John McCain called Barack Hussein Obama a Patriot but serious questions remain about both.

Senator John McCain is already known as one of the worst RINOs in the Republican Party but the one attribute that seems to keep getting him reelected, his status as a Vietnam war hero, may be just as fake as his Republican credentials. Now McCain, the person some fellow veterans have called a traitor and an enemy collaborator, has once again jumped in to defend our Marxist/Socialist leader by calling Barack Hussein Obama a “Patriot”. If Barack Hussein Obama is a 'Patriot' he must be the same variety as John McCain and Hanoi Jane Fonda.

McCain’s admiration for Obama first became evident during a Town Hall meeting in Lakeville, Minnesota during the 2008 presidential campaign, McCain showed his Republican audience the depths of his ignorance for which he was soundly booed when he said he respected Obama for his accomplishments and considered him a decent family man. As reported by Amie Parnes in Ben Smith’s column on Politico on October 10, 2008:

A man in the audience stood up and told McCain he's "scared" of an Obama presidency and who he'd select for the Supreme Court.

"I have to tell you. Sen. Obama is a decent person and a person you don't have to be scared of as president of the United States," McCain said as the crowd booed and shouted "Come on, John!"

Well, the facts are in and there is no need for more proof about who Obama appointed to the Supreme Court. He has added two of the most liberal women in politics and one of them, Elana Kagan, is even being accused of falsifying evidence while representing Obama’s White House as Solicitor General in a case she brought before the Supreme Court. And another, Sonya Sotomayor, who as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York was an activist judge who liberally interpreted the law based on her concept of social issues.

But no one will ever get a chance to resubmit that original question to John McCain about fearing Obama court appointees and pin him down on the answer he gave two years ago, so moving on to the subject of patriotism its time to burst a few bubbles about the war hero from Arizona because it seems that John McCain is a fake. According to the opinions expressed below the injuries McCain received that left him with restricted arm movement were the results of his ejecting from his aircraft and being stabbed with bayonets during his capture not as a prisoner of war. Here are some comments from military veterans and respected Republicans about John McCain’s service in Vietnam and his treatment of POW/MIA supporters while in Congress. These comments were originally posted on the web site mccainbetrayspows.com

Whenever criticism is lodged against Sen. John McCain's military record or his post-war involvement with the POW/MIA issue, many are quick to dismiss the detractors as liberals, anti-American, anti-military and many more superlatives that would fill this page.

Such arguments are easily dismissed here because the "detractors" featured on this page are mostly respected, conservative Republicans and many are military veterans with stellar service records.

None of these prominent Americans can be off-handedly dismissed by anyone who considers him/herself to be intelligent and judicious individuals.

One characteristic all of these people have in common is their dedication to serving the cause of America's Prisoners-of-War and Missing-in-Action.

Sgt. Maj. John "Top" Holland (ret.), WWII - U.S. Marines, Infantry; Korean War - U.S. Army Paratrooper; Vietnam War - Special Forces
     "Col Ted Guy, USAF, another returned POW, was in the process of drawing-up charges against McCain for giving Order of Battle information to the enemy in exchange for individual medical care that was not available to the other POW's; for freely making radio broadcasts for the enemy, knowing they were being used to affect the morale of American troops, and.....

Garnett "Bill" Bell, fmr. Chief of the U.S. Office for POW/MIA Affairs, 33-year Army veteran, Vietnam Veteran (2 tours) Awarded Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Cross of Gallantry.  One of the last American's to leave the fall of Saigon.
    McCain had roughly 20 hours in combat.  Since McCain got 28 medals that’s equal to about a medal-and-a-half for each hour he spent in combat. There were infantry guys -- grunts on the ground -- who had more than 7,000 hours in combat and I can tell you that there were times and situations where I’m sure a prison cell would have looked pretty good to them by comparison. The question really is how many guys got that number of medals for NOT being shot down.

Ted Sampley
Vietnam Veteran, Green Beret - Special Forces
founding member of the National Alliance of POW/MIA Families
   For years, McCain has been an unchecked master at manipulating an overly friendly and biased news media. The former POW turned Congressman, turned U.S. Senator, has managed to gloss over his failures as a pilot and his collaborations with the enemy to become America’s POW-hero presidential candidate.

