Dailies Contact Lenses - Is this the real John McCain?

Is this the real John McCain?

At Fort McNair, an army base located along the Potomac River in the nation's capital, a chance reunion takes place one day between two former POWs. It's the spring of 1974, and Navy commander John Sidney McCain III has returned home from the experience in Hanoi that, according to legend, transformed him from a callow and reckless youth into a serious man of patriotism and purpose. Walking along the grounds at Fort McNair, McCain runs into John Dramesi, an Air Force lieutenant colonel who was also imprisoned and tortured in Vietnam. McCain is studying at the National War College, a prestigious graduate program he had to pull strings with the Secretary of the Navy to get into. Dramesi is enrolled, on his own merit, at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in the building next door. There's a distance between the two men that belies their shared experience in North Vietnam — call it an honor gap. Like many American POWs, McCain broke down under torture and offered a "confession" to his North Vietnamese captors. Dramesi, in contrast, attempted two daring escapes. For the second he was brutalized for a month with daily torture sessions that nearly killed him. His partner in the escape, Lt. Col. Ed Atterberry, didn't survive the mistreatment. But Dramesi never said a disloyal word, and for his heroism was awarded two Air Force Crosses, one of the service's highest distinctions. McCain would later hail him as "one of the toughest guys I've ever met." On the grounds between the two brick colleges, the chitchat between the scion of four-star admirals and the son of a prizefighter turns to their academic travels; both colleges sponsor a trip abroad for young officers to network with military and political leaders in a distant corner of the globe. "I'm going to the Middle East," Dramesi says. "Turkey, Kuwait, Lebanon, Iran." "Why are you going to the Middle East?" McCain asks, dismissively. "It's a place we're probably going to have some problems," Dramesi says. "Why? Where are you going to, John?" "Oh, I'm going to Rio." "What the hell are you going to Rio for?" McCain, a married father of three, shrugs. "I got a better chance of getting laid." Dramesi, who went on to serve as chief war planner for U.S. Air Forces in Europe and commander of a wing of the Strategic Air Command, was not surprised. "McCain says his life changed while he was in Vietnam, and he is now a different man," Dramesi says today. "But he's still the undisciplined, spoiled brat that he was when he went in." For the entire article, go to: http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain

Public Comments

yeah that's him
Rolling Stone is a GREAT unbiased, fair, and truthful news source /saracasm
Of course it is. That is a great article, by the way. More McCain supporters should read it.
Dramesi for PRESIDENT!!!
rolling stone is a biased, liberal mag. No credibility.
yes that's McSame: Four More Wars!
this is not a question.
yeah that's the real john McCain
In the seventies maybe. Let's tallk about Obama in the eighties with his drug habits.
Sheesh, at least your going to the right source to get your political news. Seriously? If you want to go down that path, Obama was crack head / dealer in his younger days, come on..
Hmm I would go to Rio too. But hey I am not running for prez. I find it ironic that so called Christians support this man who abandoned his wife. and was a typical playboy. It is demeaning to chrisitans and women.
McCain is an egotistic womanizer. always was, always will be.
Yea, he's the man. What did Obama do for his country again, oh yea nothing. Just a draft doger.
Remembering a conversation from 30 years ago? I really find that hard to believe. Sounds like slander to me.
The real John McCain who left his first wife after a disfiguring accident, because she was no longer a "trophy wife?"
That sounds about right. I mean, he left his first wife for the pill-headed beer heiress of the month. It shouldn't be any surprise to anyone. BTW, Rolling Stone is very well known for being unbiased and truthful. Sorry Repubs, sad but true.
I don't know how true this is since I obviously wasn't there to witness it for myself, but a fellow POW in that camp spoke about McCain and his time there. I believe he said that he had been in the camp for about 2 years before McCain arrived. About a month before, a regime change took place which resulted in the end of the harshest treatments for prisoners. So, according to this man, McCain didn't go through anything nearly as horrific as most of the other prisoners around him. He also said that on the base, McCain was well known to have a short fuse and a fiery temper, causing him to be disliked by most of his peers. I'm not saying this is true or that he didn't survive a terrible ordeal, but I can't recall McCain ever clearing the air and calling this man a liar.
There are so many times when McCain failed and then claimed he had changed. His wild, rebelious days as a Navy mid-shipman. His wild drinking and carrousing days as a Navy aviator. His "confession" in Vietnam prison camp. His adultery against his wife. His involvement with Charles Keating. And there are his recent lapses- from his maverick positions to appease the conservative base, his turning his campaign so negative after sayind he wouldn't, his picking Palin when he wanted Lieberman - which he may in the future apologize for and say that he's changed. I guess he really is a candidate of change!
It is the needle eye version of the wrong doings and covering up that has been done for him by the privy of being connected to high govt officials, and not to disgrace them self or expose further the behind scenes junk they are doing that is less then moral or honorable. I have noticed that McCain was offered to reassignment, and said no, he would stay prisoner, while his dad and granddad are high ranks and knew nothing would come of his being a prisoner other then becoming an admiral We have many brave men and women that have endured loosing all their limbs etc and are not given proper respect or help ,just there life for freedom of govt to abuse its power and now it is becoming known, Unfortunately people don't pay enough attention and get caught up on whether they think they could have coffee or beer with the candidate and not whether they are going to get the jobs done needed for the future of this country
McCain....There's something about him that I don't like. I can't seem to bring myself to trust him. He doesn't know how the middle class feels with the mortgage crisis. He has no problems paying his 7 mortgages, has lots of money. He tried to "suspend" his campaign to go to Washington and "one-handedly" solve the crisis facing us all. He was not "the savior" of anything. He looked really stupid. OBAMA 2008!!!
Good writing skills . I hope you are right with that last sentence. He's my man.
Not one bit surprised. His personality and demeanor on television shows he is not a very nice person. There are plenty of videos on youtube of veterans giving their first hand account of him not being very honorable. Why don't republicans listen to the men who were actually with McCain??
That's the real McCain, by the way have you seen the real Sarah Palin? "Palin found guilty in trooper gate scandal"
And your reason for wanting us to read it is? What does it really matter? It still doesn't prove him to be unpatriotic - he was tortured as a POW for 5 years. He's been FOR this country and whether you try to disparage his character with this kind of crap you can't take that away from him. On the other hand, let's take a huge look at Obama evidently your choice. He has done absolutely nothing for this country - NOTHING! His associations show that he is sorely lacking in judgment. If he does want to bring this country out of economic turmoil. He needs to learn a few things first. You don't use socialism and the old Jimmy Carter tactics to bring it back on track that's for sure. Do your self a favor and read something other than the bs that you are filling your mind with.
No, I wonder what kind of cranial void it requires to digest the information trawled out by facets like rolling stone or its other owned liberal outlet US weekly. I wonder where our future will be with such weak socially engineered people like this one.