrial complex”. Profiteering from Viet Nam wasn’t something I dreamed up.

          1. We’ve discussed the context of his remarks on a previous thread.

            You have no answer to my question.

      2. @Natacha May 11, 2018 at 1:52 PM
        “Paul: why don’t you take up your objections to Viet Nam with the people who profited from the conflict and wanted to keep it going, instead of those called on to do the actual fighting? What choice did McCain or any other US military member have about what they did?”

        Why not take it up with both? Muhammed Ali refused on religious grounds to be sent to kill people who posed no threat to him or to his fellow Americans at home, as did thousands of other conscientious objectors and draft evaders, who consequently didn’t contribute to the 58,000 US servicemen or to the 2 million Vietnamese killed in what Hubert Humphrey once grotesquely characterized as “a grand adventure.”
        http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/u-s-vietnam-war-draft-dodgers-left-their-mark-on-canada/

        For some names and numbers on profiting from war, see “War Profiteering from Vietnam to Iraq”:
        https://www.counterpunch.org/2003/12/11/war-profiteering-from-vietnam-to-iraq/

        1. For some names and numbers on profiting from war, see “War Profiteering from Vietnam to Iraq”:

          Where do you fancy they got the names and the numbers?

  5. Considering the democrat hero gods are hilary clinton, barack obama, joseph stalin, vladimir lenin, mao zedong, fidel castro and they are actively trying to implode America and force on it a political system that is responsible for the slaughter of hundreds of millions of people, they have long ago forfeited the right to participate in governing this country ever again. The democrat party has declared war on America and the American People and their goal is the complete extermination of anyone and everyone they deem an enemy of the party by any means possible. Of course they hate Trump. He and the pride in this country again he has generated and his ability to galvinize people to stand up and fight for what is good, just and right not to mention the future of their lives and those of their children, is a major obstacle to their goal of absolute power. democrats are proud of the fact they have brought this country to Civil War which will cost millions of American lives. This is no problem for democrats because to them, like stalin and his like minded genocidal maniacs, human lives are basically cannon fodder for the win. Everything happening now is just the warm ups and won’t even make the finals in the scheme of things considering the horrors this country is plummeting into. The dye is cast because the democrats have crossed the line into psycopathic madness and will never give up their quest for enslaving people and their targets unless they are completly stopped and The American People are too well prepared and know too much freedom to allow them to succeed.

    1. Dawn, your comments here are so over-the-top it’s like you’re coming from an alternate universe.

    2. Dawn, honey, you need help. Turn off Fox News and make an appointment with some doctor, any doctor. Describe your symptoms. They can refer you to a specialist.

    3. Jeez Louise Dawn, you sound like someone imitating a Conservative in order to make them look stupid.
      You can’t be for real.

        1. Yes. Although there is also a surprising number of whacky conspiracy aficionados who actually believe the crap they see on Infowars. That surprised me.

    4. @Insufferable May 12, 2018 at 8:00 PM
      “For some names and numbers on profiting from war, see ‘War Profiteering from Vietnam to Iraq’.

      “Where do you fancy they got the names and the numbers?”

      Well, I fancy they probably come from some LeftistIslamoCommieFascisticRatporkingScum. Or maybe Acorn. Where do you fancy they gott’em?

    5. @Dawn May 11, 2018 at 9:09 AM
      Well, OK, but on the other hand, there surely must be something about the Democratic Party that rubs you the wrong way. 🙂

  6. Some comments from our leg-less and arm-less post 9/11 veterans:

    “Of all the things we do in contradiction to “American Values” -pouring water in the mouths of terrorists isn’t one of them. We value our sovereignty and freedom most and that includes all that it takes to ensure them.”

    “Please never send the people who criticize our fighting of wars to fight them. They won’t fair well.”

    “ Dying at the hands of radical Islamic terrorists is un-American. I’m grateful that people like Gina Haspel keep us safe while Senators steal our money.”

