# Is McCain forked yet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 25, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mccain-forked-yet/450604 "2008-05-25T23:58:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 22
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mccain-forked-yet/450604/421 "2008-08-26T13:23:06Z")
He ought to get a point or two just from Michelle’s awesome speech! ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mccain-forked-yet/450604/422 "2008-08-26T14:21:33Z")
Hell, a couple of the analysts (and I truly can’t remember if this was PBS or MSNBC) were saying he’d probably get a few million votes just on the basis of the little girls! Two bright, enthusiastic but polite, well-raised, _normal_ little girls like that (and so utterly adorable, even to grinches like me, who don’t much like kids) go a long way to saying what a man and woman are. One older geezer ever referred to them as “elegant.” ETA: He’d get a few million _votes_. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mccain-forked-yet/450604/423 "2008-08-26T14:58:12Z")
[QUOTE=Oy!] ETA: He’d get a few million _votes_. [/QUOTE] \ “How much for the little girl?” \ ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mccain-forked-yet/450604/424 "2008-08-26T16:59:26Z")
Sorry, but the POW thing has truly [jumped the shark.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q37O08IJstQ) Even some of the morning shows today were commenting on the torturous (slight pun intended) non-sequiter that allowed him to connect Houses with Hanoi. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mccain-forked-yet/450604/425 "2008-08-26T17:16:05Z")
[QUOTE=ArchiveGuy] Sorry, but the POW thing has truly [jumped the shark.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q37O08IJstQ) Even some of the morning shows today were commenting on the torturous (slight pun intended) non-sequiter that allowed him to connect Houses with Hanoi. [/QUOTE] I stayed up to watch that last night, and it seemed to me that he was expecting the crowd to break into cheers at the end of this “Time in prison…didn’t have house, chairs, etc.” line, but they didn’t. Which then forced him to actually come up with a way to finish the sentence. Which ended up being a painfully rambling: “…and because, not because I wanted to get a house when I got out. And you know, I’m very proud of Cindy’s father. He was a guy that barely got out of highschool, fought in World War II, in the air corps…” It’s like you can almost see his brain saying “Why won’t you people start cheering me so I can stop talking already! I don’t actually have a plan to take this sentence anywhere! Please start cheering me.” Noun, verb, POW…needs to have the cheering crowds let him know where the period goes. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mccain-forked-yet/450604/426 "2008-08-26T17:40:07Z")
[QUOTE=Happy Lendervedder] I’m very proud of Cindy’s father. He was a guy that barely got out of highschool, fought in World War II, in the air corps…" [/QUOTE] If McCain were thinking clearly, he really wouldn’t want to start focusing people on [Cindy’s dad](http://newmexicoindependent.com/view/the-politics-of-beer)… ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mccain-forked-yet/450604/427 "2008-08-26T17:46:15Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] If McCain were thinking clearly, he really wouldn’t want to start focusing people on [Cindy’s dad](http://newmexicoindependent.com/view/the-politics-of-beer)… [/QUOTE] Er, considering the similarities to Joe Kennedy Sr., we probably don’t want to go to that well too often. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mccain-forked-yet/450604/428 "2008-08-26T17:52:38Z")
[QUOTE=Oy!] Er, considering the similarities to Joe Kennedy Sr., we probably don’t want to go to that well too often. 😉 [/QUOTE] If there were a Kennedy running for president, yeah, maybe. I don’t see how Big Joe’s business ventures are relevant to anything that’s going on in the Democratic camp this year, though. Teddy isn’t even up for election again until 2012. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mccain-forked-yet/450604/429 "2008-08-26T17:59:40Z")
Did anybody notice the patheticness of John sending his wife to Georgia to “assess civilian casualties” on the same day that the wife of Barack Obama was giving a nationally (globally?) televised speech at the convention. It’s almost as if he trying to fight wife with wife for media attention. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mccain-forked-yet/450604/430 "2008-08-26T18:06:52Z")
The Kennedies are still the royal family of the Democratic Party, and any attack of that nature on Cindy’s father could easily be countered by a rebuttal as to the source of Ted Kennedy’s long and honourable career as a senator. Kennedy’s and McCain’s situations here are remarkably similar - each was funded into office by someone who made his money in rather shady bootlegging operations. As for the politics each supported, you have a completely different story. For whatever reason, the sons of Joe Kennedy decided not to be self-serving when it came to policy, but to serve the greater good for the greatest number, the ones in the greatest need. James Hensley and his son-in-law John McCain, on the other hand, felt that the best way to serve the interests of the nation lay in serving the nation’s business interests - the classic trickle-down theory, although they steadfastly avoid calling it that these days. But as to how they both got into government, Kennedy and McCain have very similar tales. The only difference is that one was born into it, and the other married into it. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mccain-forked-yet/450604/431 "2008-08-26T18:07:38Z")
