DISQUS

jr · 1 year ago

"we need entitlement reform for everyone but me"-kept man McCombover

LasloPratt · 1 year ago

"Tortured for his country -- that is how he acquired his disability," Salter said.

And now he's a carrier...

tlsintx · 1 year ago

McTorture-

he doesn't like to talk about what happened to him in Vietnam, unless you question him on ANYTHING.

Litterbox · 1 year ago

John, while I normally agree with you on most things, I think its pretty shitty to knock a vet (any vet for that matter) for receiving disability income even if it is McCain. Theres no rule anywhere that Im aware of that prevents a wealthy person that was in the military from receiving a lifetime benefit. No matter how you feel about it, knocking his war service and his DV status is pretty much beneath you. If you want to knock him for not supporting the troops or his numerous missed votes that would have helped them, then Im right behind you, but to say he doesnt deserve his disability pay is bullshit. While you might be tired of hearing about his POW status constantly being tossed out, its relevant in this issue. Many didnt come back from over there and I know McCain endured things that many people can only imagine. As much of a backwards, lame, over the hill politician he is, I draw the line at his military service. Im not about to kick the man after watching what they did to Kerry, Cleland and others over the years. Its horrible when they do it, and its worse so when the left does it. We need to concentrate on the issues. We have a long way to go to November and this thing is nowhere nearly in the bag.

John Aravosis · 1 year ago

I updated the article to more clearly stress this point:

But something is wrong when we're paying millionaires $58,000 a year, especially when those same millionaires complaine that we were being "overly-generous" to our troops currently fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. At the very least, it's terribly hypocritical.

stranded · 1 year ago

Exactly. It's not that he's receiving the benefits, but that he's denying them to others. He's a hypocrite and needs to be held accountable. Anyone of integrity would have said long ago, I don't need it, give it to someone else.

ndatmo · 1 year ago

I don't think anyone wants to disrespect any man or woman who served honorably in our military. It's the posturing and the disparity of the benefits that drive me crazy. It has been stated that McCain receives $58,000 a year tax free for a 100% disability. Assuming that this is correct, compare it to this story... A caller to a talk show said he was a Marine with 20 years service, including VietNam where he suffered very serious and ongoing damage from having been exposed to Agent Orange. He received disability payments of approximately $250/month. Since his retirement (with all of his medical issues to contend with) his disability was DEDUCTED from his military pension...leaving him under $ 500/month. [Sorry I don't have his name or the precise figures he stated, but I have no reason to doubt him or his service). His total year stacks up very poorly next to McCain's $58,000,don't you think?

Chrissy · 1 year ago

What's odd is how is he get this much when the VA Disability rating levels seem to be at a max of under 30K a year? Why is he more special than those who had their limbs blown off in Iraq.

ssgbryan · 1 year ago

Because he also has a military retirement?

PaulMN · 1 year ago

ssgbryan, I admire your patience in trying to explain this. People are jumping to all sorts of erroneous conclusions here and looking foolish!
I say hammer him on not supporting the new GI Bill and let the other stuff go!

tlsintx · 1 year ago

did you see this story on how many currently in the military are on antidepressants?

people who start wars and support wars and fund wars and won't vote to help the damaged human beings fighting the wars are lower than low. i don't care who they are. we must stop thinking that war is good for anything.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,...

Dave of the Jungle · 1 year ago

Millionaires on Welfare

lost_nacf_gop · 1 year ago

Republicans cut from the McCain cloth coat generally see the civil tort system as a useless lottery exercise where the slightly or non-injured try to parlay their boo boos into casino jackpot payouts, right? But, sort of like when your radio talkhero turns out to be a junkie - its no longer a crime but a sympathy engendering disease - its okay for Millionaire Johnny to keep cashing his walkin' around money checks cause he's a heeeeee Roe.
Its one more example of IOKIYAR.

Õ¿Õ · 1 year ago

The people need to come together and they are.

ezpz · 1 year ago

If his disability is "technical" enough to warrant $58,000 a year, tax free, is it also "technical" enough to preclude him from being president?

What exactly is the technicality of his disability?
PTSD? That's a very real condition with very real and serious manifestations which should not be made light of.
In fact, it should be taken so seriously that anyone with PTSD should be nowhere near the "button" or the decision making process for using that button.

John Aravosis · 1 year ago

Yes, and remember that the military is actually refusing to diagnose PTSD in order to save money on benefits.

ssgbryan · 1 year ago

Jesus you are fucking clueless.

1. He gets his pension (as an 06). Not tax free.
2. He gets his disabilty (max 1900 per month tax free).

58K for a retired 06 that is disabled. Yep, that is about right.

PeteWa · 1 year ago

I'm confused, how is McCain disabled?
He has never shown any problems shoving his nose up Bush's ass...

Is it the fact that he couldn't stand up to Bush when Bush and Rove attacked McCain's wife?
Is McCain's disability the lack of a spine?

John Aravosis · 1 year ago

According to the article, his joints hurt in bad weather and he can't raise his arms over his shoulders.

PeteWa · 1 year ago

Gee... that sounds like a very common complaint for a 71 year old.

ezpz · 1 year ago

HIs joints hurt in bad weather?
That's it?
Now that he's a presidential candidate, isn't he required to give full disclosure of such "technicalities"?

And full disclosure does not mean giving a few select reporters 3 hours with nothing more than pen and paper to go through tens of thousands of pages of medical records.

To be clear, I don't begrudge him any disability compensation, nor do I dismiss the likely fact that he may indeed have some serious disabilities - more than joint pain in bad weather.

It's the hypocrisy, the secrecy, the lies and double standards, similar to what we've had to endure for the past 8 years.
We can't afford any more of the same.

Mike_G · 1 year ago

he can't raise his arms over his shoulders.

I know a Vietnam vet with the same problem, after taking a grenade blast and spending months in hospital recuperating. He gets squat from the VA. Something smells about the quantity of money relative to McCain's level of 'disability'.

PeteWa · 1 year ago

Also, based on the rules of how much a person is paid for disability, McCain is considered to be over 30% disabled.
You have to be over 30% disabled to make 58K a year.
So what 30%+ of McCain is not in working order?

Õ¿Õ · 1 year ago

You wingnuts will never ever again win a national election if you don't stop with the lying, killing for profit, torture and stealing. And what did you wingnuts get from it all? A GOP tote bag. ha ha They laughed at you useful idiots.

Õ¿Õ · 1 year ago

I don't have a problem with McCain and his service. But he's outta touch.

I can put some mojo on things around him because it made it possible...

