There are many different types of courage.  John McCain, doubtless showed a goodly amount of physical courage when he was in the Hanoi Hilton - physical courage.  Although, there were many others going through the same horrible experience, many for longer and endured far worse treatment.  but one must keep in mind that he really didn't have any choice, other than to go over in the corner of his cell and die.  Some did that, most somehow survived.  Again, there was little choioce involved.  And I would be one of the first to say McCain showed great physical courage - I certainly would not have wanted to walk in those shoes, and I repsect those who have.   There is another kind of courage - moral courage.  The kind where, when others all around you are pressuring you to do something you think is wrong, when "everyone" else is doing or saying something you don't really believe, when you want to go another way, you do what you think is righ or best.  McCain probably used to have that.  It is clear he doesn't any more.  He wanted someone else for the VP job - pretty badly, and instead gave in to expediency and chose Palin.    John McCain and I graduated from the same school - separted by a few years, but not all that many now.  One of the heroes of that school was Matthew Fontaine Maury who said, simply; " When principle is involved, be deaf to expediency".  I think that is a very good saying for life.   It certainly works for me when I look at Guantanamo, Habeas Corpus, torture, Rendition and other heinous abrogations of our moral and institutional principles.  John McCain had a chance to really stand up for those - and, like his choice of Palin, didn't.  Somewhere along the way John McCain lost his courage - or maybe he really never had that kind of courage.  The courage to make the right decision when you actually have a choice.   Clint Holeman USNA'69