Proof that McCain's "Cross in the Dirt" story is a lie.
I hadn't watched the Saddleback non-debate, so I'm Johnny-Come-Lately to the whole "Cross in the Dirt" controversy. At first, like Josh Marshall, I felt that the story wasn't really worth pursuing. Until I read what McCain said at Saddleback....
In the Saddleback version, McCain is standing outside his cell for Christmas when the Vietnamese guard draws a cross in the dirt.
However, the first time I read or heard McCain's "Cross in the Dirt" story, McCain recalled being tied in painful stress positions for hours on end and one night a guard came and relieved the pressure on his bindings, drew a cross in the dirt in front of him, let him relax a bit, and then re-tightened his bindings before the next guard took over.
Am I confused here, or does anybody else recall this version of the story, too?
I'm looking for video/text evidence of more than one version of this tale.
In the Saddleback version, McCain is standing outside his cell for Christmas when the Vietnamese guard draws a cross in the dirt.
However, the first time I read or heard McCain's "Cross in the Dirt" story, McCain recalled being tied in painful stress positions for hours on end and one night a guard came and relieved the pressure on his bindings, drew a cross in the dirt in front of him, let him relax a bit, and then re-tightened his bindings before the next guard took over.
Am I confused here, or does anybody else recall this version of the story, too?
I'm looking for video/text evidence of more than one version of this tale.
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His Christmas ad is here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WTu7drLfRc
There he says that the same guard (that loosened his ropes) came up to him and drew a cross in the sand. The video SHOWS a stick but McCain doesn't say what the guard used to draw the cross with. At Saddleback he said that the guard drew a cross with his sandal.
August 20, 2008 10:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks, I suspect that the story is ripped from "Gulag" - the stick visual really lends itself to that impression. But, pursuing it isn't really worth Barack's brain damage. That said, it will make a good email/newsgroup attack meme.
August 20, 2008 10:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
UPDATE:
OK, nevermind. Apparently this was the same guard. I'm back to agreeing that this story is not a real issue.
"...on one occasion, a guard surreptitiously loosened McCain's painful rope bindings for a night; when, months later, the guard later saw McCain on Christmas Day, he stood next to McCain and silently drew a cross in the dirt with his foot."
August 20, 2008 10:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, I've been around that circle also. I remembered the Christmas ad as McCain **saying** he used a stick ... and then at Saddleback saying it was a sandal. That would have been something (surely you remember if you actually saw it), but he didn't.
August 20, 2008 11:12 PM | Reply | Permalink