John McCain’s Sons-Truth! But the Obama quote is Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
A story about John McCain visiting the New Hampshire home of Erin Flanagan, a mother whose son was killed in action in Iraq. McCain brought his own youngest son who is a Marine and was about to leave for service in Iraq. The eRumor says that McCain has two other sons, one of whom was a Navy pilot and the other is a student at the U.S. Naval Academy. It closes with a supposed quote from Barack Obama in which he says, “I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”
The Truth:
According to the New York Times, this story about John McCain’s sons and his visit with Erin Flanagan is true.
The alleged quote from Barack Obama at the end of the email saying that he would “stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction” is Fiction! It is a corruption of a quote about immigrants from his book. CLICK HERE for more about the quote.
The story about McCain, written by Jodi Kantor, was in the New York Times on April 6, 2008.
She describes how McCain visited with Erin Flanagan and brought his son James with him. James enlisted in the United States Marine Corps at the age of 17 and at the time of the Flanagan visit in July, 2007, had already served in Iraq and was scheduled to return with the rank of Lance Corporal.
The article says that McCain has maintained a code of silence about his son “to protect him from becoming a prize target and avoid exploiting his service for political gain, according to friends.” At the few campaign events where James McCain had attended, he was not introduced.
Kantor said that the McCain campaign had declined an interview for her article and that the campaign had asked that it not be published.
The information about McCain’s other two sons is also true. One of them was a pilot in the Navy and the other was a student at the U.S. Naval Academy at the time the article was published.
CLICK HERE for a link to Kantor’s article.
Updated 9/24/08
A real example of the eRumor as it has appeared on the Internet:
McCain’s Sons
Talk about putting your most valuable where your mouth is! Apparently this was not “newsworthy” enough for the media to comment about. Can either of the other presidential candidates truthfully come close to this? … Just a question for each of us to seek an answer, and not a statement.
You see…character is what’s shown when the public is not looking. There were no cameras or press invited to what you are about to read about, and the story comes from one person in New Hampshire.
One evening last July, Senator John McCain of Arizona arrived at the New Hampshire home of Erin Flanagan for sandwiches, chocolate-chip cookies and a heartfelt talk about Iraq. They had met at a presidential debate, when she asked the candidates what they would do to bring home American soldiers -soldiers like her brother, who had been killed in action a few months earlier.
Mr. McCain did not bring cameras or press. Instead, he brought his youngest son, James McCain, 19, then a private first class in the Marine Corps about to leave for Iraq. Father and son sat down to hear more about Ms. Flanagan’s brother Michael Cleary, a 24-year-old Army First Lieutenant killed by an ambush … a roadside bomb.
No one mentioned the obvious: In just days, Jimmy McCain could face similar perils. ‘I can’t imagine what it must have been like for them as they were coming to meet with a family that ……’ Ms. Flanagan recalled, choking up. ‘We lost a dear one,’ she finished.
Mr. McCain, now the presumptive Republican nominee, has staked his candidacy on the promise that American troops can bring stability to Iraq. What he almost never says is that one of them is his own son, who spent seven months patrolling Anbar Province and learned of his father’s New Hampshire victory in January while he was digging a stuck military vehicle out of the mud.
Two of Jimmy’s three older brothers went into the military. Doug McCain,
48, was a Navy pilot. Jack McCain, 21, is to graduate from the Naval Academy next year, raising the chances that his father, if elected, could become the first president since Dwight D. Eisenhower with a son at war.
I chose to share this with those who I believe will pass it on, to others who will pass it on. We hear so much inflated trash out there. How about a simple act of kindness … and dedication to others placed above oneself?
Has anybody heard if Barack Hussein Obama has served in The American Armed Services?
This is for all you Barack voters.
From Barack’s book, Audacity of Hope:
“I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”
HE DID NOT SAY STAND WITH AMERICANS!!!!!