Almost everywhere John McCain goes on the campaign trail, he gets the Hanoi Hilton introduction. A local poobah will be up on the podium, and he'll be saying what an honor it is to welcome Senator McCain to town. Except that when he says the word "honor" it's with an extra ripple in his voice so you know he means it. And then he mentions the day in 1967 when McCain was shot out of the sky by a Vietnamese ground-to-air missile. He may tell of the broken leg and arms McCain suffered during ejection, and the mob of Vietnamese villagers who found him when he hit the ground and savagely beat and bayoneted him. And then the introducer goes into McCain's five and a half years in the POW camp, two of them spent in solitary. The introducer's voice is down an octave, and at three-quarters speed for dramatic effect. He's genuinely inspired by his tale, and the audience is emotional. And meanwhile Senator McCain sits there waiting to get up and speak, listening to the story for the millionth time. He wears an expression appropriate to a man who is modest but moved -- his mouth is flat and stoical and his eyes have that 1,000-mile stare.