Ross Perot
    "McCain is the classic opportunist--he's always reaching for attention and glory. Other POWs won't even sit at the same table with him.  There's evidence, evidence, evidence and McCain was adamant about shutting down anything to do with recovering POWs.

Dr. James Lucier
fmr. U.S. Senate Chief of Staff for Jesse Helms
   "Bob Dole wouldn't let McCain be the chairman of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs because he knew McCain would just sweep everything under the carpet.."

Col. Earl Hopper (ret.), Army Airborne Officer, Intelligence Officer, Korean War, Vietnam War
     "Within five or seven days after being captured McCain made a deal to trade medical care in exchange for highly classified military information including specific details of the package routes for bombing North Vietnam.  He also told them the primary bombing targets.  We lost 60% more aircraft and men because of the information McCain gave to the North Vietnamese.  After about a month things had gotten so bad that we called off bombing North Vietnam."

Col. Hopper posted a lengthy testimony against John McCain on his own web site before he died which should be read in its entirety in order to get the full picture. Col. Earl P. Hopper Sr.'s fight for the rights of troops who were captured or missing in action began when his oldest son, Earl P. Hopper Jr., disappeared in North Vietnam in 1968. Col. Hopper pased away on July 11, 2008. His testimony remains on his web site but the links to the videos are no longer active. Someone did repost the videos of those interviews on YouTube and the links are here for the 5 parts of his interview.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki9xWP1xUns&feature=related

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Goi1Dtp_LZ4

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W6_mVoEAyA

Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP0ZU7oHYr8&feature=related

Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHtshRtgsUE

John McCain: Privileged 'War Hero', Liar, Collaborator, Traitor

The impression that McCain and the media has attempted to portray of McCain's 5 ½  years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam is about as far from the truth that one could possible go. McCain, from the first moments of his capture, had behaved as a COLLABORATOR and propaganda tool for his North Vietnamese captors. McCain had engaged in no less than 30, and likely as many as 38 anti-American propaganda broadcasts for Radio Hanoi during the period of his captivity. Far from the image of a dedicated American "hero" sweating it out in a North Vietnamese prisoner's "hotbox" for 5 ½  years, McCain was often given "special" treatment by his captors, who were fully aware of his father's and grandfather's 4 star admiral positions with the Navy. No one has ever witnessed McCain's supposed "torture" at the hands of his jailers. The consensus opinion of other POWs in McCain's camps was that McCain was NEVER tortured by the North Vietnamese. McCain's disgraceful and wholly reprehensible conduct (along with John Kerry) during the 1991-93 Senate Committee on POW/MIAs leaves no doubt that McCain is a traitor to this country and its veterans and especially to the families of POWs and MIAs. ..Ken Adachi].
    By Ret. Col. Earl Hopper < tfoinc@hughes.net>
    Interviewer, Jerry Kiley
    Audio Transcriped by Ken Adachi
    http://educate-yourself.org/cn/earlhopperinterview08feb08.shtml
    February 8, 2008

Another revealing story about John McCain's days as a POW in North Vietnam and his life after returning home also surfaced during the 2008 presidential campaign. This was posted on another veterans web site. Here is the complete story as it was posted on The U.S. Veteran Dispatch.

Politicizing the Congressional Medal of Honor

Col. Bud Day, his Medal of Honor and the McCain campaign's abuse of our nation's highest award for valor.
By Ted Sampley
U.S. Veteran Dispatch
May 09, 2008

Former Air Force colonel and Medal of Honor recipient George "Bud" Day, 83, has been a close friend of presidential candidate John McCain since 1967 when they shared a cell for 3 months in a Vietnamese POW camp.

For years, Day has been waving his Medal of Honor at political events in support of McCain's political ambitions. His politicizing of our highest military award for valor has bothered me for as many years. When I finally took a look at his Medal of Honor Citation, some discrepancies stood out like festering thumb splinter.

