...during the war were at least admirable, and at best heroic.  He refused to throw some of his fellow soldiers into harm's way, and as a result he chose to continue being tortured by the enemy.  Not every single decision McCain made through the Viet Nam war was heroic or even justifiable, but he gave up his body and a good deal of his sanity for his country in a way that 90% of our citizenry would never do.

Today, however, I no longer regard McCain's legacy as heroic.  As much service as he showed for his country and his ideals in the 1960's, his legacy should forever be overwhelmed by the astonishingly un-patriotic disservice to the country he performed in August, 2008 when he chose an unconscionably unqualified, ignorant, immature, megalomaniacal, dangerous extremist who he had (almost) never met to potentially be the next president.