McCain and the Queen of Diamonds

Now that McCain is effectively the Republican nominee, the question now is how to defeat him. At first blush, he seems like a fat, aging target. McCain knows nothing about the economy, flip flops on immigration, wishes we had invested another 50,000 American lives to save Viet Nam, and wants American troops in Iraq to the year 2108. That a member of the Keating Five is the pilot of the Straight Talking Express testifies to our Alice in Wonderland that is GOP politics. But it would be a mistake to underestimate him and the foxy ruthlessness of the Republican smear machine. And so perhaps the best antidote to that is to attack him not at his weakest but at his strength, most particulary, his so-called heroism as a POW.

One way to do that is to frame McCain as fiction come to life, the Machurian Candidate. In the 1962 film, the Soviets brainwash the son of a prominant political family into becoming an unwilling assasin for the Communtist Party. During the Korean War, the Russians kidnap an American infantry patrol and take them to Manchuria, where they implant false memories and to provide a subconscious trigger in their minds-- the Queen of Diamonds playing card. The movie, with Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury, is a gripping portrayal of the dark nexus between psychological and politics.





Is McCain the Manchurian Candidate? Perhaps we can use John Kerry's swiftboat to flush out some long-overdue answers. In the same spirit that allowed neocons, many of whom never served a day under fire, to tarnish Kerry's medals and service, a review of McCain's heroism might now be in order.

The following article was published in 1992 by a POW/MIA activist.

http://www.usvetdsp.com/manchuan.htm