Joe Boggs – 8/29/08

This page was last updated on August 29, 2008.

McCain, answer the question; Joe Boggs; Beaver County Times; August 29, 2008.

Below is a detailed critique of the letter.

“Sen. John McCain, after seeing you on Jay Leno Monday evening and on several other occasions, I personally feel you have diminished, devalued and disrespected your own and many other POW’s service, sacrifice and suffering, just to deflect legitimate questions and criticisms directed to you.

“When you were asked a question on Leno about your houses, you made the comment that you didn’t have a house when you were a POW. You used that to deflect and not answer the question.”

[RWC] There’s no question Mr. McCain has not handled this non-issue well.

“To use this tactic in this manner causes me and others to lose respect for the man you claim to be.”

[RWC] I don’t know Mr. Boggs, but I’d be willing to bet he would have found some other equally vacuous reason “to lose respect for the man” Mr. McCain claims “to be.”

“I think many veterans will lose some respect, because they don’t use their service this way and are surprise [sic] and disappointed that you have.”

[RWC] I don’t recall any letters from Mr. Boggs to John Kerry when he constantly brought up his Vietnam service during his 2004 campaign. If you recall, Mr. Kerry even showed up at the 2004 Democrat convention on a boat to remind people of his Vietnam duty on swift boats.

“Please remember there have been 10s of thousands of soldiers serving this country that have given their lives, paid the ultimate price and given their all.

“There are 58,000 names chiseled on a wall in Washington, D.C., of soldiers who didn’t come home at all from the war you served in.

“Please just answer the questions, and don’t disappoint us with this personally degrading approach.”

[RWC] Who really cares about how many houses a candidate owns? The last I heard, the McCain family owns eight. They live in two condos (One in DC and the other in Phoenix), one is provided for an elderly aunt, one was purchased for one of their daughters, and the others are investment properties.

According to Politico.com, “Sen. McCain himself does not own any of the properties. They’re all owned by Cindy McCain, her dependent children and the trusts and companies they control.” I suspect it’s the fact Mr. McCain doesn’t personally own any of the properties that causes his fumbling on this point.