by Ted Sherman

Created on: January 22, 2008   Last Updated: March 19, 2008

Of course he's picking up steam, not that he didn't have enough personal commitment and courage before the recent primaries to make it all the way to the White House on his super-charged personal energy. Senator (Rear Admiral, retired) John McCain is certainly the best candidate on the current slate. Not that he has much competition when it comes to personal courage, government experience and ability to go beyond party lines to do what he believes is right for America.

As I've written on these pages before, I'm solidly behind McCain's candidacy not a little bit because I'm also ex-Navy. We served on the same aircraft carrier he did, although his service on the USS Oriskany was nearly 20 years later than mine. But way beyond my own feelings, the man's best qualification is his character of strength, honed when he was graduated from the Naval Academy and qualified as a highly-skilled fighter pilot. He showed his ultimate courage when he suffered through five terrible years as a POW. Although the son of the admiral commanding the US Pacific Fleet at the time, McCain refused to be released before other POWs, and braved out two more painful years in order to stay behind in the brutal prison to do everything possible to protect his suffering fellow Americans.

At the same time, Bill Clinton was weaseling out of service by fleeing to England and making anti-American speeches, and George W. Bush was sneaking out of his National Guard duty with the help of his father's political influence. Years later, it was George W's father and other money-heavy Republican fat cats who schemed and plotted to ruin McCain's chances to earn the Republican nomination he so rightly deserved in 2000. Which of today's Presidential candidates can come within miles of the qualities of John McCain?

Who deserves the Presidency more than John McCain? Hillary? Obama? Huckabee? Giuliani? Can you name any other political hacks, Republican or Democrat, who are stumping the primaries spouting all their false promises who possess the qualities of John McCain? He has always been a maverick Republican, which has cost him the kind of questionable financial support many of the more flexible candidates from both parties have accepted.

His outspoken independence frightens the big wigs on both sides of the political fence. We can hope the American public will recognize that attribute and wake up to the qualities of this admirable man. His strength of character makes him the absolutely best candidate to rise above political parties and lead America out of the terrible internal and international messes caused by the corrupt and inept leadership we've endured for the past 20 years.

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