Holy Crap

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

Wow. McCain: scuzbag, total FUBAR, mediocre, lying, selfish, petty, conniving, angry, abusive, evil attention whore.

Just then, one of his bombs "cooked off," blowing a crater in the deck and incinerating the sailors who had rushed past McCain with hoses and fire extinguishers. McCain was stung by tiny bits of shrapnel in his legs and chest, but the wounds weren't serious; his father would later report to friends that Johnny "came through without a scratch."

The damage to the Forrestal was far more grievous: The explosion set off a chain reaction of bombs, creating a devastating inferno that would kill 134 of the carrier's 5,000-man crew, injure 161 and threaten to sink the ship.
...
McCain took no part in dousing the flames himself. After going belowdecks and briefly helping sailors who were frantically trying to unload bombs from an elevator to the flight deck, McCain retreated to the safety of the "ready room," where off-duty pilots spent their noncombat hours talking trash and playing poker. There, McCain watched the conflagration unfold on the room's closed-circuit television — bearing distant witness to the valiant self-sacrifice of others who died trying to save the ship, pushing jets into the sea to keep their bombs from exploding on deck.

Why the hell hasn't this been plastered all over the New York Times and every major paper in the country? He doesn't even deny it! He wrote about it one of his umpteen memoirs and it was in the New York Times when it happened. He's directly responsible for the deaths of over a hundred people!
He staggers me repeatedly.

Because of his experience in Vietnam, he said, he didn't favor the deployment of U.S. forces unless there was a clear and attainable military objective.

Ha! What's Iraq, then?
If, god forbid, he gets into office, that temper of his is going to get the US in a hell of a lot of trouble.

At least three of McCain's GOP colleagues have gone on record to say that they consider him temperamentally unsuited to be commander in chief. Smith, the former senator from New Hampshire, has said that McCain's "temper would place this country at risk in international affairs, and the world perhaps in danger. In my mind, it should disqualify him." Sen. Domenici of New Mexico has said he doesn't "want this guy anywhere near a trigger." And Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi weighed in that "the thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He is erratic. He is hotheaded."

Interestingly,

..."Always telling the truth in a political campaign," he writes in Worth the Fighting For, "is a great test of character." He adds: "Patriotism that only serves and never risks one's self-interest isn't patriotism at all. It's selfishness. That's a lesson worth relearning from time to time."

Hopefully, that'll get him in the end.

[Pachyderm]

About 10:50 in the morning local time, while preparations for the second strike of the day were being made, an unguided 5-inch Mk-32 "Zuni" rocket, one of four contained in a LAU-10 underwing rocket pod mounted on a F-4 Phantom II, was accidentally fired due to an electrical power surge during the switch from external power to internal power.

The rocket flew across the flight deck, striking a wing-mounted external fuel tank on a A-4 Skyhawk awaiting launch, either aircraft No. 405, piloted by LCDR Fred D. White, or No. 416, piloted by future U.S. Senator and Presidential candidate, LCDR John McCain. The warhead's safety mechanism prevented it from detonating, but the impact tore the tank off the wing and ignited the resulting spray of escaping JP-5 fuel, causing an instantaneous conflagration. Other external fuel tanks overheated and ruptured, releasing more jet fuel to feed the flames which spread along the flight deck, leaving pilots in their aircraft with the options of being incinerated in their cockpits or running through the flames to escape. LCDR Fred D. White, waiting to launch in Aircraft No. 405, leaped out of his burning Skyhawk but was killed instantly (along with many firefighters) by the cooking off of the first bomb. LCDR Herbert A. Hope of VA-46 (and operations officer of CVW-17) jumped out of the cockpit of his Skyhawk between explosions, rolled off the flight deck and into the starboard man-overboard net. Making his way down below to the hangar deck, he took command of a firefighting team. "The port quarter of the flight deck where I was", he recalled, "is no longer there." With his aircraft surrounded by flames, McCain escaped by climbing out of the cockpit, walking down the nose and jumping off the refueling probe.

The impact of the Zuni dislodged two of the 1,000 lb (450 kg) bombs, which lay in the burning fuel. The fire teams chief, Gerald Farrier (without benefit of protective clothing) immediately smothered the bombs with a PKP fire extinguisher in an effort to knock down the fuel fire long enough to allow the pilots to escape. According to their training, the fire team normally had almost three minutes to reduce the temperature of the bombs to a safe level, but the chief did not realize the "Comp. B" bombs were already critically close to cooking-off until one split open. The chief, knowing a lethal explosion was imminent, shouted for the fire team to withdraw but the bomb exploded seconds later - only one and a half minutes after the start of the fire.

The detonation destroyed McCain's aircraft (along with its remaining fuel and armament), blew a crater in the armored flight deck, and sprayed the deck and crew with shrapnel and burning jet fuel. It killed the entire on-deck firefighting contingent, with the exception of three men who survived with critical injuries. The two bomb-laden A-4s in line ahead of McCain's were riddled with shrapnel and engulfed in the flaming jet fuel still spreading over the deck, causing more bombs to detonate and more fuel to spill.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_USS_Forrestal_fire

Capt. Samuel Mowad, Dental Corps, is retired now, a successful career as a Navy dentist in his wake. Yet the memories of what happened to him and his ship more than 35 years ago is still something he talks about, with the hope that sharing his experiences will help prepare others.

