FactChecker McCain "Fudged" the Facts on Navy Crash

Fudged.  A new way for mainstream press to say "lied".

The Washington Post's Fact Checker reads an LA Times report and something falls on their head.  Eureka!

John McCain is a liar.   Er well, a fact fudger

(The Times laid it out even more subtly than the Post's fact checker. But the Times report goes on to suggest slightly in sotto voice why John McCain may be a serial fact fudger.  It's the same reason that George W. Bush is one...)

But first about a virtually proven lie by 'truth teller' McCain.

Excerpt Washington Post FactChecker report "McCain fudges his Navy record".

"I crashed a plane in Corpus Christi Bay one Saturday morning. The engine quit while I was practicing landings...I took a few painkillers and hit the sack to rest my aching back for a few hours....I was out carousing, injured back and all, later that evening.
--John McCain, "Faith of My Fathers."

Controversy has surrounded a series of crashes involving planes piloted by John McCain while serving in the U.S. Navy. In his autobiography, the Republican presidential candidate maintained that a couple of the accidents were caused by engine failure. But an official investigation by the Naval Aviation Safety Center makes clear that the first accident, in March 1960, was caused exclusively by pilot error.

Someone want to ask Senator Married the Richest Little Heiress in Arizona that question?

The FactChecker is not faulting McCain for the aircraft that were destroyed while he was in the war zone, and neither does the Times.

The Los Angeles Times in Mishaps mark John McCain's record as naval aviator  talks about the Corpus Christi crash, but goes on to the crash in Spain and beyond.  At least McCain doesn't seem to have lied about the last two.

FactChecker covered some of the information surrounding the first crash.  The Times continues with the reason that military investigators cite for the first incident:

 The West Coast paper also notes:

[The] examination of his record revealed a pilot who early in his career was cocky, occasionally cavalier and prone to testing limits.

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.

"Three mishaps are unusual," said Michael L. Barr, a former Air Force pilot with 137 combat missions in Vietnam and an internationally known aviation safety expert who teaches in USC's Aviation Safety and Security Program. "After the third accident, you would say: Is there a trend here in terms of his flying skills and his judgment?"

Gee willikkers, now why would a cocky young  pilot get away with so much?  Was he considered special?

McCain, the son and grandson of admirals, had a privileged status in the Navy. He was invited to the captain's cabin for dinner on the maiden voyage of the Enterprise in 1962, a perk other aviators and sailors attributed to his famous name, recalled Gene Furr, an enlisted man who shared an office and went on carrier deployments with McCain over three years. 

"Ah yes, Young Grasshopper .  Children of privilege often know that those above them will look the other way when they screw up.

"Hey, that's just like what we've been facing for the last 8 years.  Someone was always supposed to be around to pick up after Lil' Bushy, and it was usually you and I taxpayer.

BTW, be sure to read both reports (if not blocked at WP because of lack of registration) for full details.

tags: john  mccain  washington post  la times  war service  life of privilege  military  

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