He was on a campaign trip in Pittsburgh at the time.
This would not normally be particularly newsworthy, except for its implicit demonstration that torture does not work. However, there are two things very, very wrong with McCain's account: (1) he was held as a POW before the Steel Curtain defense achieved its fame and fortune; (2) he's told this story before, most notably in his book Faith of My Fathers, only using the Green Bay Packers defensive line.
Both versions of McCain's story cannot be true. At least the original version fits the chronology of the times: the Packers were the winners of the first two AFL-NFL championship games (known forever after as as "the Super Bowl"). Even a casual football fan of the period would have known the names of the Packers' defensive players.
The question becomes whether McCain knew he was lying when he revised his story--in Pittsburgh--to include the Steelers' players. If he knew and he did it anyway, he is guilty of the cheapest sort of political pandering. If he didn't know, he has memory problems approaching senility. Either way, he's not fit to be this nation's president. It doesn't matter whether it's a character flaw or a mental problem. It disqualifies him to be the one we voters select to have his finger on the nuclear button, among other things.
Now if he and his handlers start going around today and try to explain it away as his quirky sense of humor, and that he knew that we'd know that the story as he told it in Pittsburgh wasn't quite true, it changes nothing. For one thing, he never at the time by tone of voice or quick wink or any other gesture indicated this was all in fun. For another, even if he had, do we really want someone as president who takes the single most seminal experience of his life, a horrific one, and turns it into an inside joke? Especially when he's said for years he doesn't want to exploit his time and experiences as a POW for political purposes?
I think not. I hope not. But I'm not going to hold my breath.
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