Give The Man The Respect He Deserves

(After McCain lost, a friend of mine showed me a copy of a t-shirt with Obama dunking over McCain. Obama's crotch was in McCain's face, and McCain was waving a white flag of surrender. This was my response to that shirt.)

Hey:

Regarding the T shirt, its not so much that I find it offensive, its just that you have lectured me your whole life on what is offensive and the need to be sensitive to what others feel, and yet you are tone deaf to your own sentiment when it comes to the t- shirt.

Leaving me out of it, you heard from Robby that it was offensive, but I guess Robby does not count. He does not belong to the right group that is able to be or feel offended.

Even from your point of view, do you really want to stereotype the first black president by having him dunk a basketball in a white person's face? With his crotch in the face of the white person?

Is that the message you want to convey?

Now regarding McCain to have him wave the white flag of surrender is demeaning to the man. He devoted 50 years to public service. While he was a POW, he was offered early release, and refused. He was tortured and crippled. You talk about police brutality, this man was at the mercy of god knows how many Justin Volpe- types. He had no lawyer. He had a prison sentence with no end in sight. No right to appeal. No letters from home. No visitors.

When he was released, he was under 100 lbs. He was (and still is) crippled.

Somehow, he was able to take that broken life, filled with enough terror, horror and pain to break thousands of men, and pick himself up and go into public life. It could not have been easy. He could have faded into obscurity, a benign figure that we would wave to at a Veteran's Day Parade. But he was no quitter. He overcame obstacles that you and I can only imagine. Disagree with him politically, that is your right, and I disagree with him on numerous things.

But to have that man waving that flag.....it demeans the man.

And the man deserves everybody's respect.