Day, who claims to be the most decorated serviceman since Gen. Douglas MacArthur with more than 70 medals including the Medal of Honor, is McCain's leading frontman and apologist.

North Vietnamese gunners shot Day down Aug. 26, 1967, two months before they shot Navy pilot McCain's bomber out of the sky on Oct. 26.

When Day ejected from his crippled F-!00, he broke his right arm in three places when he struck the side of the cockpit. He also sustained eye, leg and back injuries.

Although Day and McCain suffered similar injuries, they had unique POW experiences. Day claims he escaped after being "hung upside down and severely tortured for two days." He said that despite being "barefooted, severely crippled, disoriented, vomiting blood" and with no equilibrium, he outran enemy soldiers and their tracking dogs for two days before being captured again. Day said he managed to escape again outrunning the enemy and their dogs for nearly two weeks before he was captured a third and final time.

Day was released after five years and seven months as a North Vietnamese prisoner on Mar. 14, 1973. Three years later, President Gerald Ford awarded Day the Medal of Honor citing his personal bravery "above and beyond the call of duty" while a captive in North Vietnam.

McCain's right arm was broken in three places and his left arm and right knee were fractured when he ejected.

He says that on his fourth day of captivity, he was so sure he was going to die if he did not get special medical treatment, he offered the communists "military information" in exchange for taking him to a hospital.

After being told that McCain's father and grandfather were famous high-ranking American admirals, the Vietnamese rushed the seriously injured McCain to Gai Lam military hospital (U.S. government documents), a medical facility normally unavailable to treat U.S. POWs. McCain's father, Adm. John McCain, was later appointed commander of all U.S. forces fighting in Vietnam. His grandfather was a famous WWII admiral.

Because the communists believed McCain was from "royal family," they considered him a "crown prince" who would when finally released return to the United States to an important military or government job.

While being treated in the hospital, McCain made a series of propaganda statements for the communist including at least one television interview during which he gave specific "military information" pertaining to his mission. McCain was quoted in the communist press describing the number of aircraft in his flight, information about rescue ships and the order of which his attack was supposed to take place.

In December, six weeks after he was shot down, the Vietnamese transferred McCain from the hospital to a POW camp called "The Plantation" and into the hands of Day and Air Force Major Norris Overly.

Day and Overly helped nurse McCain until he was eventually able to walk by himself. Day spent about three months with McCain before he was moved to another camp.

McCain was released from captivity on March 14, 1973 after spending 5 ½ years as a POW. He returned to the United States to his wife Carol and children.

McCain was awarded a Silver Star Medal for resisting "extreme mental and physical cruelties" inflicted upon him by his captors from late October to early December 1967, the exact time frame during which McCain was in the hospital making propaganda statements for the enemy in exchange for medical treatment.

During their stay in POW camps, Day and McCain developed a close personal (and now political) friendship which continued after they were released in 1973.

In January 1980, soon after McCain met Cindy Hensley, a former cheerleader whose family owned one of the country's largest Anheuser-Busch distributorship, it was Day, then a Fort Walton Beach attorney, who McCain called on to file divorce papers against his wife Carol.

While McCain was imprisoned, Carol was in an auto wreck (Christmas Eve 1969). She was thrown through her car's windshield and left permanently crippled. Despite her injures, she refused to allow her POW husband to be notified about her condition, fearing that such news would not be good for him while he was being held prisoner.

When McCain returned to the United States in 1973 after more than five years as a prisoner of war, he found his wife was a different person. The accident "left her 4 inches shorter"  (The Nightingale's Song, by Robert Timberg) and on crutches, and she had gained a good deal of weight.

McCain wasted no time before he was out on the town partying. While Executive Officer and later as Squadron Commander of a Navy training unit, McCain used his authority to arrange frequent flights that allowed him to carouse with female subordinates and "engage in extramarital affairs" (The Nightingale's Song, by Robert Timberg).

McCain eventually met Hensley, 17 years his junior, and fell in love at first sight.

Day used the soft touch of his friendship with Carol to obtain an uncontested divorce from her in Florida on April 2, 1980. McCain promptly married Hensley on May 17, 1980. Today, Cindy Hensley McCain is said to be worth 100 million dollars.

