MORT’s meanderings

John McCain:  Put a sock in it.

First, let me state that no one has more respect for Naval Aviation and fighter pilots in particular than I do.  My brief Navy career was spent in training to become an Aviation Ordnanceman / Combat Aircrewman on a Lockheed PV-1 twin-engine, land-based patrol bomber.  And it goes without saying that John McCain’s surviving 5-years of torture at the hands of the most inhumane treatment by Vietnamese prison guards at the Hanoi Hilton, commands the highest degree of respect possible.

Beyond that respect for this man and his family history of impeccable service as ranking officers in the U. S. Navy, there is the respect due him as a result of his service as an elected representative of the State of Arizona. That is an awful lot of outstanding accomplishment to be taken into account when evaluating this man’s positive activities.

All that said, young John McCain was a pretty rambunctious lad while at the U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, MD and continued his own path as a junior officer and pilot.  And, as later, a seasoned public servant, including his run for the Presidency, he often bucked the tide and invariably did things his way.  There is no argument from me, regarding his patriotism or his love of country.  

Taking all the above into account, I find it astonishing that following a first-contact, one-on-one telephone conversation between our newly-elected President Donald Trump and the Prime Minister of Australia, John McCain should take it upon himself to contact the Ambassador of Australia to the United States, and apologize for the President’s message and tone.  With no other authority than that of a sitting U. S. Senator, which is significant but outside established protocol of traditional diplomatic communication, Sen. McCain gave an unauthorized, unofficial apology to a representative of one of our close allies that could understandably be inferred as an official apology.  This is not the act of a rambunctious young lad, it is in my assessment, a terribly injurious act totally at odds with the actions of our President, by a U. S. Senator who should know better.   That ain’t good.

                                                                             MORT KUFF © 2-3-2017