The survival instinct

During the 2000 election, Republican smear artists trying to stop the presidential campaign of John McCain spread rumours that the former POW was 8220;nuts8221; because he had been 8220;in the cage too long8221; 8212; in the Hanoi Hilton for five and a half years. The campaign decided to make public Captain now Senator McCain8217;s medical records, which showed that he had an enlarged prostate and trouble lifting his arms repeatedly broken in captivity, but had been judged perfectly sane by a series of navy psychiatrists who had tested him for years after his release from prison.

The details of those medical evaluations make you wonder why McCain is not stark raving mad today. Tortured repeatedly to extract a confession, McCain 8220;tried to hang himself X2 to avoid giving in,8221; reads the report of a psychiatrist at Jacksonville Naval Hospital in Florida who had interviewed McCain in 1973. 8220;Broke three teeth as a result of rocks in diet,8221; records another. Last week, as I read to McCain from these long-ago documents, he chimed in, 8220;And also a fist in the face a couple of times.8221; McCain was relaxing in a luxurious suite at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles, having just received the endorsement of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger the two made an odd couple 8212; the tanned, coifed, buff movie warrior and the pale, wispy-haired real one. His years in captivity were 8220;terrible,8221; McCain said, but, his voice gaining emphasis and urgency, he went on: 8220;In some ways, it was the most magnificent time, because of the courage and bravery of those I had the privilege of serving with.8221; He seemed to hear himself and quickly added: 8220;Veterans really hate war. I hope there8217;s no glorification of war in anything I8217;ve written or said.8221;8230; The lesson from war he learned 8212; the true faith of his fathers 8212; is that there are 8220;causes greater than self,8221; like country and freedom, worth dying for8230;

McCain, who clearly cannot stand Romney and vice versa, bridles at anyone or anything that impugns his honour, most sacred of military virtues. In rare weak moments, he can seem prickly, impetuous, vindictive 8212; the sort of military martinet whose finger is supposed to be kept far from the button. Yet he is endowed with self-knowledge and self-effacing dignity8230;

John McCain, 71, will be the oldest president ever elected if he goes on to win his party8217;s nomination and the White House in November. He has made a long, hard journey from being a 8220;rebel without a cause,8221; as he described himself to one of those Navy psychiatrists back in the 1970s, to a man who aspires to lead the nation and the world8230; He has found transcendence, if not exactly peace, through duty and suffering that most people can barely imagine.

Excerpted from an article by Even Thomas in the February 11 issue of Newsweek