  7. “Most Americans rightfully view Sen. John McCain as a genuine war hero and American icon.”

    No one in my family of veterans thinks this of McCain. Hundreds of thousands of veterans, from young to old, can not stand this man. They are outraged that he has manipulated his war time experience to bully and abuse this Nation for 50 years while becoming a millionaire at their expense. He is the poster child of ‘the swamp’. Good riddance.

    As my father said this week: “Americans have tried very hard to exercise respectful restraint to that man’s family but even he isn’t showing them the same decency. Silence is getting more and more difficult.”

  8. I’ll be on the lookout for your next posting when someone calls for Trumps assasination 👀

  9. Wait a minute, Trump is making America Great Again, ya see. The scum rises to the top when you elect a leader that is scum. Trump is an open invitation to everything that is disgusting in America. This country has proven over and over that no one person will solve any problem(s). The check and balance system, with all its problems, works to protect the country from tyrants. We have a tyrant and a buffoon in Trump. Why continue proving just how great America is that it can place an idiot like this in the White House and still function. The temporary result will be a dirtier, crueler, and more dysfunctional country for a while; but what’s the point? It seems that the only purpose Trump serves is to allow the alt right to vent its perverted spleen.

    1. The daily truth from the Marxist Leninist foreign faction. Irrelevant and rejected.

  10. Turley wrote, “The sheer hatred and anger often vented in our public debate is chilling. People no longer listen to others or care about how their words can be hurtful or hateful.”

    I can explain that. You see, The POTUS, Trump, is a prime practitioner of the social-dominance theory of animal behavior. Trump turns everything into a “pissing contest.” Trump’s supporters foam at the mouth in response to the call from their beloved Alpha-Dawg to rip his rivals’ throats out.

    1. McInerney doesn’t work for the Administration and Kelly Sadler made a remark in a private conversation. How is either an example of Trump displaying ‘social dominance’.

      Trump turns everything into a “pissing contest.

      Look in the mirror, woman.

      1. Trump exerts influence over his pack of dogs. And you’re one, too.

        1. You can assure yourself that you’ve earned the attention of a pit bull to your calf muscle.

          1. I just so happen to have field-tested expertise in scent-aversion training for dogs. You would not believe how sensitive your nose can be, nor how dependent the your tooth-joy is upon your nose-gay. Think about it.

    2. First you said you can explain this then described the DNC and Progressive Socialists. Can’t have it both ways and/or ask your programmer to make up their minds.,

    1. I can assure you, Sir, that I am always fully clothed . . . when posting on the blawg.

  12. Accusations of treason from anyone who works for this administration would be laughable if their own conduct wasn’t so despicable. Working for a man who is so obsessed with himself that he is focused on destroying everything that even hints at reason or the Constitution raises serious question about the “aide” and his ability to judge or discern anything.

    We live in a Trumpian world and it is not a pretty place. It is a world of the GOP’s making. It is they who must be held accountable.

    1. The accuser was Thomas McInerney, who is retired military, not an administration employee. And he accused McCain of singing under torture, not treason.

      Don’t you even skim these posts?

      1. Perhaps “singing under torture” is akin to “lending aid and comfort to an enemy of the United States.”

        Your powers of equivocation are boundless.

          1. wildbill99 – Hillary was a ‘birther’ and therefore presumably nuts!!! 😉

            1. If you have proof that Hillary is a birther kindly produce it and I will agree with you.

              1. wildbill99 – Hillary’s campaign started the whole birther thing including a photo op in costume. She never disavowed it.

      2. American prisoners of war in Hanoi were subjected to torture for the sake of extracting confessions to war crimes in the act of bombing Hanoi that the North Vietnamese used as propaganda. McCain never made any such forced confession and his torture continued unabated throughout his captivity. Unless McInerney meant something else besides forced confession to war crimes by “singing under torture,” then McInerney is a damned liar.

