On “Hannity and Colmes” and elsewhere, John McCain has said “I really didn’t love America until I was deprived of her company.” Some on the Left are now holding up this undeniably patriotic statement as the substantive equivalent to Michelle Obama’s remark in February that, “for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country.”

First, some context on the McCain quote. Here’s how it came about:

HANNITY: — and then I understand you didn’t get any medical help for nine days. You spent two years of this five-and-a-half-year period in solitary confinement. What does that do to a person, to spend that much time in solitary confinement?

MCCAIN: I think it makes you a better person. Obviously, it makes you love America. I really didn’t love America until I was deprived of her company, but probably the most important thing about it, Sean, is that I was privileged to have the opportunity to serve in the company of heroes.

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m pretty sure that if I survived two years in solitary confinement inside a brutal enemy camp I’d come out thinking I hadn’t an inkling about love of country before that experience. In fact I’m certain that, compared to John McCain and others who have lived through similar circumstances, I don’t really know what love of country is. McCain’s statement is nothing less than a spiritual declaration of higher love for the freedoms of the U.S.

As for the birth of Michelle Obama’s national pride–she was responding to the public’s confidence in . . . her husband. If Obama supporters want to go around comparing the two statements in public, the McCain camp would be wise to encourage it. It’s hard to imagine a clearer snapshot of the relative mindsets of both camps.