Õ¿Õ · 1 year ago

Somebody at another blog said I should work againt the GOP with this and I said, there is enough of that already since Katrina but I will work against the GOP. It feels pretty easy. But I'm still angry about it.

tbhull · 1 year ago

American taxpayers should be proud that the possibility exists that Cindy used some, if not all, of this money in the past to fill her nostrils with a white poweder, or maybe not.

tbhull · 1 year ago

powder

JaniceTime · 1 year ago

On FSN, they just interviewed the former Clinton supporter that John wrote about yesterday. He CONFIRMED that Hillary had planned to run a racist campaign all along. We are still finding out stuff about Bill and Hillary that will blow your mind. As an African-American, I'm stunned that the Clintons would play such dirty politics. They will never receive our support again.

lynchie · 1 year ago

His injuries were related to being ejected from his aircraft. He should read his book which he didn't write. His torturing went on for two weeks and did not include broken bones or nail pulling. Once they knew his Dad was a big shot they moved him to nice quarters. He then made his series of videos for the North vietnamese.
Tortured. seems he has been on the public tit for his whole life. Do all Vietnam vets get $58K a year?

lark83 · 1 year ago

Your characterization of McCain's service as a POW is not true. His torture WAS severe, and he was not put in "nice quarters" where you imply he made anti-American statements. McCain is universally liked and admired by the hundreds of other pilots he was imprisoned with.

unrepentant_expat · 1 year ago

The bombing of the civilian population of Vietnam was a war crime! The ratassbastard should have had his limbs yanked out of their sockets!

lynchie · 1 year ago

Were you there. this link says otherwise

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/february20...

read his book . I did not imply it he admitted he made videos for the North Vietnamese.

http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnmccain.com/

here is some more on the videos. I am not implying anything I am stating reality. something you and McCain fail to recognize.

http://nationalwriterssyndicate.com/content/vie...

lark83 · 1 year ago

No, I wasn't there. Vietnam was just before my time. I met several long term POWs and shared an office with one over a year. The POWs were always fascinating to me and I read many books on the subject. I don't think we can credibly attack McCain's record as a POW. All of the long termers were tortured and all of them to varying degrees signed documents and made tapes. They teach this to all new USAF pilots at survival school. Everyone has a breaking point. They used ropes that leave your arms paralyzed for weeks but don't leave any marks on you. McCain's reputation among the long termers was solid. He would make a terrible president though.

vkbaker · 1 year ago

I seem to remember reading articles about Iraq vets being denied disability and then losing their medical coverage for things that seemed worse...not worse than torture but worse in the way of injuries. I bet the son of an admiral didn't have any trouble getting his disability approved. It does seem like this money should be donated directly in full to charitable veterans causes as any self respecting millionaire should...

JoyceH · 1 year ago

John, you're out to lunch on this one. McCain doesn't get 58K a year because he's disabled. He gets 58K a year for his military pension. He'd get the pension whether he was disabled or not, because of paygrade and time in service. What he gets for the disability is to not pay taxes on the pension.

And carping about it is unpleasant, frankly. There are few enough millionaire disabled military retirees that lobbying for the closing this tax 'loophole' just looks petty.

John Aravosis · 1 year ago

Joyce, John McCain's own staff says the following:

"Sen. John McCain has long said he is in robust health and is strong enough to hike the Grand Canyon, but he also is receiving what his staff Monday termed a 'disability pension' from the Navy."

I'd add, even if he's "only" getting 1 million a year, i.e., if he's only get a tax break on the money, I think it's wrong for a multi-millionaire running for president to take that much money from the government when it could be spent on other vets.

Bluestocking · 1 year ago

I agree. I mean, let's be fair -- I can remember seeing a news expose many years ago which investigated the activities of several people who were receiving Workers' Compensation for injuries which they claimed to have received on the job and which supposedly prevented them from returning to work. These people were shown to be engaging in activities which one would be very much inclined to think they couldn't do if they were really suffering from the injuries they claimed to have received. Frankly, I wish I was earning $58,000 a year even if I *did* have to pay taxes on it -- for that matter, there are plenty of Americans living on less. With my lifestyle being as simple as it is, I could probably live comfortably on it even if I had a disability which left me unable to work. $58,000 won't let you live high on the hog here in NYC, but you won't have to squeeze the eagle until it screams, either. In any case, it seems clear that if McCain is "strong enough to hike the Grand Canyon", whatever disability he suffers from does not represent a serious impediment. Actually, I think I remember reading somewhere that he technically *does* have a disability but a very mild one -- if memory serves, he supposedly suffers from a partial paralysis of one hand. However, while he may be entitled to some remuneration as a result of having suffered what is technically a permanent disability, I think it still begs the question as to whether he should necessarily be entitled to what for many people would be a somewhat comfortable subsistence income for an injury which would not appear to present much of an impediment to everyday activities.

ssgbryan · 1 year ago

Actually, the reason he gets 58k now is because Congress finally (after literally 120 years of lobbing) overturned concurrent receipt.

Because he is over 40% (this years cut-off) he gets both disability (tax-free) and his title 3 pension.

Schmedlap · 1 year ago

McCain receives $58000 as a retired Navy Captain. For years all he got for a 100% disability was the tax savings because it is all tax free. Have you looked at him? He is more than technically disabled. If he were 100% disabled and not retired Navy his disability pay would have been significantly higher. He earned it the hard way and is under no obligation to return it.

The real problem is the hypocrisy involved in his denying the GI bill and many other benefits to disabled veterans and, indeed, veterans of all kinds. His record of support for the VA is horrible. He was born into the Navy's upper crust and was a Navy aviator. He really does not know the troops like Wes Clark and John Kerry do.

PeteWa · 1 year ago

We're not talking about his pension, we are talking about the disability payments he gets.
The pension he gets is separate.

Õ¿Õ · 1 year ago

Watch those around him. There's alot more there than just lobbyists, if that wasn't bad enough. Sheesh, how bad can it get.

DonS · 1 year ago

Yeah, how about it John Mc. What was the basis of the disability. What percent disability was determined (the basis for military versus Social Security which is all or nothing)? What was the injury/diagnosis? What factor did mental versus physical disability play? (could be bombshell time) Any PTSD,you know, like the DOD is trying to downplay with current military personnel?

ssgbryan · 1 year ago

He was physically broken you moran. If you can't lift your arms or bend over (no jokes here) your going to get quite a bit in disability. (I am waiting for my results from the VA.)

If clowns such as yourself had ever been in the military, you would have a slightly better understanding there Dr. Frist.

DonS · 1 year ago

And you know I was not in the military?

If he was physically challenged, which I tend to believe, through what manipulation did he get himself back classified as "flight ready:"? That's another quesiton. Rank has its privelges. n'est pas?

I do not qustion his physical status. I question his deeper psychological fitness.

BTW I work with trauma-affected individuals for a living.

lark83 · 1 year ago

The 2nd PS is not true. I don't think even the Swiftboaters could take advantage of comments made by the Vietnam POWs under duress. They virtually all caved in under torture and made/signed anti-American statements. They are all united together in not blaming each other. One POW wrote a book bragging how tough he was and he is roundly disliked by 99% of the POW community. Thats just the way its looked at among pilots in the USAF. Statements made under torture don't mean anything. The fact that you were tortured to make such statements is by itself considered admirable.

John Aravosis · 1 year ago

Really? So you mean if Obama had made propaganda movies for, say, Al Qaeda, he'd be welcomed as a hero and the issue wouldn't come up during his run for the presidency. Uh huh. In fact, Hamas said one nice thing about Obama and John McCain tried to hang Hamas around his neck. Imagine had Obama made propaganda videos for Hamas?

lark83 · 1 year ago

Yes John, really. Now if Obama was captured and tortured by Al Qaeda to make those statements, among USAF pilots (I used to be one, proudly one of only 2 democrats in my C-5 squadron) he would be admired and I can't imagine how even scummy swifties could use it.

Mike_G · 1 year ago

I never imagined the GOP would be so scummy as to mock the service of a highly decorated Vietnam veteran, wounded in combat, with purple heart band-aids. But they did.
If Obama had made anti-American videos under torture, Rove would have them rebroadcast on the evening news, and the networks would eat it up.

