By Guest Columnist, Michael Ceremello – August 29, 2018 – Unlike Fresno State’s Randa Jarrar who posted hateful undocumented, or should I say personally biased and subjective, evidence upon the death of Barbara Bush, I do not wish to commit to a full on assault on the character of Senator John McCain.  I have read varying accounts of the 1967 USS Forrestal fire where a number of McCain’s fellow crewmen were killed.  Funny how difficult it is to get to the truth when your grandfather and father were both Admirals and many would say bailed his butt out several times.

Mary Hershberger is a historian and the author of “Jane Fonda’s War” and other books. She is a recipient of the Binkley-Stephenson Award, given annually for the best scholarly article in the Journal of American History.  She is also a professor at Capital University.  In an article written on August 26, 2018 in truthdig titled Investigating John McCain’s Tragedy at Sea, Hershberger was listed as a contributor.  In the article she listed a number of inconsistencies with McCain’s account in Faith of My Fathers and his campaign literature in his run for the 2008 presidency.

Aside from McCain’s apparent lack of truthfulness, no solitary individual was blamed for the incident despite camera footage.  “A camera on the deck recorded images showing that the Zuni rocket struck White’s plane. The Navy report later attributed the dropped bomb to White’s plane, although the film footage does not seem to establish this definitively. However, McCain has said many times that the Zuni rocket caused the bomb (two bombs in McCain’s version) to fall from his own craft.”

To address the coverup and conspiracy angle, this was offered: “The investigation into the Forrestal fire was in the hands of Adm. Thomas Moorer, chief of naval operations and a close friend of McCain’s father. (emphasis added) (Their friendship was why Moorer would personally convey the news to Adm. Jack McCain three months later that his son had been shot down in Vietnam.) Moorer gave the investigation to Rear Adm. Forsyth Massey, who handed in his report on Sept. 19, 1967. McCain received orders to report to the Oriskany on Sept. 30.”

Next we have John McCain’s personal irresponsibility and history within the Navy.  “Aside from any questions about his Forrestal actions, McCain had, in his short Navy career, crashed two planes and flown a third into power lines in Spain because of, as he put it, “daredevil clowning.”  This again points to having relatives in high places preventing the relieving of command or duty when it should have occurred and would have to any other pilot.

For those of you who want to revere McCain and condemn the historian who actually did the work the mainstream media covered up, I offer this which I found within a critique of Hershberger’s piece.

“Fortunately, however, a few historians who are familiar with McCain’s true record – and the one-sided distortion of that record by his campaign – do not believe it serves democracy for them to remain silent. One such historian is Mary Hershberger, who has spent many years examining what did and did not occur in North Vietnam during and after the war with the United States.”  By John W. Dean  Friday, Oct. 17, 2008

I leave it to the reader to sort this out by actually doing some online research and not relying on Wikipedia which evidently isn’t too interested in the real story.  What I really want you to muse on is this: was McCain really a Republican and a conservative who reached across the aisle in a display of bipartisanship and, in doing so, really “serving his country” which is what he wanted engraved on his tombstone?

John McCain may have been registered Republican, but he was the deciding vote on ridding this country of the noxious Obama health care law which saw premiums skyrocket and healthcare become largely disrupted to the point of being dysfunctional.  He was no maverick.  He was a Democrat in sheep’s clothing, pal-ling around with the likes of Ted Kennedy and others.  He had much more in common with Democrats than the right.  Again, another reflection on his basic honesty and integrity.

The one thing I congratulated him on, selecting Sarah Palin as his vice presidential candidate, was later denigrated by his open criticism of her as the reason he lost the election.  McCain was far from a constitutionalist and has been labeled a warmonger by many who was intent on having a military confrontation with Vladimir Putin.

As I don’t believe in speaking ill of the dead and I have nothing positive to say about John McCain, I will let the facts listed speak for themselves.  Considering the glowing vacuous accolades heaped on McCain by Meet The Press, CNN, and Chuck Schumer, anyone with half a brain can understand who not only was the darling of the Fake News regime but those who are now using McCain as a tool to further bash Donald Trump.

The shame lies not with those critical of McCain.  It lies on those who hate America and our current president … blindly …