During the 2008 presidential campaign, Republican John McCain never missed an opportunity to remind us of his stay in the Hanoi Hilton, and thereby creating the impression that he was either fit for leadership because of his wartime experiences, or that America owed him a turn at the rudder in a sort of repayment for his sacrifice.
When John Kerry ran for president in 2000, his military service was smeared in ad hominum attacks by a partisan group known as SVBT. Later discredited, the smear campaign (funded by Republicans) was such an egregious example of character attack that it is now known by its own moniker; “swiftboating.”
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It needs to be pointed out that McCain graduated third last in his class at Annapolis, mostly due to a failure to conform to structure and follow orders. In McCain World, this is known as being a “maverick.” In the real world, it is known as being a “loose cannon.”
He was not a good pilot – he crashed three jet fighters during training before being shipped out to ‘Nam where he crashed a fourth.
He disobeyed a direct order to break off his mission, and as a result of that insubordination was shot down.
As a POW, McCain willingly co-operated so extensively with the North Vietnamese in exchange for favorable treatment over a three-year period that his fellow American prisoners gave him the derisive nickname “Songbird.”
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