One 1973 John McCain Photo and Blunt Disgrace

The interview where he swapped the Steelers and Packers got headlines this week.
Considering what all Ron Reagan misremembered, McCain's gaffe hardly seems to be indictable.

This photo, however, is another matter altogether.
Here is healthy, smiling John McCain doing his homecoming routine in 1973.

So what happens in 1980 when he gets out of the Navy ?
For starts, McCain gets a disability that now pays him $58,000 a year tax free.
This for two claimed major disabilities connected to his service in Vietnam.

1. His right knee was "shattered" as he was ejected from his A-4 fighter/bomber

2. He was not able to raise his arms and he lacks full use of both  hands

Really ?
McCain has released his Navy medical records.
The "shattered knee" claim just doesn't make sense. NO INTERIOR SURGERY.
Where's any evidence showing more than a normally-mended cracked knee cap ?

More below the fold.

There is a world of difference between a shattered knee and a cracked knee cap.
Break anything important inside a knee and it has to be immobilized.

Putting weight on an injured knee -- that's Tiger Woods territory.
Not for ordinary mortals.
And even for Woods, not something anyone can do smiling ear-to-ear and high-fiving the audience.

This is the photo that keeps giving and giving.

The crutches in the background belonged to Carol McCain.
That's the gal on the left.
First wife.
She had been trashed in a car wreck. Thrown through the windshield.
One leg is shorter than the other by an inch.
She still needs help walking.
She's also still dependent on McCain to cover her health care, outside the legal requirements from their divorce.
UNDER HIS THUMB, YEAH....

The L.A. Times piece out last week covers all this in detail.
That piece has gotten its share of diaries, here at DK.
I added my two-cents worth, mainly in line that Nancy Reagan dearly loves Carol McCain.

My bitch is with the disability claims and rating.
I took wide-open, unlimited V.A. medical care for my injuries.
No disability check, because I didn't need it.
Still was in V.A. getting major surgery 15 years after my tour ended.
I'm O.K. now. But never took a dime from disability.

This SOB is getting $58,000 a year for a "shattered knee" that wasn't shattered and for two crippled arms, where one crippled arm is the fact of the matter.
A broken knee cap and one bum shoulder ain't worth $58,000 a year forever.

BTW: please, please, please save this issue until after McCain is safely nominated.
Preferably till October.
But do plan ahead.
The GOP is all set to nominate one more generally dumb, blind ambition liar.
They deserve this man.

Come October, SURPRISE !!