I don't understand: If McCain has PTSD, and jangling keys is "mean," isn't the larger issue...

[DRoseDARs]

...the fact that his supposed PTSD probably makes him unfit for the presidency? Or is McCain not unlike the mentally handicapped kid everyone in school feels bad for, so they encourage him to put his name on the ballot for class president out of pity (patronizing in and of itself) and no one dares point out that the fact that he only has the vaguest grasp of concepts and often can't control his outbursts because, you know, that would be mean? Either is certainly free to participate in an election without hindrance, but only one of them is going to be in a position to cause damage as PotUS. Are the people bitching about those stupid keys really just inadvertently giving McCain something else to use an excuse for everything alongside his POW status? Do we get forward to listen to him pull out "PTSD" as well as "POW" every time he gaffes or whenever someone questions his voting history (or lack thereof considering his truancy of late)?

Flame away, but the question remains: Should we point out and make light of his many homes, making him out of touch with most voters, or should we point out his PTSD, making him out of touch with anyone who should be near the Oval Office?

[kath]

1. don't try to be logical. The emotive crowd is all worked up here, and

trying to use reason only makes 'em worse...

[elehhhhna]

23. If we don't jangle, how do we know Putin or whoever won't?

Lets find out NOW.

[KittyWampus]

2. exactly. any attempt by the Media/GOP would simply mean bringing up the subject

of PTSD, which KARL ROVE USED IN 2000!

So were McCain's strategists who work with him now lying about him back then in 2000 about the PTSD?

If they were, why does he have them working for him now?

[C_U_L8R]

3. Shhhhhhh. You'll wake Johnnie from his nap

[Joe the Revelator]

4. A. He already released the fact about the keys in his medical report

There is no mention of "PTSD" just that the sound of keys remind him of his captors

B. The GOP and in turn the MSM will never mention "PTSD", just the fact that Democrats are making light of McCains POW situation

C. You're giving the MSM too much confidence that they will report the real story and not the GOP talking points.

[KittyWampus]

5. you forget Rove & minions already attacked McCain as having PTSD in 2000. And those same minions

are now working for McCain.

[liberalmuse]

6. I don't believe he is mentally fit to be President.

Don't you have to pass a psychological test? I don't think McCain could. If he does have PTSD, then there is no way in hell he should be allowed to run for President. And what's this about the keys? I say jangle the hell out of them. If he freaks out because of PTSD, HE IS NOT FIT TO BE PRESIDENT, and I guess the GOP will have to run some other pro-corporate, out-of-touch idiot puppet.

[TheDebbieDee]

7. "PTSD probably makes him unfit for the presidency?"

Bingo!

[LisaM]

8. What happens if he goes to a college football game?

I don't know about other schoos, but at Michigan, a lot of people jangle their keys for "key plays" and have done so for years. I'm sure this must happen at other places too.

[Egnever]

9. Absolutely right

we cant lose with this. It is a catch 22 for mcsame. If he cries that it scares him he is unfit for office. If he doesnt go that route he still is out of touch.

He cant go the PTSD route its a third rail for him. If he uses it he loses plain and simple. We might look bad for a week but the cat will be out of the bag for the rest of the election.

No one is going to put a man in office that can become unglued by keys jangling.

[K8-EEE]

10. Don't like the keys thing -- seems like a GOP stunt

Like the "purple heart" bandaids....I think it's vulgar, I'm not in with it!

[golddigger]

11. Stop it!!! You're making to much sense!

[burythehatchet]

16. Let's try again, the purple band-aids were an attempt to minimize a positive attribute

about our candidate. The keys represent a REAL concern. Are we going to ask Putin to sequester his keys during negotiations lest he trigger a flip-out by the Homeowner-in-chief? Please use some common sense. This debate needs to take place; is the man mentally fit? The answer is NO.

[Brotherjohn]

20. The debate DOES need to take place, but this won't make it happen.

Near as I can tell from what I've read, a biography written a long time ago said McCain got anxious when he heard keys. That's as much evidence as this idea brings up as to whether he was affected in a lasting way by the war. That's not much.

And that's as far as the press will take it, other than to go on for weeks about "how low can the Dems go".

It ain't a fair world, and the media ain't fair. They will NOT use this as an excuse to open a debate about McCain's mental status. They will use it as an excuse to criticize dems and further "tighten" the race.

[Gregorian]

12. I don't think so. It's too late for that. He has proven that it isn't a problem.

No, I don't support McCain. He has already served a hell of a long time in Congress. This will never fly.

It's who he is on the issues that counts. Unless we find him in bed with a young boy, or his pet iguana.

Now IF ptsd were an issue, then we could use it. But it obviously isn't.