Subroutine · 1 year ago

Hey, knock it off. The McCains need that $58,000. It pays for their 12 Guatemalan servants.

Rab · 1 year ago

I don't think McCain has ever had a psychiatric exam, it should be mandatory given the guys temper. Oh and another thing, yes lets honor all veterans service but remember: All gave some and some gave all (life). John McCain DID NOT make the supreme sacrifice.

tommytoonz · 1 year ago

Is McCain disabled? Does he have a disability driver's license? Has he been determined to have a mental disability? If the answer is no then I think it's selfish and an abuse of the system for him to accept that money. If it's the latter, a mental disability, then that's a HUGE issue. If it's the former, then it's a minor issue but still open to debate as to why someone who's worth $100 million needs to take $58,000 that could be used to off-set the real disabilities of people in the current War.

ssgbryan · 1 year ago

Don't think, you are not very good at it.

Love him or hate him, he is crippled.

Although I guess that by your viewpoint, I should be living under a bridge somewhere.

jimfromthefoothills · 1 year ago

Are any of his propaganda videos available online?

jwhit · 1 year ago

What disability? Wasn't it just recently that the press reviewed his medical records thoroughly? I don't remember any mention of a disability.

bsmike · 1 year ago

Seems that he had his flight status re-established in 1974. A "disabled" fighter pilot? http://www.azcentral.com/news/specials/mccain/a...

katymine · 1 year ago

Questions:
Is McCain a triple dipper......
- Collecting VA Disability
- US Senate Salary
- Social Security

Veterans who collect their VA disability and Social Security Disability have a reduction in benefits because they are called double dippers.... ya know, can't pay them too much ....

Inquiring minds would like to know.... IS McBush a triple dipper?

ssgbryan · 1 year ago

Concurrent receipt was overturned two years ago.

nsr · 1 year ago

I dunno. According to those ads on the other side of the screen, Billy Bob Thornton would walk around with a bra on his head for the guy.

purplegirl · 1 year ago

I don't get it. Maybe there's a bonus payment for people who were tortured? I know tons of Vietnam vets, most of whom are disabled in one way or another. One in particular has severe PTSD and gets NO disability because he can still work. He's had a horrible life because of the nightmares and anger issues have kept him from having close personal relationships. I've known this man for 30 years and watched him struggle through his life without help from the VA. I also have a friend who has a knee injury that's service related, and he has to keep working even though he spends most of his off-work time trying to recover from the damage he'd done at work. The pain is incredible, he needs a knee replacement, but the VA will not approve it. His disability ranking is only about 40% when it should be much higher, but they won't raise it because then he would eligible to apply for full disability. These are the people who should be getting help, but the VA can't afford to help them? Yet McCain gets THAT much disability although his disability does not prevent him from making a larger than life living?

Clearly, McCain is a hypocrite when it comes to what people who have served deserve. Some are more deserving than others I suppose.

ssgbryan · 1 year ago

Yes, it is obvious that you don't get it.

I'll go slowly:

1. He gets a title 2 pension (As an 06)
2. He collects disability (I have no idea what the rating is)
3. Now that concurrent reciept has been overturned, item 2 is not deducted from item 1.

Clearly, you have no clue.

MikeinSanJo · 1 year ago

It is my understanding that a "Disability" is something that prevents you from working and earning an income, hence the need for a welfare payout. Between his piggy-bank wife and his congressional paycheck and pension, John McCain certainly is not hurting for money, which sort of makes this a slap in the face to taxpayers and to anyone who really needs a disability income and struggles with the government to get a payment that will actually support them.

McCain is, as he typically does, playing the system. This is the system that has been crafted to be more concerned with our lawmaker's futures than the futures of those of us who really need some security.

John's election finances and his use of his wife's jet are other examples where John has played and (so far) won.

.

ssgbryan · 1 year ago

Your understanding is wrong.

Disability is based on how broken you are when you exit the military. Love him or hate him, he was physically broken when he left the military. What any veteran does after they retire has no bearing on their disability.

PaulMN · 1 year ago

ssgbryan, I admire your patience in trying to explain this. People are jumping to all sorts of erroneous conclusions here and looking foolish!
I say hammer him on not supporting the new GI Bill and let the other stuff go!

Rufus · 1 year ago

The law was recently changed. If you are a retired O-6 (Navy Captain), you receive retirement pay. If you have a disability, you now also receive disability pay in addition to your retirement pay. The old system was your retirement pay was tax free up to the amount of your disability.
No longer, now there are two separate checks.

And, what does 100% disability mean? For the E-1, it means you are so disabled you were unable to work. For the O-6 , hmmmmmmm. Perhaps
McCain's disability should be reevaluated. He seems to work OK.

McCain may well be a quad dipper: Military retirement pay, VA disability pay, Social Security, and US Senate pay. Jesus, he's rich in his own right.

ssgbryan · 1 year ago

The percentages are not based on rank, you get paid a set amount of money. (I just retired from the army).

You folks really have no clue....

amh2con · 1 year ago

Thanks for the info.... I'll be the first to admit: "i'm clueless." I understand he's entitled to his retirement and I understand someones retirement is no longer reduced by his disability payments. But: is Officer John 100% disabled? Sheeet I've been throwing luggage at the airport for 31 years since I got out of the Navy (enlisted and untortured) . I can no longer raise my arms over my shoulders either. Nobody seems to give a crap as long as I can get the bags off the airplanes and into the luggage carts. Maybe I should see a lawyer......Or maybe Officer John isn't 100% disabled.. Thanks for any info.

theexog · 1 year ago

I don't understand how he can be receiving disability pay and still be able to work in the Senate where he presumably received full salary and benefits as well. Something really fishy here, and I hope it comes out with a bang.

ssgbryan · 1 year ago

Nothing fishy, just a whole lot of comments from people who have no clue as to how retirement benefits work.

Rufus · 1 year ago

Strike "were unable to work." Add "are unable to work." Thanks.

jwhit · 1 year ago

Yes, he is a triple dipper. My father is a vietnam vet who lost his hearing 100% completely in one ear. Later due to being on the Navy ships, he was one in the millions of seaman who suffered from asbestos exposure including some who got lung cancer. The corporations settled with most of those seaman. However, my dad only received 33% disability and when he was due to receive social security, his disability was reduced.

ssgbryan · 1 year ago

The concurrent receipt rules changed 2 years ago.

Vets can now get both their disability and their retirement checks.

loversk · 1 year ago

John is spot on with the point that at the very least McCain is a hypocrite for accepting these very "healthy" benefits while at the same time refusing to take care of others that have participated and suffered in the war.

