Here it is:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08232/905292-153.stm/snip
It's an interesting story and a moving one -- if true. But as an armada of lefty bloggers have gleefully pointed out, the anecdote bears more than a supernatural resemblance to a story by Soviet-era dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn about his encounter with a Christian guard in Stalin's gulags decades ago.
The story of how Solzhenitsyn's guard, obviously Russian Orthodox in his sympathies, drew a cross in the dirt has been in the air ever since the former dissident's death earlier this month unleashed a torrent of fascinating anecdotes and tributes about his life.
Because Vietnam is an overwhelmingly Buddhist country, the likelihood of John McCain "worshipping" with a secret Christian among the atheistic Viet Cong strikes many as being as big a miracle as the Virgin Birth the holiday is based upon.But as one of my colleagues reminded me yesterday, the Catholic Church has had an enormous presence in Vietnam for decades. Just because it happened to Solzhenitsyn doesn't mean it didn't happen to Mr. McCain, too -- that's the miracle of religious dissent in the face of totalitarianism.
Fair enough, but as an anecdote in a highly charged political season, a cross-in-the-dirt story from a guy not known for his piety sounds opportunistic. Because the McCain campaign has been cynical about so many things, the candidate may not be getting the benefit of the doubt he may be entitled to.
Further complicating belief in Mr. McCain's story is the fact that this dramatic tale is missing from his lengthy first-person recap of his experience in the May 14, 1973, issue of U.S. News & World Report. Again, just because he has only seen fit to mention it decades later in the heat of a presidential race steeped in civic religiosity doesn't mean it didn't happen. Perhaps he didn't consider it important enough to recount at the time./snip