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Pentagon Notebook: McPeak calls McCain too fat

By Rowan Scarborough (Contact) | Thursday, June 26, 2008

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Turns out the most senior retired general to back Sen. Barack Obama crossed paths with Sen. John McCain during their active-duty years.

Gen. Merrill A. McPeak, the Air Force chief of staff during 1991 Desert Storm, told The Washington Times he and Mr. McCain sat in the same National War College class of 1973-74. Mr. McCain, then a Navy commander, had been released by North Vietnam in March 1973 and arrived at the Fort McNair campus in July.

"We both graduated," Gen. McPeak said of what is considered a ticket-punching step up the ladder to higher rank.

Mr. McCain, a fighter pilot just like Gen. McPeak, was seeking to restart a military career after nearly six years of harsh treatment in North Vietnam.

"He was fresh out of jail, you know," Gen. McPeak said. "Skinny kid. All beat up of course, physically. But quite thin. They weren't feeding him very well in Hanoi. He's done very well at the dinner table in Washington."

Gen. McPeak also said Mr. McCain received special favors when he returned to the U.S.

"McCain was always kind of an exception," Gen. McPeak said.

When told about Gen. McPeak's comments, Mr. McCain's roommate in the Hanoi Hilton was not amused.

"Surely a four-star general can come up with something better than that," said Orson Swindle, a former Marine Corps pilot who, like Mr. McCain, was shot down over enemy territory. "It reeks of pettiness and sarcasm, and I can't imagine why he can make that kind of comment to imply that John McCain feasts at the Washington establishment."