What that service does not do is give McCain a pass for all of the harm he's done since then.
Oh, I absolutely agree with that.
I’ve brought that up several times over the years in different contexts. For example, when some old guy is robbed and they make note of his WWII veteran status. His status as a vet has nothing to do with his being robbed—unless he was leaving the VFW hall or something.
I know there are a lot of vets and retired military on FR. But there are also a lot of folks who would like to think they know how they would react to a similar situation as McCain’s. They are wrong. Unless they have been in that situation, it is impossible to know how you are going to act.
Now...after he is home and he starts his political career, then he is a politician. Everything from that point forward is on the table.
McCain might have been near the bottom of his class, but he is smart enough to know if he was truly a traitor in Hanoi, in front of all of those men...it political career would be a non starter.