So, McCain is a hero because he broke under interrogation by the North Vietnamese?

Well, what about all the guys who didn't break and lived up to "The Code"?

I just don't understand what makes John McCain so uniquely a hero when hundreds of other guys endured what he did without collaborating with the enemy - and they aren't asking to be elected to anything.

In fact, every time you bring up Veterans and their plight, you get a deaf ear from the republicans in Washington - especially from John McCain. He's actually voted against them. figure that one out!

dyed-in-the-wool rightwingers.

And even if his actions had been as heroic as a John Wayne movie, how does that make a good choice for president/

The truth is that all POWs can be broken through torture and MOST were broken.

I was assigned to document the return of Vietnam POWs in 1973 and the media were kept away from them until they were debriefed(a euphamism for telling them that the details of their captivity were a military secret and could not be devulged to the Press).

I applaud McCain for his honesty in this case.

What I do have a problem with is the fact that he tries to stuff this shit down our throats every fucking day - over and over again as if he's the only one who ever served his country - or was ever a prisoner.

I used to work with a guy who was a POW in WWII, and the Japanese really fucked with him - every bit as much- or more than the North Vietnamese did with prisoners in their time.

I never heard Bob ask for anything special even though he could hardly walk or stand up straight.

In fact I didn't know how truly evil the atrocities were that he had survived until I attended his funeral.

I wept - just like everyone else who was there to think that such a gentle, soft-spoken, generous man had endured so much suffering without ever saying a word about it. He was a hero.

I was just pointing out that prisoners can be broken much easier than folks believe(thanks to Hollywood).

I don't support McCain's blatant bragging about his captivity.