# Did McCain make up the "cross in the dirt" POW story? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 18, 2008, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mccain-make-up-the-cross-in-the-dirt-pow-story/460455 "2008-08-18T18:27:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mccain-make-up-the-cross-in-the-dirt-pow-story/460455/101 "2008-08-21T23:47:05Z")
Interestingly enough, my older sister was adopted from Bangladesh and my parents _did_ meet with Mother Theresa to talk about it a couple of years later. Okay, maybe it’s not that interesting. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mccain-make-up-the-cross-in-the-dirt-pow-story/460455/102 "2008-08-22T00:27:01Z")
This triggered my memory-when Clinton was on the D-Day Beach at Normandy (for the 60th Anniversary of D-day), he was shown (with strategically located tears in his eyes) looking down at a cross (made of pebbles placed on the sand). Which makes me think that politicians have been running this little act for years! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mccain-make-up-the-cross-in-the-dirt-pow-story/460455/103 "2008-08-22T00:40:48Z")
[QUOTE=ralph124c] Which makes me think that politicians have been running this little act for years! :mad: [/QUOTE] If glurge didn’t sell, there wouldn’t be glurge. ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mccain-make-up-the-cross-in-the-dirt-pow-story/460455/104 "2008-08-23T01:46:10Z")
Regarding Archive Guy’s post #100 above, here’s the[Christian Science Monitor original article](http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2008/08/20/watchdogs-make-it-harder-for-politicians-to-stretch-the-truth/) that made the McCain website change their Mother Teresa tune. Does seem to be a pattern here. > [@](#): > > Mrs. McCain, it turns out, never met Mother Teresa on that trip. (Once contacted by the Monitor, the campaign revised the story on its website.) > Such exaggerations may simply be the product of a faulty memory or a desire to be “better” than one is in a political culture that requires larger-than-life idols. But with the advent of the fact-checking obsessed blogosphere – and a media racing to keep up – such self-aggrandizement doesn’t last as long as it once did. > > “It’s all about myth-making,” says Darrell West, the director of governance studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “Politicians love to turn their stories into great epics, and sometimes they have to embellish to smooth out the story line.” > > “But now there are too many professional and amateur fact-checkers,” he says. “And there are hundreds if not thousands of bloggers who have detailed knowledge on specialized information, so you really can’t get away with stretching the truth anymore.” [Mark Nickolas](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-nickolas/the-anatomy-of-a-deceptio_b_120381.html) breaks down the morphing of the adoption story in the press. This is the point where I’ve lost all respect for the McCain campaign. I admire the fact that they adopted a child in need. That’s enough really, just tell the story. But, then they lie to get a shinier halo. As the CSM quote says, ya can’t lie/“embellish” like you usta be: the info spreads too fast, and I hope enough of us see the lies before they get deleted. I hope that effect helps to change the tenor of the politiical game. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mccain-make-up-the-cross-in-the-dirt-pow-story/460455/105 "2008-08-23T02:11:17Z")
I suspect that this is one thing McCain will not be able to stop doing; he has too many years of, like all good story tellers, making a good story better. It remains to be seen whether or not the MSM will call him on it enough that it will get through to the relatively lower info voter. I suspect Biden may have a similar problem. Older extroverts tend to have a fund of stories; it’s possible they don’t even remember the real details of the actual events anymore. Memory is remarkably malleable. ETA: This is assuming Biden has any relevance to the Democratic campaign beyond being a senior Democratic senator. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2008, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mccain-make-up-the-cross-in-the-dirt-pow-story/460455/106 "2008-08-24T00:32:52Z")
[QUOTE=stolichnaya] Exactly. This should be about _Clinton_. [/QUOTE] Which one, the one that didn’t have sexual relations with Monica, or the one who was dodging sniper fire? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mccain-make-up-the-cross-in-the-dirt-pow-story/460455.md?page=5)