Please please please keep doing this John.

Last time something like this came up, I thought he's doing it because it polls well.

I wonder if the other reason is because Obama praised him so often for being a genuine American war hero.

Could it be that McCain calculates that Obama himself inoculated him?

I'm still puzzled by this POW stuff. As of late, McCain doesn't seem to be doing anything that's not calculated.

If McCain can't even joke about this on Leno, it must be getting to him. They're going to keep poking and prodding him about it, and one of these days, he's gonna flip hit shit. And I wanna be there and see it when it happens.

We just need one SNL skit abotu this and it will be all the talk.

It's already a humorous meme, albeit a shameful one...

"Why didn't you wash the toilet?"
"Well, you know, I didn't even have a toilet for five years!"

"Did you forget to pick up milk and eggs tonight?"
"Maybe...but I didn't have milk and eggs IN PRISON."

"We need to see the doctor about your premature ejaculation."
"I had to hurry...time was short while I WAS A POW!"

The Begala Plan

ATTACK..ATTACK..ATTACK...ATTACK..
ATTACK...ATTACK...ATTACK..

The McSongbird response

POW....POW...POW...POW
POW....POW...POW

Then he'll throw one of his temper tantrums

"I didn't vote for the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday because after all, my friends, he was never a POW."

This POW stuff is not "morning in America". Keep provoking him to do this. It focuses him squarely looking backward mired in a bitter past. If Obama can't refocus himself with a strong message directed towards the future, he's going to deserve to lose.

Sheesh, compare McCain and his old war stories to Ted Kennedy's fervor for universal health care, passing the torch to the future, etc. McCain's a fossil. Let him brand himself.

I think he's daring Obama to call him out on it.

Lordy! Rachel Maddow went off on this on MSNBC just now, and the crowd looking on broke into cheers!

and Buchanan kept saying it works it works it works. we will be hearing the I did not have a table or a house line many many times.

No doubt someone's connected this dot already, but it's priceless: McCain was POW-POW-POWing right from the start of his political career, using some of the same exact lines. Here's video of the 1982 ad, taken from The New Republic:

http://www.tnr.com/story_print.html?id=0fd7470d-a41f-4d9e-9328-fd079b476a0a

A bit off topic but go over to The Corner and check out the commentary related to Obama's response to they Ayers ad. They are saying things like, "biggest mistake of the campaign", and, "worst political ad ever", calling it a huge blunder on Obama's part. Why? Well, because he's highlighting an issue that they say has been largely confined to the Internet. He's making it bigger than it is. Never mind that Hannity talks about it every day. Never mind that the 527 that is running it has $3M to burn. Never mind that Stanley Kurtz from National Review has filed an FOIA to get files released that he hopes will show some nefarious connection between Ayers and Obama. Never mind that the wingnuts have been pushing this story for months. Never mind that McCain's camp has mentioned it in the past. Never mind that it was going to come out sooner or later.

They are responding the way they are because they can't believe Obama - a Dem - fought back. They are shocked. And worried...because this guy ain't going to sit back and take it. And because they probably think that Obama's response may be, um, effective.

I know there was wide approval of the Obama response ad on this forum. I agreed with that approval and still do. Anybody else think the wingnuts have a point? Do you think they really honestly think it was a bad move, even though we disagree? Or do you think they are responding the way they are - and the McCain camp is also getting huffy - because they are worried that Obama's response will work and that he will continue to respond to whatever crap they throw at them.

Interested to hear the views of the folks here. And do check out The Corner and Jen Rubin on Contentions.

It is the night of Dem Convention and nine out of ten TPM posts are about McInsane and his stupid antics ?

Great Job, Greggie.

dcp - Nice catch.

Just watched the McCain '82 ad. The
POW-pity-party has been the game plan from the start. Of all the ways to introduce himself, he goes straight for the POW. Must have polled well back then too.

"I'm sick and tired of re-fighting the Vietnam War. And most importantly, I'm sick and tired of opening the wounds of the Vietnam War, which I've spent the last 30 years trying to heal," the Arizona Republican said at a lunch with USA TODAY and Gannett News Service. "It's offensive to me, and it's angering to me that we're doing this. It's time to move on."

August 25, 2004, USA Today

I'm certain that McCain used the POW thing during the Keating Five scandal. We just need to keep the joke running with the monopolopy card etc. The late night shows will pick it up, or at least Jon Stewart will. But don't count on SNL, Michael Lorne is a McCain supporter.
I still don't think people care about what happened in the 1960s and 70s. They care about their financial difficulties, that they are working harder and still getting behind.
Did you read about Cindy's dad being arrested once and having very close ties to the mafia? Definitely not the way McCain is portraying his father-in-law.

You were a POW forty years ago and a huge asshole today

I am a POW is Mccain magic wound that earaes all bad things and all critisms wooooosh

The proper response to McCain's POW-POW-POW-ing is pity. "We feel sorry for what he had to go through" "It must have left deep scars" "He should have our sympathy" That's SYMPATHY not RESPECT.

If people start to pity him, he loses the illusion of strength.

"I, John McInsane, noun verb becuase I was a P.O.W."

"I, John McInsane, noun verb becuase I was a P.O.W."

"I, John McInsane, noun verb becuase I was a P.O.W."

"I, John McInsane, noun verb becuase I was a P.O.W."

"I, John McInsane, noun verb becuase I was a P.O.W."

I used to be a 97 lb weakling. At the beach, Liberals would kick sand in my face and make time with my girl. Then I discovered the John McCain '&-Days To POW-ER' self-actualization course. It has changed my life. I used to be one of those book-reading, sensitive, considerate wimps. No more!

Now I eat puppies for breakfast and crap gold nuggets. I kick ass and take names, ( but I don't spell them correctly, like some pansy liberal would!)

Thank you, John McCain! I will vote for you! (Well, I would, but I'm in Leavenworth, doing 10-15 for tax fraud... you know how THAT goes).

Why was McCain the only one in his group of POW's that was not given medals for his time in captivity? Why are his military records frozen? One of his fellow POW's has asked that question. Is this approach simply a Republican style swift boating?

It's a good thing that Obama was not in the military or they would be accusing him of dishonorable service.

of course big john only talks about being a pow .... he still IS a pow ... that's what he knows, what he does ... he can't survive unless there is a war

He keeps bringing up the POW issue to cover the fact he was such a lousy pilot.

Ok, I don't have the technical skill but, . .

The video opens with clips of several talking heads stating "He doesn't talk about being a POW."

Then cut to a McSame speech, with a counter in the lower right corner, every time he says "POW" there's a ding and the counter counts up.

Not that hard, to do

McSurge's knee-jerk POW defense/deflection reveals his weak spot. McSturgis wants to be seen as a regular guy when if fact he has lived a life of privilege. All that he has was handed to him. His pappy got him into the academy. His wife's money bought him a Senate seat. He earned his image as a straight shooter though the MSM affirmative action program. The truth is, he is a phony. He is a cartoon. His worst nightmare is that people will start comparing his and Cindy's stories of privilege and entitlement to Obama and Michelle's stories of sacrifice and hard work. McSame knows that America loves an underdog and hates the spoiled rich kid.

What a pathetic little twit!

Probably because he has more than 7....maybe even more than 10,..just in the US. How many houses/condos do Cindy & John have elsewhere?,...that's where it gets juicy. I bet there're rapidly trying to get all the titles changed and put under some company name.