Personally, I think his timing smelled too. He returns from being a POW in 1972, works his way back to flight status and then suddenly meets the wealthy heiress, leaves his wife and then leaves the military to run for Congress and ""pooof"" he's disabled.

unrepentant_expat · 1 year ago

Are there any links to the films of Mccain dissing America while a POW? Maybe he can be tried for treason. What's good for Al Queda is good for the gander.

jwhit · 1 year ago

You mean Al-CIAda

DaTruth · 1 year ago

http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnmccain.com/ lol McCain blocked the bill that wouldve exposed the films / tapes sigh

BRob · 1 year ago

Re 2nd PS: When will we get that "story for another day." I have not been able to find info on McCain's "torture" or his films for the enemy. But it seems to me that if he made torture-induced propaganda films for the enemy, he should be the first to recognize that torture does not produce accurate info; it only produces what the torturers wants. IF SO, why did McCain vote in favor of allowing the CIA to use torture, contrary to the Army Manual? And should the guys who made propaganda films be rewarded in as generous a way as those who were tortured and did not? Where oh were is Swift Boat?

gustavmahler · 1 year ago

I worked for SSA and most people who got other pensions had their Social Security reduced. McCain probably qualifies for exceptions because he is so old. SSA definition of disability is a condition that prevents you from working. Even Stephen Hawking would be denied because he can work and earn money. Maybe the military has different definitions, but to me, since McCain can work, he should not be collecting disability.
The other point is that his records were not released. The records were limited and only looked at for 3 hours, this is not releasing them. If this person has a chance to be president, we have the right to know all of his medical history. What if he has a mental disorder due to torture, don't we have a right to know?

ssgbryan · 1 year ago

Well then, I guess that any disabled vet from Iraq that gets a job doesn't deserve their disability by your definition.

red_dwarf · 1 year ago

McSame is such a hypocritical lying scum bag. Let's list his accomplishments:

1.) Had 3 aircraft shot out from under him.
2.) Bombed his own aircraft carrier (Forrestal).
3.) Received preferential treatment in Hanoi after signing a confession.
4.) His wife waited 5 yrs for his return, only to be dumped a year later after she got into a car wreck (left his crippled wife for a beer airess).
5.) Graduated 894th out of a class of 899 (bottom 0.5%)

What a pig. A complete and total slimeball. This guy isn't qualified to work as a prison guard, much less a pResident. If this country had ANY sense at all, he'd receive no more then 5% of the vote. Just goes to show you how powerful fascist become when they control the media and dumb down the masses.

saynoto · 1 year ago

3.) Received preferential treatment in Hanoi after signing a confession.

wrong.
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/2008/01/28/...

ps
why do I get the feeling that you are a troll?

Bush_Bites · 1 year ago

The Beer Baroness should reimburse the country for her worthless husband.

Rufus · 1 year ago

Let's be fair. He didn't bomb his own aircraft carrier -- Explosions and fires caused by inadvertent ammunition cook-off. As for him signing a confession, I'm betting I could take a ball-peen hammer to Red Drarf's testicles (ovaries) and get him/her to sing a confession in about three or four hard gonad whacks.

red_dwarf · 1 year ago

Sorry bud. McCain GOT PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT in Hanoi, and he bombed his own aircraft. Oh, and before I sign off, Kiss my ass.

Bush_Bites · 1 year ago

Either way, he had no business being in combat.

He was the Gomer Pyle of the Navy.

Bush_Bites · 1 year ago

Yeah, I agree.

Though, he did crash a few planes and, given his history, I always figured that being "shot down" was a bit of a figment, and he probably just crashed another one when he was captured.

Aanya · 1 year ago

I believe McBush needs that money. He's an obviously "kept" man, on a generous allowance, but money is still scarce! Cindy McBush is a Jackie Kennedy wanabee! She's already admitted as much! Her dress is so Jackie "O"! She attempts to be a fashion plate beyond all beliefs. She's a woman with an extremely shady past. A woman with numerous motives! Just as McCain has made a career out of Sunday morning talk shows, Cindy is banking on him to elevate her to national treasuredom! MaCain is such a tedious speaker, an unaccomplished senator. People are so used to seeing him weekly, they assume he has accomplished something. He has crashed 5 jets! Does that count? His career is based on fraud. All his maverick tendencies were bogus! His only talent is his rapid ability to adjust his stands on whatever benefits his cause! A change agent extraordinaire!

tlsintx · 1 year ago

yeah, i bet Mrs. McSwirlyHair keeps a tight rein on the purse strings...she won't even pay to get his teeth whitened!

Bush_Bites · 1 year ago

The Beer Baroness should pay for those jets too.

JoyceH · 1 year ago

Guys, you can bet your bottom dollar that the Obama campaign is not going to make an issue of the quality of McCain's war service or the deservedness of McCain's disability pension. And I'd sure they'd prefer it if their supporters didn't either. It looks mean-spirited. It looks Purple Heart Bandaid.

Military disability pensions have no connection whatsoever to a person's income-earning capacity, OR to their actual post-service income.

Talk about how TODAY's returning combat vets are being treated, and McCain's support or lack of support for them. But for pity's sake, let's NOT make this election about refighting the Vietnam War! That's so Boomer.

Bush_Bites · 1 year ago

That's the point, though.

He's collecting benefits he doesn't need, but denying benefits to Vets who are hurting.

ssgbryan · 1 year ago

If he hadn't married his beer-heiress, he would have had a very hard time getting work.

He didn't qualify for his Title 2 & until concurrent reciept was overturned a couple of years ago, he couldn't collect on both.

(edit - My bad, I thought he got a Title 3 pension, but it was a title 2 pension.)

DonS · 1 year ago

The thugs WILL invoke vietnam. Its meaning is lost on the younger set and they may lack the context to understand why it is not ancient history (tell me that Cheney and Rumsfeld are ancient history; and Perle and Wolfowitz). For the decrepit boomers it provide an opportunity for the thugs to once again blame the dirty fucking hippies. I.e., it is perfectly in synch with McCain's embrace of Bush's messianic ME policy.

Rufus · 1 year ago

Red Dwarf -- so that's the extent of your debating skills -- kiss your buttocks? I'm no fan of McCain and if Obama doesn't win we are in deep doo doo for the next four years (maybe 40 or 50 years if McCain gets to appoint new Supreme Court Justices). Note to self: After whacking testicles/ovaries, put his/her buttocks on list of torture things to do.

DonS · 1 year ago

John is right, the thugs would be all over every nook and cranny if the tables were turned and the dem had some disability "issues".

My god, people, do we not remember as far back as 2004, "s-w-i-f-t-b-o-a-t"; and Kerry had a pretty impressive case but still couldn't shake off the slander.

As far as getting all weepy and tentative because, well because McCain is a ex-military guy and dems are never allowed to criticize anything to do with a thugs military service, bull. Conflating patriotism with military service is always a popular thug theme and tricky to defuse. McCain's being "tortured" has always been his ace in the hole. Its his big political asset, and it seems inevitable that aspects of that construct are going to continue to find their way into the campaign warfare.

So while there is not a damn thing wrong about service to one's country, let's not let that insulate a candidate for president from legitimate inquiry and let's not make make sacrosanct every aspect of his service and retirement because he seems old, pitiful and incompetent, along with his more endearing qualities of being a conservative neanderthal.

The thugs will be going for the jugular, with truths, innuendo and outright falsehoods. Dems would be remiss to play nice; scrap the double standard, even though the media doesn't.

chandler_in_lasvegas · 1 year ago

Forgive me for not reading the whole comments thread, but I really hate the change to disqus so I don't post as often. However,

Either McCain is disabled or he isn't.

Either he is collecting his benefit fraudulently or he isn't.

If he is collecting it legally, he isn't qualified to be President.

If he is collecting it illegally, he isn't qualified to be president.

chandler_in_lasvegas · 1 year ago

And what really pisses me off about disquis is that once you get below the ads, there is three columns of EMPTY space that has to reload every freaking post. How very nice the original post loads every time with all the ads and down to the empty space we all go. BRILLIANT!

