She had no idea of the reason his hands and shoulders were held that way, but on that alone she had made a judgement about him. In other words, it is unlikely that she would have voted for him because of the strange way he held his shoulders.
She did not know that McCain had been an American pilot. His plane was shot down and both arms and a leg were fractured. He parachuted into a lake and could have drown, but he was taken prisoner and was bound so tightly that it caused more harm to his shoulder. He was beaten every 2 or 3 hours for 4 days by different guards, and his left arm was broken again and again, together with the repeated cracking of his ribs.
After years of solitary confinement, he was offered release, as a moral trick by the enemy to make it seem that he had been given privileges, while those imprisoned longer were left behind. He refused.
My point is that an educated young woman might have avoided voting for John McCain because she found the way he carried himself to be "creepy," unaware of his service to the nation or his character. Sometimes all of us make our voting decisions carelessly.
Another example of McCain's character occurred during his run for the presidency in 2008. A a political rally a woman called Obama, McCain's political rival, "an Arab."' It was at the height of the time that Obama's birthplace and whether he was a native born American was being challenged. McCain could have let the woman's words go, but instead he spoke up. "No ma'ma, he's a citizen and a decent family man that I just happen to have disagreements on fundamental issues, and that's what this campaign is all about." The crowd applauded him. He did not win the election, but he gained the respect of many Americans. It may also be true that it might have lost him some votes as well, but the point is that voters would know where he stood. Just as he refused to be sent home early, he also refused to let lies against his opponent go uncorrected.
He did not win the election, but he served his state as the six-term Senator of Arizona, and his final role is a further example of his determination to vote as he thought was right. Health Care was a cause he championed, but he was displeased with what his party had put together. From his perspective, so many things had been negotiated that the Republican proposal had been unacceptably weakened.
Although he had been diagnosed with brain cancer, he returned to Washington to cast his vote, which he concluded that his party had rendered unacceptable by all the concessions they had made with each other to weaken the original bill. By joining two moderate Republicans, two independents, and every Democrat, he voted against his own party to defeat their proposal. Despite his very poor health, he forced Republicans and Democrats to find something better than the bill he voted against. He didn't get all that he wanted, but he did stop something he opposed, and he did it according to the rules. Sometimes a stubborn maverick is called for!
