Everything He Learned?

If there are any Chief Petty Officers in the debate audience this evening, word-to-the-wise, keep a low profile.

As you may recall, at the last Presidential Debate, Stumblin' Bumblin' John McKKKain got a lucky roll-of-the-dice, when one of the audience questioners happened to be a serviceman, a Navy man, a Chief Petty Officer.

Transcript of second McCain, Obama debate

Well, thank you, Terry (ph). And thank you for your service to the country.

I want to say, everything I ever learned about leadership I learned from a chief petty officer. And I thank you, and I thank you, my friend. Thanks for serving.

Perhaps Chief Petty Officer Terry hadn't see the newspaper, the Los Angeles Times that day, or likely he would have had a rebuttal for for the debunked Maverick, maybe a different question, for I don't think he want to own that for the legion of Chief Petty Officers out there, past and present.

Mishaps mark John McCain's record as naval aviator; Three crashes early in his career led Navy officials to question or fault his judgment

As a presidential candidate, McCain has cited his military service -- particularly his 5 1/2 years as a POW. But he has been less forthcoming about his mistakes in the cockpit.

In today's military, a lapse in judgment that causes a crash can end a pilot's career. Though standards were looser and crashes more frequent in the 1960s, McCain's record stands out.

Naval aviation experts say the three accidents before McCain's deployment to Vietnam probably triggered a review to determine whether he should be allowed to continue flying. The results of the review would have been confidential.

The Times asked McCain's campaign to release any military personnel records in the candidate's possession showing how the Navy handled the three incidents. The campaign said it would have no comment.

If may be safe to say, that if it were not for Fly Boy having a Dad and Grandfather that were big muckity-mucks in the Navy, perhaps McKKKain may have had a career in KP duty, if not drubbed out of the service completely.

You look at this article, the record of crashes, and you can see that things haven't changed much.

It's now his campaign that he's driving into the ground.


Bonus Clyde Crashcup Riffs

Quincy Adams: McCain's judment and veracity as an aviator

Melissa McEwan: Crash Bandicoot

Libby Spencer: Things I learned from Atriots

Ted Rall: Puffing up John McCain, POW

Lowell: George McGovern takes a "dig" at John McCain