Mowad was a young lieutenant aboard the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal (CV 59) on July 29, 1967, when a stray Zuni rocket from an F-4 Phantom, triggered by stray voltage, set off a chain of events that left 134 dead and more than 300 injured.

The deadly chain reaction began when the rocket hit a parked and armed A-4 Skyhawk (piloted by a young Lt. John S. McCain), rupturing its fuel tanks and feeding fires that enveloped planes parked on deck. The impact also sent a 1,000-pound bomb into the fire, which "cooked off" and killed the flight deck chief and the first wave of trained fire fighters.

http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=2967


Can't say I like him, but it does seem that he wasn't to blame, being sat in the plane the rocket hit, and I couldn't see any indication he was a Phantom pilot, while lots of places said he flew Skyhawks.

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

Hm. Thank you, Paccy.

[Sibling Chatty]

Lots of time and money went into getting him off the hook for the Forrestal incident.

LOTS of people that were there and lived through it said he 'wet-started' his plane (throws a flame-out, and looks "cool"...like a dragster revving his motor for o huge exhaust plume) and THAT is what set off the rocket.

He was hustled off the Forrestal IMMEDIATELY, and the official word was eventually what was cleared by HIS FATHER.

He should NOT have been a pilot at that time. The Navy gives you a 2 plane limit on losing planes. His FIRST loss was in Corpus Christi Bay, where he ditcheu a plane during training. CCNAS is the base of choice for those pilats that need 'extra help'. There ARE no visible distractions on any of their flightpaths. He tried to claim that the plane had failed, but that didn't fly. The orinignal story was "Careless Pilot Ditches in Bay". That was forcibly changed the next day to "Unexplained Error in Flight Instruments Cause Crash". My Mom was a reporter for the Aransas Pass newspaper at that time, and had covered the story. Because they were a weekly paper, the headline couldn't be changed or "made good" for a week, and she got 2 nasty calls from McCain, then a conciliatory one from his father.

His second plane went down in Spain, taking out power lines, etc. He claimed, once again, equipment failure, and the official report says 'equipment failure' without naming the part or parts that failed, something which is NEVER done in an official report. His attitude with the local authorities and the press made in a necessity to hustle him out of Spain rather quickly.

He lost 5 planes in all. The Navy allows you two. Given the history of 'cleaning up after Johnny'---do we believe they hustled him off the Forrestal just for grins?

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

While we are on the subject Rolling Stone has an interesting article about the man. Here is a snip:

But the truth of the matter is that ambition is John McCain's basic character. Seen in the sweep of his seven-decade personal history, his pandering to the right is consistent with the only constant in his life: doing what's best for himself. To put the matter squarely: John McCain is his own special interest.

Re: the Forrestal incident they say:

These are the moments that test men's mettle. Where leaders are born. Leaders like . . . Lt. Cmdr. Herb Hope, pilot of the A-4 three planes down from McCain's. Cornered by flames at the stern of the carrier, Hope hurled himself off the flight deck into a safety net and clambered into the hangar deck below, where the fire was spreading. According to an official Navy history of the fire, Hope then "gallantly took command of a firefighting team" that would help contain the conflagration and ultimately save the ship.

McCain displayed little of Hope's valor. Although he would soon regale The New York Times with tales of the heroism of the brave enlisted men who "stayed to help the pilots fight the fire," McCain took no part in dousing the flames himself. After going belowdecks and briefly helping sailors who were frantically trying to unload bombs from an elevator to the flight deck, McCain retreated to the safety of the "ready room," where off-duty pilots spent their noncombat hours talking trash and playing poker. There, McCain watched the conflagration unfold on the room's closed-circuit television — bearing distant witness to the valiant self-sacrifice of others who died trying to save the ship, pushing jets into the sea to keep their bombs from exploding on deck.

They say that McCain's record is incredibly similar to dubya's with only one distinction: dubya was a better pilot. 

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

That would be the story I posted, Zono. Sorry I didn't post the name.

And Chatty, tell me your mother isn't voting for McCain?

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Ooops, I just realized it was the same article! (my fault, I never clicked on your link). 

[pieces o nine]

Clip from my favorite news program: McCain getting hoist by his own political petard. Twice. It will be interesting to see how he pretzels continuing to fearmonger out of one side of his mouth and de-escalate with the other in the remaining weeks.

His expression when taking the mic from the woman in the second half of the clip was eloquent: [Don't tell me you actually *believe* the crap I've been saying!]. It's one thing to 'pal around with' people who will knowingly wink and nod at Rovian tactics for $hit$ & giggles. It's another to be publically embarassed by true believers who are too [ignorant] to reason and who force you to backpedal from your own lies to defend your opponent!

[youtube=425,350]fTMloaj6b68[/youtube]

[Sibling Chatty]

That would be the story I posted, Zono. Sorry I didn't post the name.

And Chatty, tell me your mother isn't voting for McCain?

She specifically DID NOT update her place of residence so that she can't vote this year.

My "I'm NOT a racist" brother, grandfather to NINE mixed race children? Assures me that "Uhmurrikinz ain' gonna elect a Black Man". He works for the railroad, with some of the most redneck white AND black people I've ever met.

Well, I'm not sure that even racists want to elect another self-centered brat (or the moron he chose as VP.)

[anthrobabe]

What is truly scary are the people shown in the video
especially the woman
these people can and will vote

Ignorance (or should it be rightly called stupidity?) is the greatest threat to us all at this moment.