LeslieB · 1 year ago

Because McCain's a frigging hypocrite. A friend of mine has two sons who served in the Iraq war on multiple tours. One has PTSD and was rated 10% disabled. Plus, he can't get any education money that he was promised.

devis1 · 1 year ago

/

lutton · 1 year ago

Any granite countertops in the McCain household(s)?

nikolai · 1 year ago

I like the comment from Chandler:

"Either McCain is disabled or he isn't.

Either he is collecting his benefit fraudulently or he isn't.

If he is collecting it legally, he isn't qualified to be President.

If he is collecting it illegally, he isn't qualified to be president".

This should pretty much say it all, except remember the "special rules" that apply to the republican candidates? Remember when 20 things were off-limits in the bush-Kerry debate? The repubs wouldn't agree to a "debate" unless a script was followed so dumbya wouldn't seem quite so, well, dumb. Now the repubs will demand the same type of thing for the McCain-Obama "debates" which will include no talking about; McCain's pension, his age, his singing for the VC, his involvement in the Keating scandal, economic issues, etc, etc. In short, nothing that will harm McCains chances. That is why McCain will get to keep his pension, UNLESS his people tell him to start giving it back BEFORE this issue (widely) comes in view of the public eye... If McCain does give it back it will probably help him, but if he doesn't, it will probably will NOT hurt him. In this case at least, I think you can call him Teflon McCain.

helenlehman · 1 year ago

It seems everyone has forgotten we have no honest candidates running for President from either party. Let us ponder who is the least dishonest! Funny thought to consider huh? None of them has any integrity or honor. None is truthful! So what shall we do?
There are so many qualified and intellegent people out there who could do this job very well. How is we have come down to Obama and McCain? America is in for some major trouble no matter who is voted in. You can all chat, and chat and chat...it will make little difference in the end. The election will be voted by the power delegates anyway and we have little say as to the outcome. So we are all just wasting our breath.

helenlehman · 1 year ago

Obama is Teflon as well. He is gifted in speech and has everyone blinded by it. So, do you have any better ideas?

OlderAndWiser · 1 year ago

Let's face it; McBush is a whining greedhead who denies other injured vets disability, education and other benefits to which they're entitled. As long as he gets his, he could care less about ordinary Americans.

This admiral's son (don't forget) would never be left without a 100% disability check even if he had a hangnail. That's the difference between connected officers and lowly enlisted personnel. Believe me, officers are royalty in the military and are treated accordingly because it's a hierarchal structure and the enlisted are the serfs laboring under their lords and masters.

ssgbryan · 1 year ago

You are very, very wrong on this. You have obviously never dealt with the VA.

DaTruth · 1 year ago

if he is so wrong, then how could a grad that graduated 5th worse out of 900 cadents become a high ranked?
blah blah blah is your answer

ssgbryan · 1 year ago

Ya do your time, you can get to the top.

For example, in the Army, go to Ranger School. Once you have that tab, you can hang around forever & that tab can be substituted for intelligence & know-how. It is what it is.

It doesn't hurt if (as in McCain's case) daddy & granddaddy were admirals.

JMOHR · 1 year ago

No, disability is not a reward for being tortured for your country anymore than a reward for being shot at, scared to death, left by your wife or any of the other misfortunes that may befall someone during their military service. Disability is a measurement and the expected loss of earning power due to service connected disability (physical or mental).

Disability can be awarded at time of discharge by the military or after discharge through the VA. Frankly, most disability ratings stay in place from the initial award. I am not aware of cases where the government will track and then try to reduce disability because the person ended up with a good paying job.

I agree that McCain seems to make a very poor figure for arguing for restrictions on GI benefits. We need to keep contrasting his experience versus the average joe.

Bush_Bites · 1 year ago

OK, here we go:

‘My marriage ended because John McCain didn’t want to be 40, he wanted to be 25. You know that happens...it just does.’

Some of McCain’s acquaintances are less forgiving, however. They portray the politician as a self-centred womaniser who effectively abandoned his crippled wife to ‘play the field’. They accuse him of finally settling on Cindy, a former rodeo beauty queen, for financial reasons

Ouch.

When McCain – his hair turned prematurely white and his body reduced to little more than a skeleton – was released in March 1973, he told reporters he was overjoyed to see Carol again.

But friends say privately he was ‘appalled’ by the change in her appearance

With friends like these, McCain is going to be in big trouble.

Ted Sampley, who fought with US Special Forces in Vietnam and is now a leading campaigner for veterans’ rights, said: ‘I have been following John McCain’s career for nearly 20 years. I know him personally. There is something wrong with this guy and let me tell you what it is – deceit.

...

‘This is a guy who makes such a big deal about his character. He has no character. He is a fake. If there was any character in that first marriage, it all belonged to Carol.’



http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/6/8/124239/0...

RenoAnne · 1 year ago

Man, I'd love to see Grampa's propaganda videos show up on youtube.

DCLXVI · 1 year ago

Compensation disability generally ends payment eligibility when persons recover their earning capacity. Assuming that the military disability law has no such provision that loophole could be closed by the Congress that provides McCain his earnings. That would be politically unpopular but would save those dollars for other purposes such as veterans more in need. As a person who touts his supposed principle over politics he should explain why our law allows a healthy vigorous Senator to be given tax free disability payments.Further, he should explain why one as privileged as he has been and as capable as he claims to be not only applied for initially but continued ongoing to accept these benefits. I assume the law does not require a veteran to seek and to continue to accept disability benefits when they do not consider theselves entitled. If the only reason he or his supporters consider him entitled is that he was once a POW then perhaps it would explain why he and his supporters seem to believe that also a reason to give him the Presidency.

ssgbryan · 1 year ago

Wrong answer, thank you for playing but you will not advance to the bonus rounds.

He gets 58K because he retired as an O6 & he is disabled.

Congress repealed the concurrent receipt law about 2 years ago.

It used to be that if you collected a retirement check from the military, if you qualified for disability, that was deducted from your retirement check. It has taken veterans groups over 100 years to overturn this.

Jesus, I hate that scumbag McCain as much as anyone else here, but his military pension has nothing to do with his policies.

DCLXVI · 1 year ago

The concern is not his accepting regular pension. He would not receive the disability part without qualifying for a disability, would he? That disabilityu gets deducted or not from what he should get for his retirement rank is an entirely separate question. I agree that disability benefit should be tax free and should not be offset against his reirement pension. But that begs the question whether he or anyone who claims to be healthy bodied should seek, qualify for or receive a disability benefit.
A tax-free disability being paid to those who are gainfully employed with no reduction against earnings is most certainly a policy matter. Private disability insurance can be purchased through industry for a specific premium that of course provides the insurer money from which it pays the qualifying policyholders. Where such a private policy continues payments without regard to whether the receipient continues to qualify, regardless of whether the disability has interfered with the ability to return to higher paying work, and without the nature of the disability being stated to those who must make the payments, I suspect that the insurer would have to charge a much higher premium. In the case of the military Congress pays the premiums for the service members using tax revenue. As taxpayers why wouldn't we want to lower that premium by limiting continued coverage to those who are unable to earn. The separate question you address is whether we should recoup the disability from other payments we make. I agree that the service member having earned a retirement should not have it reduced due his ongoing disability. That is because the disabled person being unable to earn during the years preceding normal retirement is deprived of the opportunity to make money and thus to earn additional retirment or put aside additional retirement moneys. Perhaps it took a 100 years to address that because if one need not be disabled to continue disability payments then there is no such good reason to continue the disability payments in addition to retirement.

ssgbryan · 1 year ago

You are confusing Military disability with how it works in the civilian world.

