JOHN McCRASH

I've wrecked a car or two in my time. I guess that's kind of bad since I drive for a living. The first one was when I was 17 years old. A guy and his girlfriend were timing a string of lights and caught me going through the yellow. Result; one very smashed Impala. In my next accident, nearly twenty years later, I was on the side of a dirt road cleaning off my windshield when a guy with his entire windshield frosted over drove right into me without ever touching his brakes. Result; one destroyed Chevy Nova. Other than that, I've had a small bump or two, but nothing that made my car any where near undrivable. Considering that I've driven professionally for over 30 years, I don't feel that's too awfully bad and shouldn't keep me from being anything I want to be.

With that in mind, let's compare my experience with John McCain's flying.

John McCain has crashed and burned 5, count 'em, 5 planes.

McCain graduated (fifth from the bottom of his class) from the Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1958. He also graduated from flight school in 1960. One of the planes he crashed, was during flight training where he was learning to land. I assume he flunked at least that lesson. For whatever reason, (maybe his Admiral dad and grandfather) they saw fit to give him a pilot's license anyway.

While deployed in the Mediterranean, McCain lost a second aircraft. McCain was reportedly, "Flying too low over the Iberian Peninsula, he took out some power lines which led to a spate of newspaper stories in which he was predictably identified as the son of an admiral." Oddly enough, shortly thereafter McCain was promoted to, of all things, a flight instructor.

However, John wasn't quite done wrecking planes. He lost a third aircraft while flying a Navy trainer solo to Philadelphia for an Army-Navy football game. He claimed he was experiencing a "Flame out" where his engines cut off. After several failed attempts to get his plane to restart, McCain bailed out leaving his plane to crash into a clump of trees. Thankfully, John wasn't close to any major city.

The fourth plane McCain took out was by far the most damaging. I should point out here that there are several versions of the events of July 29, 1967 on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Forrestal. The official version is that the plane behind McCain suffered a "electronic malfunction" of one of his missiles which launched on deck and struck McCain's plane. McCain then leaped out of his plane which was leaking fuel and was struck by scrapnel when the missiles on his plane blew up. Some witnesses have a different story. Their version is that McCain, always a joker, allowed fuel to build up in his engines before firing them up. This "wet start", would cause a large fireball to blow out the back of the engines startling the pilot behind you. In their version, this set off the missile which then struck McCain's plane. As McCain fled his injured plane, he inadvertently dropped two of his missiles onto the deck of the carrier causing further damage. In the end, 134 people died that day with even more dying of their injuries later. The U.S. Forrestal almost sank. John McCain was the only person evacuated immediately off the Carrier despite the fact that several other people had more serious injuries. (evidenced by the fact that several of them went on to die later.) Some of McCain's fellow crew mates claimed he was evacuated to keep him from being assaulted for his stupidity.

The fifth plane to be reduced to rubble by McCain is the only one he'll talk about. On Oct. 26, 1967, he was shot down and captured by the Vietnamese. McCain spent 5 1/2 horrific years being tortured before being released in 1973. This event lead to the "Hero" status that McCain enjoys today.

I would like to say that I have utmost respect for John McCain's service. My opinion of McCain from ever thing that I've read, and even things that have come out of his own mouth, is that John is simply not that bright. Five planes is an awful lot of planes to destroy no matter your excuses. These plane cost (in 1960's dollars) close to a million dollars each and that's not even including the enormous damage to the Forrestal. During the "Keating Five" trials, McCain claimed he was "duped" into supporting legislation that he didn't understand. Given his history, his education and his own words we should all take a long look at McCain and decide if this is a man who's intelligent enough to be President. Before he crashes our country. H.C.