Liberty Reborn

Count on the LA Times to carry the Democrat’s water this election. Their latest is a piece by Ralph Vartabedian which is actually approaching the topic of just how healthy is John McCain if he is technically “disabled” according to the military.

Sen. John McCain has long said he is in robust health and is strong enough to hike the Grand Canyon, but he also is receiving what his staff Monday termed a “disability pension” from the Navy.

When McCain released his tax return for 2007 on Friday, he separately disclosed that he received a pension of $58,358 that was not listed as income on his return.

On Monday, McCain’s staff identified the retirement benefit as a “disability pension” and said that McCain “was retired as disabled because of his limited body movements due to injuries as a POW.”

McCain campaign strategist Mark Salter said Monday night that McCain was technically disabled. “Tortured for his country — that is how he acquired his disability,” Salter said.

Certain types of military and veterans pensions are either partially or completely tax-exempt, depending on the seriousness of the disability. In McCain’s case, the exemption is 100%.

If McCain had to pay taxes on the full amount of the pension, it would have increased his tax bill by about $18,000 based on the percentage of his income he paid to the federal government.

McCain spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war in Hanoi. After he was released in 1973, he returned home on crutches and began a painful physical rehabilitation. He later regained flight status and commanded a Navy squadron before retiring from the service in 1981.

McCain would be the oldest man to enter the White House if he is elected president, and questions have been raised about his health.

McCain has twice developed melanoma, a potentially deadly form of skin cancer.

The fact that he is legally designated with a disability pension may raise further questions.

So now the liberal media is not just going to attack his age, while not going after John “Our Marines are murderers” Murtha who is even older, but also questioning if he is capable of being Commander in Chief because he is “disabled”? What “questions” would this raise Mr. Vartabedian from legitimate, non-party hacks?

There is no doubt that McCain is disabled and his disability really has little to do with whether or not he can lead this country. What DOES have a lot to do with whether or not he can lead this country is his judgment, which is very poor if you ask me.

But this is the game plan for this election year – attack McCain’s age. So now the label “ageist” can be added to the all the other “ists” that commonly find themselves in the liberal movement right along side of “sexist”, “racist”, “communist”, “socialist” and “fascist”.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 24th, 2008 at 3:06 pm and is filed under J.J. Jackson's Daily Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.