Although any such line of attack needs to be carefully crafted (McCain's behavior as a POW is admirable and he deserves a great deal of credit and respect for it) the fact is his military record outside of his time in prison was far from impressive. He lost five planes (some of them probably weren't his fault, but the fact is you'd be hard pressed to find too many other pilots who lost that many in that little time in combat), and he's been consistently described by those he served with as a reckless, poor pilot, who got atrocious marks in flight school and at Anapolis, who likely got by mostly on his father's position and reputation as an admiral. He served approximately 20 hours in combat and ended it by losing his fifth aircraft. He undoubtedly cost the U.S. war effort in Vietnam more than he contributed. His bravery and resilience as a POW are impressive, but they might not have been necessary if this unskilled child of privelege hadn't conned his way into the seat of a multi-million taxpayer-purchased aircraft in the first place. His military record does not speak of the kind of judgment one looks for in a Commander in Chief.