If McCain had simply declared himself a Democrat 20 years ago, I don’t think we’d mind him as much. He’d have at least been honest about where he stands. It’s that he claimed to be a Republican while acting like a Democrat.
I don’t fault McCain for what he did or didn’t do in Hanoi. I leave that to those who were there with him.
I have an issue with everything he has done as a public figure since then. Like you said, I have more respect (which isn’t much at all anyway) for the Leftists who try to put the knife in your chest from the front, not a piece of crap like him who says he is on your side then puts it in from the back.