Both were part of the Vietnam generation. One served; the other didn’t.

One was shot down over North Vietnam, imprisoned for over five years and tortured so brutally he couldn’t even comb his hair. The other had five draft deferments and bone spurs. And spends a lot of time combing his hair.

One dedicated his life to public service; the other, to serving himself.

One believed in duty, honor, country; the other, in me, me, me.

One was a hero. The other petulantly refuses to call him a hero.

The gnawing question – and I try hard to set aside partisan feelings here – is how so many Republicans can hold the petulant little man in higher regard than the hero.

McCain was far from perfect. After all, he gave us Sarah Palin. But he was an honorable and courageous man who sought always to do the right thing.

And Trump? Peter Wehner, a Republican who worked for both Presidents Bush and President Reagan, wrote this in The New York Times Sunday:

“A party that once spoke with urgency and apparent conviction about the importance of ethical leadership — fidelity, honesty, honor, decency, good manners, setting a good example — has hitched its wagon to the most thoroughly and comprehensively corrupt individual who has ever been elected president….

“Corruption has been evident in Mr. Trump’s private and public life, in how he has treated his wives, in his business dealings and scams, in his pathological lying and cruelty, in his bullying and shamelessness, in his conspiracy-mongering and appeals to the darkest impulses of Americans.”

John McCain, we salute you. Donald Trump, shame on you.