The Wrong Stuff

Yesterday, we heard lots of talk about patriotism. And like Mark Twain said, you should always be patriotic to your country, and sometimes even to the government. But the issue that came up on Sunday with General Wesley Clark is not about that, it's about whether or not being a jet pilot makes you the right stuff to be a good president.

And in all fairness, we just tried that. And it hasn't worked out that well.

It's a little like saying that Jack Kemp would make a good president because he was a quarterback. Since he was a pro football quarterback, maybe he would. But if he never won a championship as quarterback, maybe not.

Perhaps the most fair way to determine if someone is the right stuff for the job, whether its quarterbacking or top gunning, is to look at their record. According to these folks, here's McCains:

"During his relative short stunt on flight status, John McCain III lost five U.S. Navy aircraft, four in accidents and one in combat.

Robert Timberg, author of The Nightingale's Song, a book about Annapolis graduates and their tours in Vietnam, wrote that McCain "learned to fly at Pensacola, though his performance was below par, at best good enough to get by. He liked flying, but didn't love it."

McCain lost jet number one in 1958 when he plunged into Corpus Christi Bay while practicing landings. He was knocked unconscious by the impact coming to as the plane settled to the bottom.

McCain's second crash occurred while he was deployed in the Mediterranean. "Flying too low over the Iberian Peninsula," Timberg wrote, "he took out some power lines [reminiscent of the 1998 incident in which a Marine Corps jet sliced through the cables of a gondola at an Italian ski resort, killing 20] which led to a spate of newspaper stories in which he was predictably identified as the son of an admiral."

McCain's third crash occurred when he was returning from flying a Navy trainer solo to Philadelphia for an Army-Navy football game.

Timberg reported that McCain radioed, "I've got a flameout" and went through standard relight procedures three times before ejecting at one thousand feet. McCain landed on a deserted beach moments before the plane slammed into a clump of trees.

McCain's fourth aircraft loss occurred July 29, 1967, soon after he was assigned to the USS Forrestal as an A-4 Skyhawk pilot. While seated in the cockpit of his aircraft waiting his turn for takeoff, an accidently fired rocket slammed into McCain's plane. He escaped from the burning aircraft, but the explosions that followed killed 134 sailors, destroyed at least 20 aircraft, and threatened to sink the ship.

McCain's fifth loss happened during his 23rd mission over North Vietnam on Oct. 26, 1967, when McCain's A-4 Skyhawk was shot down by a surface-to-air missile. McCain ejected from the plane breaking both arms and a leg in the process and subsequently parachuted into Truc Bach Lake near Hanoi. "

Perhaps the most damning charges though stem from the Forrestal incident. Here some would say that McCain was not an accidental victim of the bizarre event, but rather perhaps the careless creator of the inferno. Here's one acount of the event from the DU:

"Surviving crewmen and those who investigated the Forrestal fire case reported that McCain deliberately 'wet-started' his A-4E Skyhawk to shake up the guy in the F-4 Phantom behind his A-4. 'Wet-starts', done either deliberately (the starter motor switch allowed kerosene to pool in the engine and give a wet start) or accidentally, shoot a large flame from the tail of the aircraft.

In McCain's case, the 'wet-start' 'cooked off' and launched the M34 Zuni rocket from the rear F-4 that punctured the Skyhawk's fueltank, knocked the M-65 1000 lb bomb off it's 500 lb rated mount, and touched off the explosions and massive fire.

The F-4 pilot was reportedly killed in the conflagration, along with 167 of his fellow Forrestal shipmates (including those who died later from wounds suffered). 'Wet starting' was a common practice among young 'hot-dog' pilots.

McCain was quickly transferred to the USS Oriskany (the only Forrestal crewman to be immediately transferred)."

Whether the wet start story is true or not, one thing cannot be denied, McCain was in the middle of it.

For 23 combat missions (an estimated 20 hours over enemy territory), the U.S. Navy awarded McCain a Silver Star, a Legion of Merit for Valor, a Distinguished Flying Cross, three Bronze Stars, two Commendation medals plus two Purple Hearts and a dozen service medals.

Not bad for a guy who graduated with a class rank of 894 out of 899.

John Sidney McCain III is known among many of his Vietnam flight buddies as "Ace" McCain. This title has not been bestowed upon McCain because he destroyed five enemy aircraft. On the contrary:

It was five on our side

You would have thought his father was in charge of the war.

Fact is.

He was.

A hot head fighter pilot that has lost five jets, and was in the middle of an accident that destroyed another 20, almost sank an aircraft carrier, who perhaps hot gunned 167 of his his fellow sailors down sounds like the stuff of a great charismatic character for an exciting and rivoting adventure movie.

But it's the wrong stuff to be on the trigger of the American military.

We can't afford someone who fights fire with fire.

We need someone who knows in his heart

that it is water that puts out a fire.



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