[Vnbiz] a few McCain achievements for Vietnam
AD Marshall
admarshall at gmail.com
Wed Feb 27 08:23:23 PST 2008
I just did a quick bit of Googling on McCain and VietNam and, based largely
on what i read at Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain, i
take back my suggestion that McCain hasn't done all that much for VietNam
and admit i have fewer objections about him.
But, if i were a US citizen, i wouldn't vote for McCain based on what he's
done for Vietnam. The US and the world have much greater issues to deal with
now. If i voted for McCain, i'd vote for him based on what he could do to
reform the US government's military-industrial biases and corruption and
provide a more world-wise and empathetic US populace and government. And
again, from what little i've seen, McCain does appear to have done some good
work in those direction, too.
But... i still wouldn't (hypothetically) vote for McCain, especially over
Obama, because of (1) his age, (2) his health and (3) his character,
admittedly based only what i read in these three paragraphs of the same
Wikipedia article:
McCain has a history, beginning with his military career, of appealing to
lucky charms and superstitions to gain fortune. While serving in Vietnam, he
demanded that his parachute rigger clean his visor before each flight. On
the 2000 campaign, he carried a lucky compass, feather, shoes, pen, penny
and, at times, a rock. An incident when McCain misplaced his feather caused
a brief panic in the
campaign.[265]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-157>The
night before the 2008
New Hampshire primary<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Hampshire_Republican_primary%2C_2008>he
slept on the same side of the bed in the same hotel room he had stayed
in
before his win there in
2000,[266]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-158>and
after winning carried some of his talismans forward into the following
Michigan
primary <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Republican_primary%2C_2008>while
adding others.
[267] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-159> His superstitions
are extended to others; to those afraid of flying or experiencing a bumpy
flight, he says, "You don't need to worry. I've crashed four fighter jets,
and I'm not going to die in a plane crash. You're safe with
me."[268]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-160>
McCain's war wounds leave him unable to attend to his own hair and he
sometimes requires assistance in dressing, tasks performed by nearby aides.
[14] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-vf0207> His former
communications director has said, "You comb someone's hair once, and you
never forget it."[14]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-vf0207>McCain
has been treated for recurrent skin
cancer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_cancer>, including
melanoma<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanoma>,
in 1993, 2000, and
2002;[269]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-161>one of
the resulting operations left a noticeable mark on the left side of
his face.[270] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-poli012707>These
medical conditions, combined with his advancing years, led him to
repeatedly use a self-deprecating remark during his 2007 campaigning: "I am
older than dirt and have more scars than
Frankenstein."[270]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-poli012707>
Journalist Adam Clymer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Clymer> sees
McCain's nature as possibly misfit for the Senate: "McCain is an impatient
man — perhaps because he lost five years of his life as a prisoner of war in
North Vietnam — in an institution that worships delay and rewards
endurance."[271]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-nyt030400>Clymer
further notes that, "There is no question that he sometimes loses
potential allies by his penchant for telling off other
senators."[271]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-nyt030400>Purdum
remarks upon a "temperament that routinely put[s] him atop insiders'
lists of the most difficult senators on Capitol
Hill,"[14]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-vf0207>and a
2006
*Washingtonian <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washingtonian_%28magazine%29>*survey
of Capitol
Hill <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Hill> staff ranked McCain as
having the second "Hottest Temper" in the
Senate.[272]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-162>Indeed,
the characteristics that led to McCain gaining hundreds of demerits
at the Naval Academy have never fully left him; by his own admission, he has
an "irremediable" personality trait of being "a wiseass," and as he added:
"Occasionally my sense of humor is ill-considered or ill-timed, and that can
be a problem."[106]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-az-senate>Others
have concurred: A 2007 Associated
Press <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associated_Press> story was titled
"McCain's WMD Is a Mouth That Won't
Quit".[11]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-ap-wmd>Over
the years this trait has led to a series of controversial and/or
colorful remarks.
In his 1986 senate campaign, he referred to Arizona's Leisure
World<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leisure_World%2C_Arizona&action=edit&redlink=1>retirement
community as "Seizure World",
[106] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-az-senate> a joke
whose offense he made worse, as he later conceded, when he did not quickly
apologize for it.[106]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-az-senate>In
1998, McCain made an off-color joke at a Republican fundraiser about
President
Clinton <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton>'s daughter, Chelsea,
saying "Why is Chelsea
Clinton<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Clinton>so ugly? Because
her father is Janet
Reno <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Reno>."[273]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-salon>McCain's
subsequent apology was accepted by President Clinton.
