By John E. Carey
Peace and Freedom
Visiting in Inez, Kentucky, Senator John McCain was asked yesterday why he missed the Woodstock “mucical and pharmacalogical” event in 1969. The Senator, in his sometimes humorous and understated way, said, “I was tied up at the time.”
Actually, Navy Lieutenant and Naval Aviator John McCain was a “guest” of the communist North Vietnam government in 1969. Sometimes we have to remind youngsters that the Hanoi Hilton’s room service often involved torture.
McCain the fighter pilot with his shipmates.
I recently interviewed some men who served for the government of South Vietnam who reflected upon imprisonment and torture. One, in a beautiful understatement not unlike Senator McCain’s, just shook his head “No” and said, “Situation not happy. Not at all happy.”
****************************
McCain Speaks In Inez, Ky
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, April 24, 2008; Page A06
.
INEZ, Ky., April 23 — Sen. John McCain stood before a small crowd in this tiny Appalachian town with the same mission he has had all week: convincing what he calls “forgotten” voters who are traditionally hostile to his party that he is a different kind of Republican.
“You just expect us to show a decent concern for your hard work and initiative, and do what we can to help make sure you have opportunities to prosper from your labor,” he told a packed courthouse Wednesday, not far from the coal mines that provide most of the jobs here.
Earlier this week, McCain sought to assure African Americans in Selma, Ala., that he is committed to helping places ignored by “sins of indifference and injustice.” On Tuesday, he sympathized with workers in the fading factory town of Youngstown, Ohio. And on Thursday, he is scheduled to tour the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, where residents continue to struggle in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
McCain is reaching out to voters in these Democratic strongholds to try to build the broad, center-right coalition that aides believe is necessary for him to become president. Advisers do not think Republicans alone can elect McCain, given how many have become disenchanted with President Bush and his policies.
McCain’s “Time for Action” tour is less about specific proposals; those will come later, advisers said. The important part, they said, is for McCain to lay the groundwork in places such as Inez to credibly claim that he cares about the people who live on the edge of the modern economy. In effect, McCain is launching Version 2.0 of Bush’s “compassionate conservative” campaign.
McCain is not likely to have an easy time of it. Appealing to blacks and rural Democrats may be difficult as job losses and gas prices have made the economy the leading issue on voters’ minds. McCain’s economic plan is heavy on tax breaks for big business and admonishments about not relying on the federal government for help. He proposes a cut in corporate income taxes from 35 to 25 percent, help for companies who depreciate equipment and other incentives.
“The Democrats do more for our area,” said Rhonda York, who works for a day-care provider and is married to a coal miner. “Right now, it’s extremely hard, with four dollars for gas.”
In his speech Wednesday, McCain offered none of the promises of government help that President Lyndon Johnson did when he declared war on poverty in Inez 44 years ago. Instead, McCain vowed to enact tax cuts that he said will spur job growth, incentives for companies to bring high-speed Internet here, and job training for displaced workers.
Read the rest:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/story/2008/04/23/
ST2008042303253.html?hpid=topnews
Tags: Hanoi Hilton, McCain, POW