    2. Programming of The Collective number two. The left however is anti Constitution and pro marxist leniiist so…. rejected.

      PS. Independent Self Governing Citizen

      1. “Self Governing Citizen.” Does that mean we should not have government? Or laws?

  13. @kellysadler45 May I remind you my husband has a family, 7 children and 5 grandchildren.

    You want him to be treated the way the dying are customarily treated, shut down the Twitter account and quit releasing obnoxious statements for public consumption.

      1. Another anti-Constitutionalist My my my where did freedom of speech go when the left is the target?

        1. Michael, Nii told Cindy McCain to shut down her Twitter account.

          Meanwhile, Michael Aarethun had previously said, ” Can’t have it both ways and/or ask your programmer to make up their minds., [sic]”

          Now go fetch your volleyball upstream from here or be prepared to face-down the bitter-apple spray.

    2. IJ see you are not a fan of the First Amendment;s Freedom of Speech. Regardless of whom cherry picking for the moment is not good citzenship.

      1. Michael, if your comment above is a reply to Nutchacha is insufferable, then please disregard the bitter-apple spray, but go fetch your volleyball upstream from here, anyhow.

  14. I’ve never heard of Thomas McInerney or Kelly Sadler. Not sure how they got to be icons of the universe of ‘Trump supporters’. I see Lt. Gen. McInerney is a retired Air Force officer, a contemporary of McCain and a combat veteran to boot. You think you might have mentioned that?

    Someone betrayed a confidence and retailed a somewhat callous statement Kelly Sadler made in private conversation. If you want to set yourself up as an ethical arbiter, you need to remember that detraction is a sin. (While we’re at it, what she said is likely true).

    We’re in a weird little zone where a dying man has elected to make an abrasive ass of himself and to do so publicly. (After years of going out of his way to alienate people). In general, embarrassed silence might be the optimal response.

    McCain is a man who suffered, which is a category distinct from ‘hero’.

    1. The Fox News host’s apology after McInerny’s lamentable remarks:

      Business Network host Charles Payne apologized on Thursday, after an analyst who appeared on his show said that torture “worked on” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) during his time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

      “This morning on a show I was hosting, a guest made a very false and derogatory remark about Senator John McCain. At the time, I had the control room in my ear telling me to wrap the segment, and did not hear the comment,” Payne tweeted.

      “I regret I did not catch this remark, as it should have been challenged. As a proud military veteran and son of a Vietnam Vet these words neither reflect my or the network’s feelings about Senator McCain, or his remarkable service and sacrifice to this country.”

      Fox News shows some class, credit where credit is due.

    2. Nii said, “you need to remember that detraction is a sin.”

      Nii also said, “We’re in a weird little zone where a dying man has elected to make an abrasive ass of himself.”

      Clearly and distinctly, Nii has mastered the art of self-refutation by way of the “sin of detraction” and suchlike schoolyard playground taunts.

      1. Late4dinner, ‘Detraction’ is a term of art for a distinct offense. It means retailing someone else’s flaws without just cause. Since I’m not acquainted with McCain or anyone in his family in meatworld, I can hardly do that. I can criticise him from afar, but that is not ‘detraction’ in the strict sense.

        1. I understand. See my post upstream in re your boundless powers of equivocation.

        2. From Merriam-Webster entry on detraction:

          1 : a lessening of reputation or esteem especially by envious, malicious, or petty criticism : belittling, disparagement

          2 : a taking away ·it is no detraction from its dignity or prestige—J. F. Golay

      2. Does nothing to change reality and is clearly lacking in objective analysis

        1. Nii said “. . . a dying man has elected to make an abrasive ass of himself.”

          Michael Aarethun had previously said, “Never speak ill of the dead or dying . . .”

          Either Nii is speaking ill of a dying man, or it is somehow an “objective reality” rather than a “subjective opinion” that McCain is making an abrasive ass of himself. Which disjunctive does Michael Aarethun think is objectively real???

