I think it comes down to the sacrifice for the country that people recognise laterun. It is not that McCain is more heroic than the others who serve but having been beaten, tortured and never denouncing his country like many others do means something about a mans toughness and character. I have never heard anyone say he is more heroic than those who fought beside him or god forbid, those who sacrificed even more. What he endured is what people realize on both sides of the political spectrum.
There are those people who get their headlines from places like moveon.org that say what they say but they are so off that they make themselves irrelivant. Sad because those are the same people who championed him before as the only republican people should listen to that hate him now he got the GOP nod. The old knife you in the back croud.