[River_Wrangler]

A war heroic aside, John McCain is not the end all to military issues. His unbending, snarly, angry disposition should make voters leery of having this man in total charge of our country

Why is he a "war hero"?

A hero is someone who deliberately steps into harms way for the benefit of others. McCain screwed up. Lost a multimillion dollar airplane and was put in a POW prison. I feel sorry that he was captured,injured and held against his will, but that does not make him a "Hero". Think firefighter in a burning building to rescue a child. That is a voluntary action.Ergo;Hero.

[CedarDave]

Lost a multimillion dollar airplane and was put in a POW prison. I feel sorry that he was captured,injured and held against his will, but that does not make him a "Hero".

Don't forget McCain's trashing of the Swift boaters, calling them "dishonest and dishonorable" for their telling the truth about Kerry's record.

[Marie2]

Re: Why is he a hero, I understand he had the opportunity to leave the Hanoi Hilton and refused to leave his comrades. He ended up enjoying the “hospitality” for a couple more years. That is a hero to me, if true.

[Jeff Head]

The North Vietnamese offered to release him early as a publicity stunt...and McCain refused insisting that those there the longest be released first. If that is true, that was a heroic action and I applaud him for it.

He was tortured, he was beaten, he suffered extreme deprevation for his country. I respect him for that.

But as a politicians I find him wrong headed on any number of conservative issues, arrogant, snary, and ill tempered. In his personal life after the war and before his political career, he was a known carouser who was not true to his disabled wife. I find those to be serious character flaws.