When McCain set out to help Hanoi by discrediting POW/MIA families, former POWs and veterans who were demanding no normalized trade or diplomatic relations with Vietnam until Hanoi accounted for the POWs known to have been alive in captivity, but never released, Day, unhesitatingly answered the call.

In a Jan. 24, 2000 letter to conservative columnist Paul Weyrich, Day described POW/MIA activists as "a cottage industry of nut cases and 'Bring them Home' frauds that victimized POW families and the public after we [U.S. prisoners of war] were released from Vietnam." Day signed off in the letter with "George 'Bud' Day, Medal of Honor, POW 1967-1973."

Day was upset over a column in which Weyrick quoted Col. Earl Hopper, Ret., a former chairman of the board of the National League of Families, criticizing McCain for "never turning a finger to help any of the [POW-MIA] families."

Hopper, a Vietnam veteran and father of MIA Lt. Col. Earl P. Hopper, Jr., lost over North Vietnam in 1968, contends that at a minimum, 66 men were left behind when McCain and the other POWs were released in 1973.

Former N.C. Congressman Bill Hendon and MIA daughter, Elizabeth Stewart put the number much higher in their book "An Enormous Crime." Hopper says that McCain undermined every effort to get the federal government to acknowledge that men were left behind.

Here are the names of some returned POWs Day slandered with his "Bring them Home frauds" remarks: Navy Captain Eugene "Red" McDaniel, Col. Ted Guy (deceased), Ltc Col. Nick Rowe (deceased), Msg. Daniel L. Pitzer (deceased), Maj. Mark Smith, Mike Benge, Larry Stark and Maj. John Parcels.

During that same period, Day emailed me a mean spirited letter in response to articles I had written questioning McCain's behavior while a prisoner. He called me a lair and falsely claimed that it was impossible for McCain to have collaborated with the enemy because he knew where McCain was and what he was doing during the entire 5 ½ years McCain was held POW. That was an impossible feat since McCain claims he spent most of his time being tortured in solitary confinement away from other U.S. POWs.

Recently, Day and his Medal of Honor have been thrust to the front of McCain's campaign again, this time to deflect criticism of McCain and give testimony about the "strength of McCain's character."

Just before the South Carolina primary, I released a flier to the South Carolina press for Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain that offered specific information detailing McCain's collaborations with the enemy. McCain's campaign responded immediately, parading Day in front of the press introducing him as "a famously heroic Medal of Honor winner who also shared a cell with McCain."

On cue, Day stepped before the cameras and declared the flier "the most outrageous f--king lie I've ever heard." Day claims that McCain's collaborations with the enemy were technically not violations of the Military Code of Conduct.

Maj. Gen. Patrick Brady, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for actions on Jan. 6, 1968, near Chu Lai, South Vietnam said the following of the Medal of Honor: "I was awarded the Medal of Honor, but my fellow soldiers who supported me in the actions and took the time to write it up earned it. I wear it for them. They own my medals. And every Medal of Honor recipient and hero I know believes as I do. Medals should be a sign of patriotism, a symbol of sacrifice, support and defense of a great nation. The highest form of patriotism is service to our youth; heroes also wear their medal for them to signal the importance of courage. Heroes do not use their medals for personal political gain. As I said they are not theirs to use."

During the 2004 election, Day used his Medal of Honor to weigh in on the controversy surrounding presidential candidate John Kerry's military service and medals. Day was very critical of Kerry declaring that by bringing up his Vietnam service Kerry had "opened up his character as a war hero" for criticism. Day said, "Kerry's character is not only fair game, it is the primary issue."

Day has habitably and fragrantly politicized his Medal of Honor. By using it's awe-inspiring prestige as authorization to attack the credibility of other POWs, veterans and POW/MIA family members, he has "opened up his character as a war hero" to questions about the award of his Medal of Honor.

The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is awarded by the President in the name of Congress to a military person who distinguishes himself or herself significantly by gallantry above and beyond the call of duty while engaged against an enemy of the United States.

