Then his crashing plane set the U.S.S. Forrestal on fire, killing 134 sailors.

To be fair, that wasn't his fault. Another plane fired a rocket through his own plane, which blew gas all over and then his own bombs fell into the hold of the ship. Not something that could be controlled for.

His reaction to it? Not something to be proud of. But I wouldn't blame him for the original accident, at least not based on what the RS article said.

I did find the statements by the other POWs pretty compelling: that one of the reasons McCain didn't come home with the other prisoners is that he would have had to testify against the US, and that was a court-martial offense. Also, by that point he was getting much better treatment, anyway.

To be fair, that wasn't his fault.

That's true, but I couldn't help suspecting his flying skills might have contributed, given his record.

The article does confirm my experience with serious illness; if you're a jerk and you suffer a lot, usually you're still a jerk afterwards.

Then his crashing plane set the U.S.S. Forrestal on fire

Um, no. A missile being loaded onto an aircraft accidentally went off. It struck another aircraft on deck, parked off to one side, either waiting to be towed to the catapault or being parked after coming back. That plane was, I believe, McCain's. They have pictures of him climbing out of the cockpit and scrambling over his and a couple other planes to get away from the fire. He barely missed being blown up by the bombs and ammo cooking off. He may be a rotten pilot, but he did not cause the fire on the Forrestal.

ETA: X-posty goodness.

I yelled at my TV, why is the INFANT being carried out at 10:30 PM!?!?

If they flew straight in from Alaska, it'd only be 6:30 infant-time.

The family thing really, really backfired on her, didn't it.

What was the family thing?

I had to stop listening after they both answered a question about what they do would if the president died. Biden was so good. He had the rhetoric (in a good way... the building of the argument way) down. He had awesome repetition. He was clear and cohesive. And she wasn't bad. Just watch from the hall. Which was hard to do because I was driving and there was no hallway.

So, what do you all think overall? My internet is powered (almost literally) by dyspeptic hamsters on water wheels, so I'm trying to poke around for impressions.

When she was like, "I have a family! I understand what it's like!" And he was like, "Bitch, please. When my wife and daughter died, I was a single parent, and didn't know how I was going to make. I understand trouble."

Were they responding to a question on relating to Joanna Americanus Averagus?

Jesse, I may have a girlcrush on you right now.

Good lord. She actually is at her after-debate rally doing the "USA! USA!" thing.