Critics of the politics of McCain and Murtha are not deriding their service or suffering.
We are however, weary of their acting as though their service renders their political views as being immune to all criticism or disagreement.
If somebody waves his medals in my face and says STFU, I'll just wave mine back and say UYA.
Oh, I'm sorry. Maybe I misread the post I was responding to, 'cause it said:
Unlike McCain, Sam Johnson is a former Vietnam POW with guts, honor, and love of his country!
Here is the post I was responding to, which implied that McCain was a POW without guts, honor, or love of his country. Nothing in that statement is correct and I don't see any reference to his politics, either.
John McCain spent years getting beat upon by his captors and he spent years risking his life flying off ships. Flying A-4s to a target surrounded by AAA and SAMs to deliver iron bombs takes guts. If you've ever seen the film of the fire on the USS Forrestal then you probably saw him running through flames. Excuse me, that takes guts.
If you haven't been a POW or haven't been a Naval Aviator, then you don't have any experience with which to make such a statement.