Sunday, July 13, 2008

What does Sen. McCain changing the football team in his POW story indicate?

While being interviewed by Pittsburgh TV station KDKA John McCain repeated a story that he has told many times before about what he did while being interrogated by his captors. When asked for the names of his squadron mates he recited the names of pro football players instead of the men in his unit. Every time he has told this story in the past the football players in the story are the offensive line of the Green Bay Packers. This time however he claimed that he named the defensive line of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Steelers were 4-9-1 the year he was captured. They didn't become a dynasty or have a defensive line that anyone outside of western PA cared to know the names of until the mid 70's. McCain was home by 1973.

So, what does this mean?
Is this a harmless mistake?
Is he pandering to Pennsylvania voters?
Is his memory that bad that he forgot a key detail of the experience that we are constantly told defines the man?

Rachel Maddow and Richard Wolffe discuss this on Friday's Countdown.

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