[273] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-salon> Until the year
2000,[274] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-163> McCain used
the term "gook" in reference to the individuals who had tortured him in
Vietnam,[52] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-usnwr73>[275]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-164>and
most Vietnamese
Americans <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_American> were not
offended by that narrow use of the
word.[276]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-165>
[277] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-166>[278]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-167>At
a VFW
Hall <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_of_Foreign_Wars> in South
Carolina in 2007, a veteran asked when the U.S. would "send an air mail
message to Iran." McCain kiddingly responded by singing a 1980 "Bomb Iran"
tune by Vince Vance & The
Valiants<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vince_Vance_%26_The_Valiants>,
and then seriously explained his concerns about Iran while stopping short of
a bombing endorsement.[279]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-168>
[280] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-169> McCain later
advised critics of his singing to "Lighten up and get a life." As a guest on
the Daily Show <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daily_Show> in 2007 following a
trip to Baghdad, McCain jokingly offered to give host Jon
Stewart<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Stewart>"a little
IED <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Improvised_explosive_device> to put on
your desk." When anti-Iraq-war Democrats objected to the
remark,[281]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-170>McCain
advised that they too, "Lighten up and get a life."
[282] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-171> At a meeting in
2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007> on immigration legislation, fellow
Senator John Cornyn <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cornyn> (R-Texas)
objected to McCain: "Wait a second here. I've been sitting in here for all
of these negotiations and you just parachute in here on the last day. You're
out of line," to which McCain replied, "Fuck you! I know more about this
than anyone else in the
room."[283]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-mccainvscornyn>
[284] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-172> On February
23<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_23>,
2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008>, McCain stated that change would
not come to Cuba <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba> until Fidel
Castro<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidel_Castro>was dead: "I hope he
has the opportunity to meet Karl
Marx <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marx> very
soon."[285]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#_note-173>
On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 10:17 PM, AD Marshall <admarshall at gmail.com> wrote:
> From what you've listed, even without providing any of the reports you say
> you could, neither of the whole two points you listed makes it look like
> McCain has done all that much for VietNam.
>
> And, frankly, why would anyone expect any US politician to have been
> focusing much of their energy on helping VietNam? (Not to suggest they
> shouldn't have done so, a long time ago...)
>
> On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 9:35 PM, <pthang at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> > [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
> >
> >
> > I admit I don't know everything. But I have read and certainly could
> > find past articles to show these facts:
> >
> > 1. McCain worked hard to normalize relationship with Vietnam while many
> > of his colleagues opposed.
> > 2. McCain defended the importation of catfish for Vietnam . Vietnam has
> > to go extra step to change the name catfish to basa . The amount of
> > importation is not that big because Vietnam is not big country like China .
> > Any way, vietnamese in VN appreciated his effort .
> >
> > McCain knows Vietnam more than anybody else, understand its need for
> > independence, its defense and its quest for peace and economic prosperity .
> >
> >
> > That is something I know for sure. I also would like to know ANYBODY
> > ELSE has done more than McCain for Vietnam.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> >
> > Thang pham
> >
> >
> >
> > -------------- Original message ----------------------
> > From: pthang at comcast.net
> > > [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > From: pthang at comcast.net
> > To: vnbiz at vietlinks.net
> > Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:56:45 +0000
> > Subject: Re: [Vnbiz] Obama
> > Brothers and sisters
> >
> > I have watched John Kerry and the Kennedy families trying to promote
> > Obama.
> > The only thing I got is Obama was against the war in Iraq. Imagine Al
> > queada just slammed two airplanes
> > into the twin buildings and killed 3000 peoples in a single day . At
> > that time, he was not well known and his signature gets lost among many
> > others in the vote to invade Iraq .
> > Now he comes out and claims a JACKPOT of opposing the invasion of Iraq.
> >
> > Anh Hoanh and I , myself opposed the invasion from the beginning. We
> > should come out and claim the Jackpot too.
> >
> > Anyway, it is obvious now that Obama will win the democratic nomination
> > now. As a vietnamese, we all knew McCain has been always the champion and
> > has worked his heart out to bring peace and prosperity to Vietnam even
> > after he has been tortured by the North Vietnamese for 5 years .
> >
> > I am sure McCain will favor trade with Vietnam over China because he
> > understands the strategic and economic position in Asia to help Vietnam to
> > maintain peace and prosperity . Bush 's father did not make the mistake in
> > Iraq as his son did due arrogance. It all boils down to experiences
> > learned by the hard way . Based on FACTS, my democrat VOTE will go to McCain
> > regardless of Clinton or Obama.