Military disability is based on injuries received while being in the military.

You are clueless.

DCLXVI · 1 year ago

Oh... I see Military Disability is like Military Intelligence..
Last I checked the military used civilian dollars. The payment is an insurance payment no more or less than any other disability payout. If it is policy to give military persons a lifetime payout for injury received regardless how well they recover from the injury that is a more generous insurance than most in the civilian world. It is necessarily more expensive and it comes out of civilian's pockets. It is going back to my original point a policy choice. When persons who having no ongoing loss of earning capacity receive public money that means those who actually need the money due their ongoing disability receive less or we the civilian populiation pay more. McCain doesn't need the money because he has no loss of earining capacity. Certainly if he cares about his fellow veterans he would want to make sure those who need benefits get them. If he cares about cutting cost of government he should as a lawmaker consider then whether "military disability" should discontinue in the absence of economic disability. I concede that I am clueless if it is instead not based on disability but merely injury that a veteran who like McCain is able inspite those injuries to walk, talk, enjoy marriage, and live the patrician life of a Senator should receive a 100% rating. That means that he receives the same as a veteran who has none of those faculties left. Oh, perhaps 100% doesn't mean 100% either? .

helenlehman · 1 year ago

Good to admit you are clueless. It is obvious! You are
reactionary and spend too much time expressing anger
and you do not enough knowledge on the subject to keep
on talking here. My father was just like you. He yelled a lot and
made little sense. Stop yelling and start listening.

magik007 · 1 year ago

I am a Vietnam Veteran who is on VA disability now, but worked 33 years before I went through the "Standard" paperwork, testing, evaluations and more testing ... to receive my PTSD benefits ... thus saving the VA over $!,000,000 while I worked during those 33 years. I can see his rationality of not wanting "Automatically" award every Irak Veteran with the ear mark of PTSD. Try to get life insurance or in some cases libility insurance with the TAG of PTSD.
I feel McCain earned his right to his VA benefits the same as I or any other veteran, new or old and to slam McCain over his right to receive HIS disability is saying ALL disabled veteran with PTSD compensation that works is not eligible to continue drawing their disability check from the VA.

I would not vote for McCain because of his anger and the platforms he represents, but I respect him as a fellow Vietnam Veteran with the same respect I extend to the Men and Women who are coming home now. I find it almost "Un-American" to continue slander a Veteran.

OlderAndWiser · 1 year ago

Well, perhaps some conscionable TV reporter could ask McBush: "Are you considered disabled or not? I understand you are receiving 100% disability benefits of $58K from the Navy to this day, yet you're working in the Senate, taking long hikes in the Grand Canyon, you probably clear brush as well, yada, yada, yada."

Let McBush bullshit his way out of that one...at least it would be out there in TVLand for all to ponder, esp. those vets who actually cannot work and aren't getting nearly as generous benefits as this greedhead.

SouthernYankee · 1 year ago

Wow 58,000.00 a yr tax free. My father and father-in-law were both wounded in WWII and neither one got any thing extra for their disabilities. My dad was shot up his leg with a machine gun. I think he should get something but not that much. My husband hurt his back while in the army and they gave him 10%. He would give it back if only his back wasn't hurting most of the time. He has had surgery once and it has worked. I would think him taking this income from the military and senate is considered double dipping. But than again these senators and congressman can leave their jobs and become fat cat lobbyist. I thought they stopped that too.

ssgbryan · 1 year ago

It isn't tax free - it is a combination of his military retirement (which is not tax free) and his disability.

John has no clue as to what he is talking about on this issue.

SouthernYankee · 1 year ago

It is the republican way to get rich off of the suckers that work a regular everyday hard working low paying jobs. They turn around and say they collect welfare, food stamps etc. McCain scares me to death. He has a terrible mean temper and every time he says my friends it is so fake. I'm afraid this man will have his finger on the button and shoot first and questions after. He is so much like Bush it is scary. I pray every night that Obama wins. This country really needs to get back on the right track. The republicans are going to do a smear job and some of those people that are considered regan democrats will vote for McSame. I hope for once people will igornor the cramp and vote for Obama. My relatives that are Europeans really like Obama. They hope he wins.

ssgbryan · 1 year ago

I'll explain it to you. If I go too fast, pop a flare, I'll find you...

For the same reason that vets are getting disability payments when they retire from the military.

By your whining I guess the folks getting disability pay from Iraq don't deserve it either.

1. He isn't getting $58k tax-free.

2. His max disability is $1900 per month (which is tax free).

3. He retired as an O6. He still gets a title 3 pension (which is not tax free). He did his time, he gets his pension, just like everybody else in the military.

Next time, before you spout off on something you have absolutely no clue about, ask around, I am sure someone will be more than happy to give you some insight.

Vietvet · 1 year ago

I am a hard core Democrat Obama supporter, who would never under any circumstance vote for McCain. That said, I am also a Vietnam vet and retired army officer, who receives about $14K a year tax free for life for a Vietnam combat-related disability.

McCain and I and every vet with a disability deserve every penny we get for disabilities incurred while serving our country. I have no idea what his strategist Mark Salter meant when he said that McCain is "technically" disabled. Every service member who is being considered for disability, has his/her medical condition reviewed by a board which has strict guidelines it adheres to to determine if the individual is disabled, and if so, the extent of the disability.

InnerBreath · 1 year ago

The argument isn't that he doesn't deserve the money, it's the hypocrisy. He's the one who called Viet Nam vets "scum bags" when they organized to get more comprehensive health care coverage from the VA for things like but not limited to exposure to Agent Orange.

Vietvet · 1 year ago

Reread John's article. He questions whether or not McCain is disabled, and unfortunately does not have his facts straight, mixing retired pay, which is taxable, with disability pay, which isn't. BTW, my disability is related to health problems caused by exposure to Agent Orange. It took me about 2 years to get it approved.

I do agree that McCain is a hypocrite, and would never ever vote for him.

InnerBreath · 1 year ago

McNasty disclosed himself it was tax-free income when he disclosed his finances & tax returns + disability paymenst not included on his tax returns because it's tax-free.

GreyFoxThree · 1 year ago

You have GOT to be kidding me? I know McBush is a crooked as the day is long but this without doubt TAKES THE CAKE! What a loser. I cant imagine ANYONE with an ounce of common sense is taking him seriously anyways.

JT
http://www.FireMe.To/udi

Sage24 · 1 year ago

Why does he want to claim this money? Isn't his wealthy wife generous enough to support and help her husband? Didn't McSame vote against a bill that would have helped our vets recently? So why the double standards?
I think he should donate that money to Walter Reed Hospital to help our needy vets.