The deed performed must have been one of personal bravery or self-sacrifice so outstanding as to clearly distinguish the individual above his or her comrades and must have involved risk of life.

Unquestionable proof in the form of eyewitnesses to the deed is required before the award of the Medal of Honor can be considered.

Other than surviving captivity, exactly what deed did Day perform that was "above and beyond the call of duty?"

What life threatening action of personal bravery and self-sacrifice did Day perform that "clearly distinguished" him above his comrades?

The following is a paraphrased account of Day's escape and evasion  from the North Vietnamese that U.S. authorities used to justify awarding him the Medal of Honor:  On 26 August1967, Air Force Maj. George "Bud" Day was forced to eject from his aircraft over North Vietnam when it was hit by ground fire.
 During the ejection, his right arm was broken in 3 places, and his left knee badly sprained. Upon landing, Day was immediately captured by hostile forces and taken to a prison camp where he was hung upside down and severely tortured for two days.

Day managed to escape on September 1. Barefooted and severely crippled, he traveled south for 2 days outrunning enemy soldiers who were using dogs ... both of his feet became bruised and cut from sharp rocks and battle debris.

On September 3, Day was wounded again from either a bomb or rocket. The blast ruptured his eardrums and sinuses. Shrapnel cut large open wounds in his right leg. He became disoriented and began vomiting blood and lost equilibrium. Totally debilitated, he crawled into bushes and lay hidden for two days.

Although seriously wounded, with an arm broken in 3 places, a severely swollen knee, ruptured eardrums, large open wounds in his leg, vomiting blood and no equilibrium, Day managed to resume his escape south on September 5. Existing only on berries and two raw frogs, he wandered aimlessly for several more days.

Despite all his broken bones and other injuries, on approximately September 8, Day swam the Ben Hai River which marked the boundaries of the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Vietnam. For another week, Day evaded communist patrols in South Vietnam.

Sometime on or about September 15, Day was surprised by an enemy patrol. Although, shot and wounded again, this time in his left hand and thigh, he managed to escape once more, staying on the run for another day and a half.

On Sept.17, 22 days after being shot down, Day was recaptured and marched to a POW camp back in North Vietnam. The communists tortured him for 48 hours straight causing him to become totally incapacitated and unable perform even the simplest task. His wounds festered into dangerous infection and his captors continued to refuse him medical treatment.

Sometime in middle November, Day was sent north to the infamous Hoa Lo prison camp where he was subjected to non-stop torture and refused any type of medical treatment. Finally, this captors had totally destroyed him physically.

Near the end of November, about two months after Day was shot down, he was placed into a prison cell with U.S. POW Norris Overly.

In December, the Vietnamese put seriously injured POW John McCain in the cell with Day and Overly. They took care of McCain until he was able to walk again.

By involving his Medal of Honor in politics and using it as an authority to trash other veterans, Day has "opened up his character as a war hero" for criticism. Day planted the standard for himself when he said that "Kerry's character is not only fair game, it is the primary issue."

Day's character and the legitimacy of his Medal of Honor "is not only fair game, it is the primary issue."

Military regulation requires that before the award of a Medal of Honor can be considered, unquestionable proof in the form of eyewitnesses must be provided.

Day had no witnesses because he was alone. Why was the "eye witnesses" requirement waived for Day?

Who approved Day for the Medal of Honor and did McCain or his admiral father have anything to do with it?

John McCain and Bud Day have formed a political tag team to deflect inquiries about McCain's questionable conduct while in captivity. They have cynically used the Medal of Honor as a shield - but in the process they have stained it.

As the wise man once said: "Politics makes strange bedfellows". The state of the Nation and our monumental problems today are a direct result of people like Sen. John McCain and other RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) like him. America has a renewed hope following the mid-term elections last November but the overwhelming majority the TEA Party conservatives handed the Republicans wasn't enough to curb the power hunger Democrats in the Senate. And Sen. John McCain now has a full six-year term to do his dirty work. Since he doesn't seem to know a patriot when he sees one it is questionable if he understands that America is a Constitutional Republic.