> >
> > Thang Pham
> >
> > -------------- Original message ----------------------
> > From: "AD Marshall" <admarshall at gmail.com>
> > > [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > From: "AD Marshall" <admarshall at gmail.com>
> > To: vnbiz at vietlinks.net
> > Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:22:33 +0000
> > Subject: Re: [Vnbiz] Obama
> > Dear Jackie,
> >
> > I'm still working on a bit of a 6-month news-coverage summary of Obama,
> > as time permits, under the now somewhat popular premise that the more people
> > get to know Obama the more they like him.
> >
> > But apropos your comment "that pollsters/pundits were wrong about
> > Asians/Viet Americans being some sort of a monolithic Pro-Hillary 'bloc
> > vote'", here's one fairly active site i found:
> > http://www.asianamericansforobama.com/
> >
> > Here's a Google search URL folks can use to find info about Vietnam or
> > Vietnamese on that site:
> >
> >
> > http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Aasianamericansforobama.com+vietnam+OR+vietnamese
> >
> > L8r,
> > AD
> >
> > On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 2:26 AM, Jackie Nelson <ephemeropterae at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
> > >
> > >
> > > Dear all,
> > > Thanks for much thoughtful discussion regarding our next US President.
> > >
> > > I realize this list is Viet Nam-business-centric, but nevertheless,
> > > pleased to hear a variety of opinions regarding who the next USA Prez will
> > > be.
> > > Especially enjoy hearing that pollsters/pundits were wrong about
> > > Asians/Viet Americans being some sort of a monolithic Pro-Hillary 'bloc
> > > vote'.
> > >
> > > We are a diverse group and never short of opinions :-)
> > >
> > > Hope to hear more of your opinions (overseas, ex-pats, and non
> > > AMericans too!) and experiences in the year to come.
> > >
> > > Jackie (N. Carolina, USA)
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > To subscribe/unsubscribe, please contact admins at
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> > > Info at http://mail.saigon.com/mailman/listinfo/vnbiz
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> > > or http://groups-beta.google.com/group/VNBIZforum/
> > > or http://mail.saigon.com/pipermail/vnbiz
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > AD (Andi) Marshall
> > Mobile: +84 (0) 903871313
> > eMail: admarshall at gmail.com
> > Zone: ICT (IndoChina Time, GMT/UTC+7)
> > Web: http://admarshall.googlepages.com/
> > Post: HoChiMinh City (ex/or SaiGon), VietNam
> > Quote: "Love all, trust a few. Do wrong to none..."
> > Source: Shakespeare, 1623, "All's Well That Ends Well"
> > Get it at Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2246
> > GPG/PGP Public Keys online: http://cryptonomicon.mit.edu/
> > _______________________________________________
> > To subscribe/unsubscribe, please contact admins at
> > vnbizadmin at vietlinks.net
> > Info at http://mail.saigon.com/mailman/listinfo/vnbiz
> > Archive at
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vnbiz/
> > or http://groups-beta.google.com/group/VNBIZforum/
> > or http://mail.saigon.com/pipermail/vnbiz
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > To subscribe/unsubscribe, please contact admins at
> > vnbizadmin at vietlinks.net
> > Info at http://mail.saigon.com/mailman/listinfo/vnbiz
> > Archive at
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vnbiz/
> > or http://groups-beta.google.com/group/VNBIZforum/
> > or http://mail.saigon.com/pipermail/vnbiz
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > To subscribe/unsubscribe, please contact admins at
> > vnbizadmin at vietlinks.net
> > Info at http://mail.saigon.com/mailman/listinfo/vnbiz
> > Archive at
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vnbiz/
> > or http://groups-beta.google.com/group/VNBIZforum/
> > or http://mail.saigon.com/pipermail/vnbiz
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> AD (Andi) Marshall
> Mobile: +84 (0) 903871313
> eMail: admarshall at gmail.com
> Zone: ICT (IndoChina Time, GMT/UTC+7)
> Web: http://admarshall.googlepages.com/
> Post: HoChiMinh City (ex/or SaiGon), VietNam
> Quote: "Love all, trust a few. Do wrong to none..."
> Source: Shakespeare, 1623, "All's Well That Ends Well"
> Get it at Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2246
> GPG/PGP Public Keys online: http://cryptonomicon.mit.edu/
--
AD (Andi) Marshall
Mobile: +84 (0) 903871313
eMail: admarshall at gmail.com
Zone: ICT (IndoChina Time, GMT/UTC+7)
Web: http://admarshall.googlepages.com/
Post: HoChiMinh City (ex/or SaiGon), VietNam
Quote: "Love all, trust a few. Do wrong to none..."
Source: Shakespeare, 1623, "All's Well That Ends Well"
Get it at Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2246
GPG/PGP Public Keys online: http://cryptonomicon.mit.edu/
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