DENVER — Former president Jimmy Carter called Republican presidential candidate John McCain a "distinguished Naval officer," but said the Arizona senator has been "milking every possible drop of advantage" from his time served as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
Carter spoke Thursday with USA TODAY ahead of Barack Obama's acceptance speech to cap off the Democratic National Convention. Carter spoke of Obama's challenges facing the lingering effects of racism in America, the ability of the Clintons to bring their supporters over to Obama and decried Sen. Joe Lieberman's decision to "abandon" the Democrats by speaking at the Republican National Convention next week.
But he focused heavily on McCain, explaining how he was bewildered to see him during a conversation earlier this month with pastor and author Rick Warren at the Saddlebrook Church in Lake Forest, Calif. Carter said that whether the question was about religion, domestic or foreign affairs, every answer came back to his five-and-a-half years as a POW.
"John McCain was able to weave in his experience in a Vietnam prison camp, no matter what the question was," said Carter, a 7-year Naval officer who served aboard submarines. "It's much better than talking about how he's changed his total character between being a senator, a kind of a maverick at the time, and his acquiescence in the last few months with every kind of lobbyist pressure that the right wing Republicans have presented to him."
Do you remember the screaming that Jimmuh and every other Democrat did when John Kerry's Vietnam experience was questioned? We were all told that we shouldn't dare criticize a war heroe's time in service.
McCain's 5 1/2 years in captivity was a defining experience of his life, and of course he should talk about it in the context of how he looks at issues.
Jimmuh needs a trip to Camp Go Away.
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