[corkhead]

13. TICK TOCK TICK TOCK

[Vinca]

14. Your post is exactly right. The issue isn't keys, it's PTSD.

If there is a concern that he'll go batshit crazy over jingling keys, that's the issue, not the houses and condos and jets. In any case, at the convention, how about stickers that say, "How many houses do you own?" or something like that?

[WeDidIt]

15. But it's MORE IMPORTANT to be NICE

than to keep somebody who may freak the FUCK OUT when Vladmir Putin jangles his keys, causing a nuclear war, from being president.

Now excuse me, we're going to be nice and pass THESE out to Delegates at the convention to reflect our TRUE NICE NATURE!

[backscatter712]

17. So put the keys away and bring up McCain's unfitness for President.

The key-jangling thing is merely an example. There's plenty of other examples, such as multiple reported incidents of misogynism (calling Cindy a c-word, asking (referring to Hillary) "How do we defeat that b****?"), etc. etc. etc.

[Brotherjohn]

18. I changed my mind on this once I found out it's a direct reference to his P.O.W. stint.

I completely agree if he has PTSD to such an extent that jangling keys make him lose it, he's unfit to be prez. But this stunt will neither prove that nor be perceived in that way.

If Dems do this enough to get the press's attention, people here are saying it's "win-win" and that there are two scenarios, either of which are good for us. But let's look at the two scenarios:

A) McCain loses it. Proves he's unfit to be president.

Does anyone here REALLY believe that's going to happen?

B) McCain keeps his cool, and we get to further hammer home the point, in a humorous way, that he's out of touch with real people because of the house thing.

Well, hammering home a point is great. Yes, we would do that. It's a good point to be made, and based on his own words. But if we go on to make that point IN THAT WAY, that's not all that's going to happen.

What's going to happen is McCain will keep his cool, and say something to the effect of "it's silly" (more likely he won't address it at all). His surrogates will then go on air 24/7 saying "how dare they stoop so low as to dishonor Sen. McCain's P.O.W. stint with such a stunt!" The press will go on right up to the election about the "low blow" stunt that Democrats pulled, belittling poor wittle Johnnie's great and wondrous service to our country at their convention.

Yes, McCain and Co. are crybabies.

Yes, such a stunt would in a fair world be fine and dandy given the purple bandaids of 2004.

Yes, it's a fair question as to whether McCain's Viet Nam experience has left him mentaly unfit to be president.

But NO, that question will not be answered by this stunt, and the perceived "win" of revealing him to be unfit for president will simply NOT happen. Just because McCain or his surrogates say this is a low blow doesn't prove he has PTSD, or prove such a stunt would rattle him, or prove anything about his fitness for office. The press won't even take it far enough to seriously discuss that issue.

This will come off as Democrats accusing McCain of being "crazy", with no evidence, and in a way that is in poor taste.

The only "win" out of it has already been accomplished, by McCain's own house situation and his response to it. This is not a wise way to hammer home that point. He is hanging himself, and will surely continue to do so with other such statements.

[zbdent]

19. another thread pointed out that, in 2000, McCain released his medical records

saying that he had a clean bill of health, INCLUDING MENTAL ...

So, what happened to his mental state then, that the keys really hurt?

Wasn't there a Democrat who was tossed under the bus in the 70s because he had mental issues? And the Repukes lapped that up ...

[Brotherjohn]

21. But the concern (mine, anyway) is not that they'd see it as risking flipping out poor Johnnie.

That's not how the right, or the media, will portray it. They will simply approach it as a joke in poor taste, and one that detracts from the point it's trying to make.

They won't even humor the idea that it might render him unstable. At most, some in the press might bring up the story that such a sound was said to make him nervous due to an experience as a P.O.W. But that is hardly enough to make most people think he's unfit to be president. Sure, WE will all view it that way, but we see all of the many wacko statements he makes and view them in that light. But most Americans will see it as a low blow.

And the press will certainly portray it that way. And they DAMN sure will not use it as a launching point for a thorough investigation into McCain's mental fitness.

I mean, do you really think they would?

[CampDem]

22. A large percentage of our returning veterens have PTSD

Does that make them unfit to work? McCain is unfit because is an ass, not because of PTSD. Fox would love to show video of courageous men and women with PTSD triggers and symptoms and marry this to McCain. They will not buy that the keys were to mock his 7 homes and only Keith and Rachel will say this. M$M will show what they are ordered to show by their corporate masters. They will repeat over and over that the liberals are making fun of the POW. They love to marry us to communists, terrorists and define us readily as unpatriotic every chance they get. They would jump at the chance to equate us with prison guards jangling our keys.

[FogerRox]

24. All my Vietnam vet pals say he is unfit, I agree.

President Putin of Germany ?