McCain Plays With a Stacked Deck:

The POW Card Trumps Everything?

As expected, McCain's POW experience has become a prevailing theme throughout the Republican National Convention, just as it has been since Mr. McCain decided to enter politics.

In fact, even the least important convention speaker, our beloved President, made sure to remind everyone of Mr. McCain's terrible experience, just in case we might have forgotten: “Fellow citizens, if the Hanoi Hilton could not break John McCain’s resolve to do what is best for his country, you can be sure the angry left never will.”

Now, I don't know if I qualify for "angry left" status and I certainly don't want to break anyone's resolve, but I do have a bone to pick with the McCain camp. In fact, I am issuing a challenge to Senator John McCain and his followers: For just one 24-hour period, would it possible for you to not mention John McCain's POW experience?

I do not say this to belittle Senator McCain's ordeal. I have nothing but respect for the men and women who serve in the armed forces, and I do not mean to sound as though their sacrifices are unappreciated or overlooked. I have read the first-hand account of Senator McCain's time as a POW . Some of the treatments he was subjected to made me cringe, others nearly made me ill. I have the utmost respect for the man who sufferred broken limbs, solitary confinement, illness, starvation, and torture at the hands of the Vietnamese.

However, Senator McCain is running for President of the United States of America, not Chairman of the local VFW.

McCain's camp would have us believe that being held as a POW qualifies Mr. McCain to be President. After all, he showed honor, integrity, patriotism, strength, and nobility. Are these not qualities we might want in a President?

But how will Mr. McCain's POW experiences help him deal with our floundering economy? Our $9 billion per month war in Iraq? Record breaking oil prices? The millions of children without health insurance?

For that matter, what does Mr. McCain's POW experience have to do with the number of houses he owns? The Keating Five ethics scandal (McCain's Answer: "Even the Vietnamese didn't question my ethics.")? When and why he moved to Arizona? Whether he supports some type of government subsidized health care? Whether or not he left the "cone of silence" during a joint Q and A session with Mr. Obama?

McCain claims the media has a love affair with Obama, and has even stooped so low as to compare Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. Yet during the first three months of 2008, McCain's POW status was mentioned in over 1,000 newspaper articles. Seems to me that the media is perfectly complicit in McCain's campaign to be the poster child of the Hanoi Hilton.

When referring to the the McCain camp's use of Mr. McCain's military record, the New York Times' Maureen Dowd said, "...McCain is now in danger of exceeding his credit limit on the equivilent of the American Express black card..." Unfortunately, by using this experience to gain credibility with voters Mr. McCain is cheapening what should be a noble and honorable sacrifice. Instead, McCain has transformed himself from military hero to broken record.

Worse yet, I can't help but question what the Republicans would do if the other side employed similar tactics.

What if Barack Obama began to really play the race card? While some commentators claim that the race card has already been played throughout the campaign, I beg to differ.. While his race has come up numerous times (come on, people: of course everyone noticed he was black!), rarely has it been an issue raised by Mr. Obama himself. In fact, Mr. Obama's race has been brought up more often by his opponents (primarily Hillary Clinton and John McCain) than by his supporters. For those of you who disagree with me on this, let's at least recognize that Obama's race has come up less often than McCain's POW experiences. Now, imagine a campaign in which this was not the case:

Q: Mr. Obama, how much money did you and your wife make last year?

A: Well, we are black, so we made less than our white counterparts.

Q: Mr. Obama, does the fact that you prefer wine to beer make you an elitist out of touch with America?

A: Heck, no. Being black keeps you down to Earth, you know, facing all that prejudice and breaking through glass ceilings. Hard to be elite when your skin's as dark as mine.

Q: Mr. Obama, have you ever practiced the Muslim faith?

A: Nope. I'm black, not brown.

Somehow, I don't think the Republicans would let this fly.

Some would argue that being black and being a prisoner of war aren't all that comparable. After all, there are lots of African Americans, but how many surviving POWs are there? Being a POW is a tragic, life defining event. Which Democrat had a tragic, life defining event....Oh, yeah! Senator Joe Biden!

At the age of 30, Joe Biden became the fifth youngest Senator in U.S. history. He had a lovely young family, and seemed to be on top of the world. Then, just days before he was to be sworn into the Senate, tragedy struck. His wife, Neilia, their baby daughter, and their two young sons were involved in a car accident. The boys, then 4 and 3, were seriously injured. Neilia and 18-month-old Naomi were killed. Senator Biden was sworn in at the hospital while keeping watch over his sons.

Ever heard the phrase "sympathy vote"? I think an event like this would qualify Biden for sympathy. Biden could pull out the sympathy card to do battle with McCain's POW card:

Q: Mr. Biden, you once were accused of plagiarizing a speech during your 1987 run for the White House. Why should Americans trust you?

A: I've stood up in the face of tragedy. When I lost my wife and daughter, I still did my job as Senator, even though I was raising two young boys all alone.

Q: Mr. Biden, do you feel that your foreign policy credentials fully qualify you to take that "3 AM phone call" in the event that you should succeed Mr. Obama to the Presidency?

A: If losing my wife and daughter didn't render me incapable of doing my job, then neither will a 3 AM phone call.

Once again, I just don't think it would fly.

In fact, Republicans won't even let Democrats use the military card! Does anyone remember 2004--the year of John Kerry, his Purple Hearts, and the Swift Boat attacks? The Democrats finally ran a decorated war hero as their nominee, and the Republicans (who were running a National Guard member who couldn't even be counted on to show up for duty in Texas, never mind Vietnam) still managed to paint him a coward.

What if the Democrats Swift Boated John McCain?

There are plenty of stories quietly making the rounds about Mr. McCain's POW years. Other Vietnam vets and POWs have made allegations that McCain was singled out for softer treatment because of his father's position. Still others allege that he gave his captors important information. These allegations are as credible as the Swift Boat allegations against Kerry.

Personally, I prefer that the Democrats not use such tactics. In fact, I prefer that no one use such tactics. But what I really prefer is that my candidates discuss the issues, not whatever real or imagined handicaps they may have overcome. I don't care that you were a POW. I don't care that you are black. I care whether you are going to make this country a safer, healthier, more prosperous place to live. Let's focus on that, shall we?

I leave you to ponder this: Did Franklin Delano Roosevelt play the polio card, or did he lead in spite of polio?