Left-wing talker: McCain 'very friendly' with captors

Left-wing radio talk show host Randi Rhodes attacked GOP presidential nominee John McCain's life story, claiming that during his POW captivity in North Vietnam he was "well-treated, actually" and that despite his claims of suffering brutal torture, his wife "knows the truth too."

Rhodes' radio program is syndicated on Nova M Radio, which also operates a radio station in McCain's home state of Arizona and calls itself "the future of Progressive Talk."

Her comments, made earlier this month, claim that McCain was "very friendly with the Vietnamese" and that "they called him the Prince." She claims he was well-treated by his captors because he traded propaganda interviews for good treatment.

Blogger Brian Maloney of The Radio Equalizer captured her comments and made from them a YouTube video, which you can see below:

Rhodes concludes her remarks by claiming that national Republican figures continue to tell a story contrary to her version of the events and that McCain's wife limits herself to saying only "I think what my husband did in Vietnam was heroic" because, according to Rhodes, Cindy McCain knows that her husband's story is exaggerated.

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Rhodes' version of McCain's imprisonment and description of it as being "well-treated" seems difficult to reconcile with McCain's version of the events.

In his autobiographical account, "Faith of My Fathers," McCain describes having his shoulder broken with the butt of a rifle, being stabbed in the groin with a bayonet, being refused medical treatment for multiple broken bones and attempting suicide to escape the pain.

"They cracked several of my ribs and broke a couple of teeth," wrote McCain. "Weakened by beatings and dysentery, with my right leg again almost useless, I found it impossible to stand.

"On the third night I lay in my blood and waste, so tired and hurt that I could not move. Three guards lifted me to my feet and gave me the worst beating yet. They left me lying on the floor moaning from the stabbing pain in my re-fractured arm."

Rhodes' Nova M Radio website describes her as "the #1 Progressive Talk host in the nation" and claims, "Randi is impeccably researched and infectiously funny; she pulls no punches and never fails to both enlighten and entertain."

A former host on the nationwide counter to conservative talk radio known as Air America, Rhodes lost her position in April after an expletive-filled rant against Democratic politicians Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton.

Rhodes also stirred controversy when she urged looting in the hurricane-devastated Gulf Coast and threatened the life of President Bush on air.

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Previous stories:

Radio host urges poor to loot

Randi Rhodes: Repeat offender

Air America radio host: Punish me if I broke law

Air America probed after Bush 'gunshots'

Obama oops: War injuries prevent McCain from e-mailing