MNUSA · 1 year ago

The military is like any other job. You sign up, part of the package is the benefits. He was pretty badly beaten up and didn't receive proper medical care as a POW. It took away several years of his life. I have no problem with McCain getting what he earned. What I do have a problem with is denying other people health care when he has had it under the government all his life (his father was in the military, too). I have a problem with his going on the cheap with our current batch of veterans. This gives us all a little picture of what this war will cost us in the future. All these tens of thousands of terribly wounded veterans will need health care and disability benefits for the rest of their lives. There are still WWII vets getting benefits. McCain is one of the wealthiest members of the senate. A nice move would be to donate that disability payment to our Iraq vets and their families. How generous is he?

DonS · 1 year ago

Once again, proof. Mention the military and someone,somewhere is going to get bent out of shape because, damn it, I'm a veteran and blah blah blah. When, oh when, are verterans going to become so less polarized -- read manipulable -- and see that as just another part of their life experience, their resume if you will. If you want to believe all the propaganda that being a vet -- most likely having your sorry ass drafted into vietnam -- somehow makes you a soul brother to St. John McCain, so be it. It happen to think that folks commenting here, and foks in general, are a whole lot bigger than that.

What the hell does John McCain being a scumbag, greedy, rich s.o.b., have to do with whether or not he is entitled to some disability check.

Get over it. This is no a knock on vets. Its not about being a veteran. Its about being a greedy scumbag who just happens to be a vet.

JoyceH · 1 year ago

"Its not about being a veteran. Its about being a greedy scumbag who just happens to be a vet."

No, it's not. It's about a bunch of civilians popping off on a topic they know nothing about.

The amount McCain draws from the Navy is not just because he's disabled. It's because he's a RETIRED CAPTAIN.

DonS · 1 year ago

and your point is?

JoyceH · 1 year ago

*sigh* My point is that the vast majority of people on this thread, and apparently John himself, appear to be under the impression that McCain is drawing $58K because of his disability, NOT because it's his military pension.

If you guys try to make a big issue out of this, you're only going to make fools of yourselves AND make the Democratic Party look bad.

DonS · 1 year ago

Ok, I understand your point.

helenlehman · 1 year ago

Well said DonS!

ssgbryan · 1 year ago

The hell it isn't.

One more time for the reading impaired.
1. John McCain collects a military pension for retiring as a Navy Captain.
2. John McCain collects disability for getting broken in Vietnam.
3. John McCain (and DonS) are assholes.

helenlehman · 1 year ago

You are a true to life bag of wind!
Perhaps there will be a draft and you will have to go through what he did. Then maybe you will understand. For now, you are totally full of meaningless words of criticism on a subject you know nothing about.
Because someone has money (I do not) does not mean they are scumbags or greedy s.o.b.'s. You have a grudge that is worthless to the rest of the people who care about America. Get with the program and try to analyze what you believe and why. Then seek truth for what it is, and try not to fill your language with colorfully cheap language to express your opinions. If you think you are intellegent then prove it by using language that shows us that you can communicate without swearing. You debase your intellect.

magik007 · 1 year ago

Don .. I cannot understand your HAZING but as a veteran I felt it was unnecessary to justify his installment to his earned VA Benefit ... I also know he had to be drawing other than monies in retiring from the military. I am sorry I took offense at some of what was being said. With this attack on Veterans it is apparent you are just here to make noise. You have never been in the military or you would not have slurred a remark about the "Soul Brother" and bond between Veterans from any war or era. I enlisted and later reenlisted for Vietnam ... and what difference does it make it the "Rich Scumbag" receives a VA check really?

DonS · 1 year ago

Like I said, no slight against vets (which I may or may not be) I am in no way questioning the payout formula, or that it is well deserved.

Earlier today I had a comment that I scratched. It had to do with vietnam, and the conflation of feelings from that, and the absolute policy disaster it was -- and for which vets such as yourself are still paying a price. Re-enlisting for god's sake.

Tell me you signed up for that:? Or was it for something far more simple and noble, which virtually every politician betrayed?

John McCain is that politician.

As I said downthread, I work with trauma-affected individuals for a living. God knows I hate to see those folks abused. Sorry if I offended you. Not intended.

magik007 · 1 year ago

Thanks Don, Yes I reenlisted for 6 more years to go to Vietnam. It was my duty as a son of a son of a son, in a long tradition of serving in the American Armed Forces. It was just the way it was as a young man in honor of his country. I do not backing McCain on anything except he is a vet and does deserve that respect is all.

I am too crippled and old to get on a soap box and chant in my highest PTSD voice "Obama for the Win"

DonS · 1 year ago

All I can say is "Be well".

canuck55 · 1 year ago

I wonder if the records relating to his disability pension are publicly available and if so, do they disclose any physical or psychological imdeiment to him being able to be President? Physical pain and/or limitation could well affect his stamina to do the long days work required of the President. Of course, any disability related to PTSD is significant, if one is contained in the records. Certainly, if he qualifies for the pension, good for him, but the nature of the disability should be fully disclosed. That being said, if he is receiving his full share of benefits, so should those many thousands of wounded soldiers that clearly are not now getting the best of care, and the Senator should be the one leading the charge to help them - and he clearly is not.

Lonnie28 · 1 year ago

It makes me a little queasy to attack McCain in the area of military service. Remember, we defended slimy old Bill Clinton when we knew he had dodged the draft. Now I don't agree with McCain on almost any issue, but it really makes us look hypocritical when we criticize his service. At least he put his life on the line for us - which is far more than can be said for Slick Willy or 'Purple Heart' Kerry.

lark83 · 1 year ago

Purple Heart Kerry did put his life on the line for us. What are you talking about?

helenlehman · 1 year ago

Kerry lied

met66 · 1 year ago

He didnt put his life on the line for "us". He put his life on the line for himself or perhaps the government but not for "us". This unalloyed praise for any veteran is to me just total crap. Besides...he was a flyboy and not a grunt. He happily flew off his ship with its white linen sheets and the finest food, bombed some innocent civilians, then returned to his floating hotel. In fact, the above story doent criticize his "service" rather it criticizes him for taking money that he certainly doesnt need and probably doesnt deserve and most pointedly, for being a terrific hypocrite for denying benefits to those who DO need and deserve it. McCain is a total schmuck. He doesnt know how horrible war is...you dont get that from a fighter jet at 500mph while dropping bombs on civvies. He DOES know what torture is and yet he voted for the Military Commissions act and is pro Bush. The guy is a total phoney.

helenlehman · 1 year ago

You really have no idea what the truth is do you....
You are obviously under the age of 40!
The phoney is you! I may not agree with all of McCains ideas but I do
know you have no idea what he went through nor do you have any
idea why.
Maybe you should do your homework before you open your mouth!
Your answer is reactionary without any substance or real knowledge. It is
completely puffed up with meaningless words to embellish your self
image as a so called intellectual. You miss the mark.

SouthernYankee · 1 year ago

Lonnie28, Kerry was in the military and served with honor. The military doesn't give out medals unless they are earned. Don't you believe he didn't deserve his awards because he did. McCain served with honor too. But I think he is overplaying his V.N. time. We already heard about it. Republicans never want to give democrats credit for when they serve in the military. They always have negative things to say. They did it with Gore also.

erichhaubrich · 1 year ago

So why do I see McCain ads at the top of this page?

bigtimepatriotq · 1 year ago

McCain, America's first disabled President since FDR!!

I think I see the GOP's first big ad campaign coming up...

homas · 1 year ago

Social Security disability benefits are sure as hell taxed as income!

