McCain Chides America for Being Hippies

John McCain spent day three of his "Service to America" tour much like he didday two : by telling everyone younger than him that they're a bunch of lazy sallies. He went to Annapolis and its Naval Academy, where he graduated like last in his class. He said "too few Americans live up to their civic responsibilities and challenged them to do more to serve their community and country." Then he listed all the trouble he caused as a young midshipman whose father and grandfather were both admirals. He also forgot an entire page of his prepared remarks, because he is too old to read.

During his 15-minute speech, plagued by a balky prompting device that caused him to omit one page of his prepared remarks, McCain joked about his rebellious years at the Naval Academy, from which he graduated near the bottom of his class.

"By my reckoning, at the end of my second class year ... I had marched enough extra duty to take me to Baltimore and back 17 times -- which, if not a record, certainly ranks somewhere very near the top," he remarked.

"Baltimore" is where troubled midshipman go to buy heroin, according to local lore.

 McCain credits lessons learned at Naval Academy [Baltimore Sun]