So just to review, we’re all grateful for Senator McCain’s service to this country. I have to say that, because if I don’t I’m unpatriotic. But it’s true, I’m thankful for our soldiers and all those who serve this country and for those war heroes like the Senator who have done what their country told them to do.

Now, disclaimer aside, I’m really flipping tired of it being trotted out in this election. Really. Tired.

At first, I thought it was totally relevant.

Then, the stories were getting a bit, overused.

Then, I started to wonder how big a campaign ploy this was going to turn into and if his service and sacrifice was going to turn into a total disgrace due to it being paraded around and exploited.

Then I watched the re-run of the Saddleback interviews today and something in the back of my head said ‘hmmmm, that story sounds totally familiar’ and I just chalked it up to ‘must have heard McCain tell that one before.’

And then…today, from Daily Kos

I was watching the forum last night and decided that since I hadn’t eaten yet, I would try to listen to John McCain speak. I was doing OK with the “my friends” and the evil chuckle when I heard him talk about his POW story of the cross in the dirt. That was when I couldn’t take it anymore.

It just sounded so fake and so contrived, so I did a little research about it. Someone on here said it sounded like a scene from Ben-Hur, so I did a google search about Ben-Hur and cross in the sand and such. No dice. But I searched around a little bit more and here is what I found. A story about Alexander Solzhenitsyn from his times in the Soviet Gulags.

Click the rest of that diary, it makes for very interesting reading.