  15. “Trump is at least honest and refers to waterboarding as torture”

    Trump is also batshit crazy on the topic, to wit.

    “And the other thing with the terrorists — you have to take out their families. When you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families! They care about their lives, don’t kid yourselves. They say they don’t care about their lives. But you have to take out their families.”

    http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/04/trump-asked-why-cia-drone-avoided-terrorists-family-report.html

  16. Pingback: White House Aide And Former Fox Expert Mock McCain As Dying and A Traitor | JONATHAN TURLEY – A record of mankind's degradation of planet earth

  17. McCain didn’t have any intelligence to give the Vietcong, nor were they torturing him to acquire any. Their torture was simply to entertain their sadistic guards. I respect McCain and his service. He has given more for this country than most. I’m not sure he’s given more than McInerney. Cindy McCain’s response is perfect. She realizes John can take a punch, but his children and grandchildren should not have to listen to this crusty old warbird venting his spleen. Clearly, the entire McCain family is a class act. Yet the issue of the use of waterboarding needs to be parsed. It’s a rough world out there, and we will not be able to deal with it if we can’t even discuss it. Soldiers are not civilians, but they should be “civil.”

    1. Clearly, the entire McCain family is a class act.

      Some of them are and some of them aren’t. Those operating his Twitter account are not.

  18. The fact that John McCain is married to a former (we hope) painkiller addict wife, has children and grandchildren, does not take him off the target list. And he is not called “Songbird John” for nothing. The Republican Party of Arizona has admonished him, that is how bad he is. Since he is lashing out at everyone on his deathbed, he can expect to take heavy fire. I know a lot of people coming to the funeral just to make sure he is dead and those are Republicans.

    1. Since he is lashing out at everyone on his deathbed

      The lashing is intermediated through his wife and children. His wife needs to be condemned for this behavior.

      1. More Merriam-Webster–Definition of condemn:

        1 : to declare to be reprehensible, wrong, or evil usually after weighing evidence and without reservation
        2 a : to pronounce guilty : convict b : sentence, doom ·condemn a prisoner to die
        3 : to adjudge unfit for use or consumption ·condemn an old apartment building
        4 : to declare convertible to public use under the right of eminent domain

      1. wildbill99 – it has been around since he ran for office in AZ. Luckily, he had Barry Goldwater backing him so he was golden.

          1. wildbill99 – we have talked about McCain being the darling of the press until he got the nomination, then they took him apart. And Politifact has called things a lie when it was true. So, I do not have any faith in them.

            1. Perhaps, Paul, you have a reputable source that would verify that story about McCain? I would hate to think your take on the truth is predicated on ideological considerations.

              1. wildbill99 – the only people who know for sure about McCain are his fellow prisoners and the guards. And, of course, McCain. I only repeat what I have heard and I have lived in Arizona longer than McCain. I just didn’t marry the daughter of a beer baron.

                1. Given a choice between fools, she would have chosen McCain over a keyboard warrior.

  19. Love your segments on Fox, and this statement concerning public discourse could not have been stated any better…

    ‘The sheer hatred and anger often vented in our public debate is chilling. People no longer listen to others or care about how their words can be hurtful or hateful. We are losing not just our collective demeanor but our decency as a nation in these divisive political times.’

    Mike Haltman

  20. And who is responsible for the current rhetoric in America? Barack Obama and the enemy, Socialist Democrats.

    1. Other than having no shame or possessing any semblance of the type of cognitive ability that rational humans universally possess, your comment is incoherent.

      this is to “when I get into the wine, there’s really no tellin what i’ll say” elise

    2. Elise, how did Obama and the Socialist Democrats force Kelly Sadler and Thomas McInerney to make the statements attributed to these two individuals?

    4. Good grief! Nothing like a cup of revisionist history first thing in the morning.

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