Here, I think, are the proper tone and frame for the McNasty POW story:

[Jackpine Radical]

McCain supported Bush's veto of the anti-torture bill, thereby endorsing the use of torture even though he knows from his own tragic personal experience that torture can be used to extract false confessions, such as when the North Vietnamese tortured him into signing a statement that he was a war criminal.

This approach does two things simultaneously--it brings the discourse into current relevance, and it puts his "heroism" into context.

[VWolf]

1. It's certainly lose-lose for McCain - I like it

He has to choose between:
1) He's really a war criminal
2) Torture doesn't work

Of course, he'll choose either:
3) 9/11 changed everything
4) Shut up, you c**t!

[ForeignSpectator]

10. or 5)

"Shut up, you c**t, 9/11 changed everything!"

[mrreowwr_kittty]

2. That's what I think too

Of all his flip flops, the torture one is the worst. How could you ever support the use of torture, having been through it yourself?

[annabanana]

3. With you, Jackpine.. I have not heard enough mention of his refusal

to vote against B*sh's veto on that vote. That is the BIGGEST and most egregious of his many flip-flops.

It proves to me that he will say or do anything to get this office.

[Fleshdancer]

4. I agree....

I didn't understand McCain's position on this bill then, and I don't understand it now. My opinion of him was never all that great, but I honestly expected more from him on this issue.

[uppityperson]

5. That is good. Thank you. k&r

[1Hippiechick]

6. I like it - sort of like "Do you still beat your wife?" - Negative precedent - saying the same thing

repeatedly.

Copied from a blogger elsewhere re "Perception is Reality"
My introduction to the phrase “perception is reality” was in politics. I thought it referred to politicians and their supporters’ ability to tell half-truths and lies supporting their respective positions.

I heard this more during the Clinton years than at any other time. And why not? Clinton got away with more bullshit than any other adolescent, priapic, President in American history. **So, when the Clintonistas falsely recall that 1992 was the worst economy in 50 years people still believe it simply because Clintonistas got away with saying so for ten years.** The worst economy in 50 years actually occurred during Carter’s administration. Remember Carter's double-digit inflation and double-digit unemployment?

This has nothing to do with Clintonistas proving their premise thereby assuming any burden of proof, or proving their premise demonstrably, logically, or statistically accurate. **It simply has to do with sitting on what lawyers call the negative precedent. Clintonistas simply gain legitimacy by getting away with saying the same thing repeatedly. The burden of proof then slyly shifts to their opponents to prove their premise(s) false.**

Hence, people said when referring to politics throughout the 1990’s, that perception is reality. **If people perceive something true in politics then that is all that matters. It actually refers to the removal of any burden of proof by politicians postulating their opinions, or ideas.** Hopefully, people will be more probing in the future. Good luck.

[central scrutinizer]

7. By the Bushco definition of torture

McCain's experience may not qualify.

In the Justice Department's view -- contained in a 50-page document signed by Assistant Attorney General Jay S. Bybee and obtained by The Washington Post -- inflicting moderate or fleeting pain does not necessarily constitute torture. Torture, the memo says, "must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death."

[Jackpine Radical]

9. It doesn't matter. Grant them the torture.

Then turn it on them. There is a lot of controversy over what happened in North Vietnam. Here, for example:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/february2008/020708_never_tortured.htm

Top Cop Says McCain Was Never Tortured
Former Vietnam vet with top secret clearance - Republican frontrunner is "a lying skunk"

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Thursday, February 7th, 2008


A former Vietnam veteran with top secret clearance says he has personally spoken to numerous POW's who dispute John McCain's claim that he refused to provide information after he was captured and tortured in Hanoi, saying that in fact McCain's code-name was "Songbird" because of his willingness to tell all to avoid torture.

Jack McLamb served nine years in secret operations in Cambodia and other nations before going on to become one of the most highly decorated police officer's in Phoenix history, winning police officer of the year twice before taking a role as a hostage negotiator for the FBI.

"I know a lot of Vietnam veterans and a few POW's and all the POW's that I've talked to over the years say that John McCain is a lying skunk," McLamb told the Alex Jones Show.

And you can find lots more of that kind of stuff if you poke around the web. But let's not go there. You'll only provoke screaming denial and talking-head hissy fits.

I think it's more devastating and relevant to the present to concede the torture and then slam him for not having learned from it.

[gordianot]

8. In the forth coming Presidential debates, will he be asked "why" he now supports torture?

I strongly doubt that media pukes will give this too much attention given their short term memory. One can hope.