KJS · 1 year ago

And then there's this from just a few weeks ago: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/health/...

"[McCain] appears cancer-free, has a strong heart and is in generally good health, according to eight years of records that McCain's presidential campaign made available Friday as it sought to prove that, at 71, he is healthy enough -- and not too old -- to serve as president."

But he's disabled enough to collect $10,000 A YEAR MORE THAN THE MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME - tax free . . . each year, every year - in "disability"? While voting down benefits for G.I.s currently serving? Wow . . . just wow . . .

wyldberi · 1 year ago

don't like john mCcain.

The fact that he does collect this disability pension when his wife is very wealthy and mCcain, himself, earns a pretty good salary for being in the Senate shows how low-rent he is. That's my personal opinion.

My public opinion is a little different. Despite everything else you might say about mCcain, he wore a uniform, risked his life, and was wounded/tortured in such a manner that it left him with medically verifiable disabilities. Though there certainly is a disparity between the benefit amount he is getting and what our current Vets get, IF they can get anything at all, that's the amount that was adjudicated for him.

If he has the stomach to cash the checks he has a right to it, and neither you nor I have any place to stand in judgement or squawk and complain. It's the price our Country has to pay for sending men & women into combat needlessly.

That $2 million figure doesn't even represents the tip of the iceberg as far as what this country is going to be paying out in benefits to those service personnel wounded in bush's folly. That bill's going to come in somewhere between $1 & 1.5 TRILLION dollars over the next 50 years. Tell that to your grandchildren when they wonder why they'll never get to go to college; just tell them you didn't stand up long enough and yell loud enough while bush pilfered the public treasury and stole their birthright.

SamFox · 1 year ago

Some one says they are gung ho Obama. How McLame is worse than him, which may or not be true. We do know that B.O. is more liberal left that even H.C.

Problem is, B.O, H.C & J.Mc. are all CFR members. All 3 are socialist fascists. To socialists or fascists the state is greater than the individual, opposite what the US Founders had in mind.

Being a CFR shill means any of the 3 will continue the mess that started in at least 1913 that Bush & most other Presidents since then have kept feeding. None of the 3 CFR stooges will attempt to lead the USA back to the Constitution, our most critical need.

The only real conservative is Ron Paul. The only true Constitutionalist is Ron Paul. We ignore the platform of Ron Paul to our peril & ultimate demise. It is not so much Ron Paul-it is his message!! Ron is just the only one left with the message of return the US back to the Constitution, quit meddling in foreign affairs, shrink the gov. by getting rid of the none Constitutional 'burroacracy', return State's rights, print legal US money, get the privately owned 'Fed' out of the US along with the Gestapo IRS...

SamFox

wyldberi · 1 year ago

Not sure what your rant has to do with mCcain's pension/disability, SamFox.

While I sympathize with most of the points you list, I don't believe Ron Paul is the answer. The Libertarian stuff doesn't work out in a practical way, just as the neo-Conservative theory doesn't work, or the "free trade" / de-regulation policies that have been shoved at us since Regan was in office. All these things are boxes created to trap people into ineffective groupings that cannot affect the way things are done in D.C.

But right now there is something going on in D.C. that you can influence, and that takes a big step in the direction we need to go if your wish list is to become a part of the American Dream once more.

Last night on the floor of the House of Representatives, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) introduced a resolution which he read into the Official Proceedings of the House. This resolution lists 35 charges against george w. bush and officials in his administration, details the crimes and treason that have been perpetrated against the Constitution and the People of the United States, and calls for the impeachment of george w. bush.

If you want your country back, get busy and force your representatives in Congress to take action on this resolution. Failure to do so makes you as much of the problem as are Nancy Pelozi, dick cheney, and carl rove.

Anderson · 5 months ago

One thing is clear..explanation is necessary from him for why one as privileged as he has been and as capable as he claims to be not only applied for initially but continued ongoing to accept these benefits..
Own Occupation Disability Insurance

Litterbox · 1 year ago

You guys are a pretty sad lot. All the real issues regarding McCain and you all pick his pension as something to attack him on? If you are going to question one DAV, then you are questioning all of them...or at least thats what we were saying when Kerry was under the microscope. Some folks have some really short memories.

PeteWa · 1 year ago

You're the sad lot, you seem to miss that most people are questioning why McCain with his millions and his obvious ability to work is getting disability pay, while others more severly, truly disabled are denied.
People are commenting because McCain, the hypocrite who does not need the disability pay he gets every month has actively worked against current members of the military from claiming disability pay themselves.

Litterbox · 1 year ago

Pete, there is nothing, NOTHING that prevents a vet "with money" to collect DV benefits. Why on Earth are you begrudging McCain the same things you would be arguing for in anyone elses case? So, let me see if I have this straight.... McCain gets benefits but because he is rich, he shouldnt get them anymore? Im sure there are thousands of vets that are pretty well off that dont "need" their benefits. Should they give them up as well? Im amazed at the level of discourse we are currently undertaking. If people were questioning Kerrys benefits, we would be screaming bloody murder. Yes, there are others more severely disabled that arent getting benefits...attacking one vet on behalf of other vets isnt going to solve the problem and its certainly not going to play well with middle of the road voters. I want every vet to have the care and benefits they were promised and are entitled to. That includes John McCain and every other veteran.

EDIT: This issue is also going to be hammered on by the Right who have, for so very long, insisted that the Dems do not care about Vets and in some cases, despise them. They can use this as ammo. We need to stop attacking McCain on his benefits and start attacking him on is policies.

PeteWa · 1 year ago

Look, dumbass, I begrudge McCain BECAUSE he is fucking current military out of benefits.
Because he is a piece of shit, a rich, callow, craven man who takes this money that he does NOT need and through his position denies those who actually do need benefits through his legislation.
How is that so hard for you to wrap your pinhead around?

Litterbox · 1 year ago

Regardless of what McCain is doing (or not doing in this case), it has 0 to do with the argument you are making that he doesnt deserve his benefits because he has money. Now, you seem to be intellectually challenged so Ill make it real simple for you because you apparently missed it the first time: I AGREE THAT MCCAIN IS DOING OUR VETS WRONG AND KEEPING THEM FROM GETTING THEIR BENEFITS. That issue has nothing to do with his benefits...you are pissed at him for being wealthy AND getting his benefits that he "doesnt need". Thats tough shit for you...he earned his benefits just like every other veteran. If you advocate that position (rich vets dont deserve their benefits), then you must also believe that others such as Cleland and Kerry dont deserve theirs for the same reasons? If not, youre a hypocrite because thats the argument you are making. Now, it could also be that you are just having one set of rules for McCain and another for other politicians similarly situated.

katymine · 1 year ago

McCain is NOT eligible for military pension......

HE has been rated & collecting VA disability. That means he had a physical that gave him a percent of disability and reviewed for the dollar amount he should receive for that disability. My father and ex-husband are both disabled Veterans.

Also usually the Vet has to return to a VA center to be reevaluated on a regular basis and that rating can be upped or decreased.

THE issue is that McCain says benefits for Veterans are too generous and the Webb GI bill is TOO generous BUT he collects $58K in VA benefits a year...... THE issue is the hypocrisy.... but what else is new from my senator who can't show up to work ....

ssgbryan · 1 year ago

Yes he is.

Concurrent receipt was overturned 2 years ago.