[QUOTE=Oy!] Hell, a couple of the analysts (and I truly can’t remember if this was PBS or MSNBC) were saying he’d probably get a few million votes just on the basis of the little girls! Two bright, enthusiastic but polite, well-raised, _normal_ little girls like that (and so utterly adorable, even to grinches like me, who don’t much like kids) go a long way to saying what a man and woman are. One older geezer ever referred to them as “elegant.” ETA: He’d get a few million _votes_. [/QUOTE] And they probably won’t be getting arrested either. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mccain-forked-yet/450604/432 "2008-08-26T18:29:24Z")
[QUOTE=dalej42] And they probably won’t be getting arrested either. [/QUOTE] That’s probably true. The older daughter is 10; she won’t need to worry about being stopped for Driving While Black until the middle of her father’s second term. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mccain-forked-yet/450604/433 "2008-08-26T18:30:20Z")
[QUOTE=Happy Lendervedder] I stayed up to watch that last night, and it seemed to me that he was expecting the crowd to break into cheers at the end of this “Time in prison…didn’t have house, chairs, etc.” line, but they didn’t. Which then forced him to actually come up with a way to finish the sentence. Which ended up being a painfully rambling: “…and because, not because I wanted to get a house when I got out. And you know, I’m very proud of Cindy’s father. He was a guy that barely got out of highschool, fought in World War II, in the air corps…” It’s like you can almost see his brain saying “Why won’t you people start cheering me so I can stop talking already! I don’t actually have a plan to take this sentence anywhere! Please start cheering me.” Noun, verb, POW…needs to have the cheering crowds let him know where the period goes. [/QUOTE] [Salon](http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/08/26/mccain-plays-the-pow-card-again.aspx) put it well: > [@](#): > > A couple things about this struck me. First, why can’t McCain make a joke of this himself? That’s what people like Al Gore and John Kerry often did when late night comedians made fun of them (even for something unfair, like the rap that Gore claimed to have invented the internet.) McCain should be able to find a way to deflect this, rather than treat it as an assault upon his honor. > > Second, as others have pointed out, McCain is perilously close to turning his POW record into a punchline. And it’s not just that he’s playing this card too many times, on issues completely unrelated to his war record. In this case, he’s turning his war experience – which is incredible – into a generic grumpy old man story about how tough it was in the old days: In my day, we didn’t have a kitchen table! We just sat around and ate on the dirt, and that’s the way it was and we liked it! ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mccain-forked-yet/450604/434 "2008-08-26T18:32:56Z")
That little girl is going to have to worry more about being stopped for “Driving While Gorgeous” than she’ll ever have to worry about anything else. Besides which, she looks like she’s going to be about 6’3", so she’ll be able to step on any silliness. And it will help having Secret Service guys around to help. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Trion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Trion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trion)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mccain-forked-yet/450604/435 "2008-08-27T12:30:30Z")
[QUOTE=Oy!] That little girl is going to have to worry more about being stopped for “Driving While Gorgeous” than she’ll ever have to worry about anything else. Besides which, she looks like she’s going to be about 6’3", so she’ll be able to step on any silliness. And it will help having Secret Service guys around to help. 🙂 [/QUOTE] As a father of a little girl myself, I wonder if Obama might be giving some special orders to the Secret Service in his second term. “Boys in the living quarters after 9:30? Shoot to kill.” ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mccain-forked-yet/450604/436 "2008-08-27T13:39:30Z")
[QUOTE=Trion] As a father of a little girl myself, I wonder if Obama might be giving some special orders to the Secret Service in his second term. “Boys in the living quarters after 9:30? Shoot to kill.” [/QUOTE] I think Mom will take care of that, and the Secret Service won’t have a thing to say about it. She’s a very lovely woman, but she’s no pushover. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mccain-forked-yet/450604/437 "2008-08-28T22:02:52Z")
I heard the girls were cute, but didn’t see the video of them doing what was supposed to be so cute at the convention. Anyone have a link? ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mccain-forked-yet/450604/438 "2008-08-28T22:08:53Z")
ahhh, I found it. Sure, cute kids. My 8 year old son might have to get set up with her. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2008, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mccain-forked-yet/450604/439 "2008-08-29T01:11:50Z")
Is McCain’s cozy relationship with the press corp over? It might be, according to this [article/interview in Time Magazine.](http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1836909,00.html) He comes across as pretty damn grumpy… ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2008, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mccain-forked-yet/450604/440 "2008-08-29T01:18:42Z")
You know, I’m beginning to feel sorry for the old fool. I never, ever would have voted for him but back when he was-- I don’t know-- his old self, I respected him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mccain-forked-yet/450604.md?page=21) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mccain-forked-yet/450604.md?page=23)