>> Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t he go back there not so long ago and give one of his VC captors a big hug ?
I could be wrong, too, but I don’t think he hugged his VC contemporaries.
The tale I heard (veracity unknown) was that there was one guard who was somewhat nice to him — loosened his bonds at the beginning of his shift, and tightened them again when he went off so he wouldn’t get in trouble. Supposedly, that was the ONLY “gook” that McCain said he ever wanted to see again. But, again, the veracity of this has not been established. See http://www.snopes.com/politics/mccain/gettingtoknow.asp
I do recall a mini-kerfuffle not that long ago when McCain called the VC “gooks”, the self-righteous media took him to task, and he refused to back down. Don’t have a link for that but it shouldn’t be that hard to find.
I think you’re right. Of course, if I was on my way to visit my former VC captors, hugging wouldn’t be my first choice, either. An ice pick and certain surgical operating instruments would be more my style. I hold a grudge a LONG time. :-)
IIRC, McCain at first was defiant about referring to the VC as “gooks” and then later backed down and said he wasn’t going to use the term anymore. It’s not very presidential to throw around racial and ethnic slurs, no matter what the justification.