Slowly Coming Around...

Let's ignore the notorious laundry list of John McCain's transgressions against conservatism and take a moment to recognize a lesser known facet of his character:

Flanagan had not heard the promise of withdrawal she wanted, but she admitted to being impressed with McCain, a former US navy pilot who was shot down over Vietnam and spent almost six years as a prisoner of war. She was even more impressed when, a few days later, her telephone rang and the senator himself was on the line.

“He said he wanted to express his appreciation for my brother’s service in person,” she said. “So I invited him to dinner, and he asked if he could bring his son.”

Jimmy McCain is in one sense the black sheep of the McCain family. His grandfather and great-grandfather were both US navy admirals. His father and older brother Jack also attended the US navy academy at Annapo-lis.

Yet Jimmy turned his back on the officer class. He enlisted as a Marine Corps “grunt”, graduated from boot camp as an ordinary rifleman and would later be promoted in the field to lance-corporal.

Presuming that McCain would want media present for such an unusual evening, Flanagan offered to open her home to film crews. It is almost impossible to imagine any of the other 2008 candidates turning down the opportunity for sympathetic media coverage, but McCain told Flanagan he was bringing no reporters. This was to be a private occasion.

Honestly, I knew McCain had a son in the military. But I did not know he was a) a Marine grunt and b) in Iraq. And the fact that I didn't know this illuminates Sen. McCain's noble restraint from shabbily transforming his son's service into crude political capital.

Here are the McCains from 1999. Jimmy is the one in glasses in front of mom:

And today, Lance Corporal Jim McCain returns from his seven month tour of duty in Iraq:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who almost always refuses to speak on the campaign trail about his son serving in the military, got a rousing reception Wednesday when he told a private gathering of House Republican congressman that his son Jimmy — whose Marine unit had been deployed to Iraq — had arrived home from safely.

Welcome home.

UPDATE: Welcome, Ace pals. Here's an interview with McCain's other son, Midshipman Jack McCain. Here's a pic of the brothers right before Jimmy shipped out to Iraq:

Comments

[eddiebear]

God speed, LCPL McCain

[kevlarchick]

Hmmmm....

Thank you Cuffy for posting this. My dad, a Navy vet in his 70s, loves McCain. Thinks he'll be a mean muthaf... if/when he gets elected.

[pajama momma]

So, can I vote for his son instead?

[cranky]

My vote for McCain was going to be grudging. It became less grudging after reading this story. I had no idea he had children that young or that one had served in the Iraq and that another son may one day serve there.

[Cuffy Meigs]

cranky, that's the same thing I was thinking. Slooooowly. Coming. Around.

[Ron S.]

"I had no idea he had children that young or that one had served in the Iraq and that another son may one day serve there."
(cranky)

And they certainly won't have to worry about seeing the Bush twins over there.