Politicians say a lot of things to get elected, so maybe this isn't that surprising, but John McCain seemed to be stretching the truth at the least when he spoke to reporters in Pittsburgh on Wednesday.McCain told Pittsburgh TV station KDKA that he recited the names of the Steelers defensive linemen when he was asked under interrogation for the name of his squadron mates.
"When I was first interrogated and really had to give some information because of the physical pressures that were on me, I named the starting lineup -- defensive line -- of the Pittsburgh Steelers as my squadron-mates!"It's a great story, and something that may help him pull in votes in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, but it's almost assuredly untrue. If you're picturing McCain naming Mean Joe Greene, Dwight White, Ernie Holmes and L.C. Greenwood, you'd be off by about six years. McCain was shot down in 1967, two years before Chuck Noll was hired, and two years before Greene was drafted. The Steel Curtain wasn't the Steel Curtain until 1972 and Franco's Immaculate Reception.When McCain was shot down, the Steelers were one of the worst teams in the NFL, in a stretch of six straight losing seasons. When McCain became a prisoner of war, the Steelers front four consisted of Ken Kortas, Chuck Hinton, Ben McGee and Lloyd Voss--I can only tell you that because I looked it up. Be honest, can anyone out there say they could have named those four without checking the Internet?
McCain isn't a native Pittsburgher, and since he was an officer in the Navy serving in squadrons after his graduation from Annapolis in 1958, he was bouncing around the world on different assignments. At the time, you would have had to be a pretty diehard Steeler fan living in Pittsburgh to have been able to name the Steelers front four. As a navy man stationed on aircraft carriers around the world, McCain would have been fortunate to have ever seen the mid-60s Steelers play a game--they weren't exactly a big TV draw.
If McCain had said he had named off the Packers, Cowboys or Giants defensive lines, that would make some sense. But saying he recited the Steelers defensive line may have sounded good because he was in Pittsburgh, but it seems nearly impossible.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
7-11-2008 @ 8:42AM
cian said...
he could have been talking about the ernie staunter days... ernie was prolly the greatest pre-steel curtain steeler and certainly the most recognizable. off the top of my head, i don't know who played on the line with ernie
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8-18-2008 @ 5:18PM
Spanky1 said...
So you're saying you remember 1 steelerm and can't even remember the rest... and you are probably the only poster to remember even him and are probably a Steeler afficionado, so what makes you think McCain knew the lineup ? Right . He's a big liar and the press just lets him skate on through as usual. Haven't heard a thing about on mainstream TV.
7-11-2008 @ 8:49AM
Chris F. said...
Sounds like he is doing what politicians typically do.
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7-11-2008 @ 9:54AM
cdh said...
It's not an issue of which line he was mentioning, or whether he would have known since he wasn't from Pittsburgh... it's that he's just plain reversing himself.
McCain in fact named the starting lineup of the Green Bay Packers, and has stated such numerous times.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/07/in-pennsylvania.html
It's such a bad pander i'm confused why he thinks he can get away with it.
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7-11-2008 @ 2:10PM
Richard said...
That's just staggering.
If he gets interviewed by WFLA (Tampa) look for McCain to say he named the Bucs front 4. That would be the Buccaneers who were founded in 1976.
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7-11-2008 @ 5:08PM
la plus ca change said...
The most unfortunate thing about this matter is how it illustrates how impossible it has become for a candidate for office say anything at all in a casual manner because every word is dissected, examined and evaluated.
Light-hearted? Fugedaboutit.
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7-11-2008 @ 8:24PM
Steve McPherson said...
Unfrigging believable. This guy is unreal. A typical politician and total hypocrite. I would expect this from Bill Clinton. I knew there was a reason I wasn't going to vote for this guy. Not to mention his main economic adviser calling Americans whiners for being down about the economy.
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7-11-2008 @ 9:25PM
Xena said...
This isn't a "casual" comment--it's a lie. Or else a major memory malfunction, like forgetting the story of how you met your spouse. He's also "forgotten" that he was still living with his first wife when he was dating the current Mrs. McCain.
He's a liar.
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7-12-2008 @ 3:10PM
Ironside said...
It shows what little he knows about computers and the internet(s). What a sham. BUSTED!
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7-12-2008 @ 6:05AM
shick said...
Of course, it’s untrue, and the sleezyist kind of pandering, This is frightening to me, because this person is running for President, and to blatantly lie like that to Pittsburghers; to assume that they are not smart enough to notice, shows not only a complete lack of authenticity, integrity, and judgment, but also draws a serious psychiatric eye.
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7-13-2008 @ 10:46PM
Don Davis said...
Pittsburgh Steelers Give Name of ‘John McCain’ to Avoid Trouble
http://satiricalpolitical.com/?p=2005
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7-12-2008 @ 2:44PM
DfromFL said...
How is this any different from Hillary Clinton dogding sniper fire in Bosnia?
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7-16-2008 @ 1:37PM
Rickerus said...
It's not different at all - they were both outright lies. I haven't read all of the comments here, but I read a few and didn't see any that pointed out that he wrote it was the Packers in his book. So you didn't even need to speculate that it was a lie, he outright contradicted himself, and not in one of those absent minded kind of ways. This is a full on "sniper fire" lie.
7-12-2008 @ 3:36PM
Jim said...
Seems a lot about nothing. Grow up people.
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7-13-2008 @ 6:25PM
Rick said...
I have always heard that if you will lie about the little things, you will lie to others when it matters most. John McCain is just as dishonest as George Bush. Why anyone would believe him is beyond me, he's getting caught in lie after lie, but half of the American public are turning a blind eye to McCain's shameful dishonesty.
We cannot afford 4 more years of this kind of politics. McCain will not serve us, only his own agenda covered by lies.
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7-13-2008 @ 6:16AM
WALTER said...
What if he really believes his story?
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7-13-2008 @ 9:58AM
Don Burton said...
Why is this any different than any other election when we all go vote for who we hate least. One guy was in a state legislature for 146 days and single handedly did miracles and the other was in government for 30 plus years and accomplished less than a mid- manager of a small company has to in an afternoon. There will not be good government until non lawyers get elected.Is there no way to get good people to run or will we always have to choose between 2 who are not.
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7-15-2008 @ 2:23PM
Duke said...
Saying its not a big deal when McCain lies (over and over again) because he's a politician and all politicians do it is a pretty scarry and stupid argument. Have our standards for men (and women) in politics fallen so low that they can basically get away with saying and doing anything because its regarded as standard course?
Should our reaction then to Tim Donoughy, or any other ref that is caught cheating, be that its no big deal because all the refs do it? (That's a rhetorical question)
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7-23-2008 @ 4:30PM
Mark said...
I think the biggest thing to worry about in this case is that once he said the Packers and now he said Pittsburgh, but what if he really isn't sure? Maybe he doesn't remember writing that in his book? "Darnit now what did I do with those missile launch codes?"
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8-16-2008 @ 2:18PM
Linton said...
Maybe it's an age thing, fuzzy mind etc. Sounds like a man who will say anything to get your vote. Great job noticing the gaffe, it would have made it to CNN if HRC or Obama had made it.
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