The fact that he pictured himself on the USS Enterprise in a plane loaded with nuclear weapons, which he was not supposed to have ever piloted, should be enough to backfire on him. But more fundamentally, in this situation, McCain was tested as a soldier, not the decision maker. And after all, he wasn't tested all the way : he didn't even take off.
JFK was the one tested as a President, not him.
Now following the first wave of the financial krach, both McCain and Obama received the same 3 AM call. And guess who reacted as a leader and who reacted as a follower...
The point is McCain is not a good decision maker. He lacks judgement. But he does take decisions... only of the suicidal kind : ending up in the hands of the enemy and thus endangering the nation, picking the most dangerous person for the most vital job...
McCain is not a Maverick : he is a daredevil and a compulsive gambler**.
My friends, John McCain has been tested, and proven totally unfit for the job of President of the United States of America.
* "I was on board the USS Enterprise. I sat in the cockpit, on the flight deck of the USS Enterprise, off of Cuba. I had a target. My friends, you know how close we came to a nuclear war. America will not have a president who needs to be tested. I've been tested, my friends."
** see "A Maverick or a Gambler ?"