I could see reaction going either way on this - some people would be inspired by McCain's story, for others it could raise questions about some of his statements as a POW and his involvement in post-war moves that some feel made it more difficult, if not impossible, to get the Vietnamese to reveal information about people who never returned from that war.

I thought they were going to show the movie on TV and include a recent interview of McCain and his experience which seemed maybe just slightly questionable.. but all they are doing is releasing the DVD? WTF? Release it.. I absolutely do not see the problem there. It was a good movie imo.. Though I saw it sooo long ago it.. I think I need to Netflix it again.

This seems like it might be slightly beneficial to McCain, actually. The announcement itself reminds people of McCain's former-POW status, but without drawing the criticism that he brings up the POW card too much.

I think they are picking a side, but I believe it is their right to. If McCain wants to highlight his POW experience he can always choose to do another interview (unless he signed some sort of contract, that I doubt he did).

Or I could be wrong and they're could be some very not black and white information he reveals that might not be taken well in passing, but is understandable considering the circumstances.

Eh. It is their footage. They can do what they want with it.

Um, isn't Oliver Stone's movie, W about Bush? Who is not running for office, I don't get how that is related...

I think it's an okay idea to hold off on it because who knows if it will help or hurt McCain, and I am sure WB doesn't want to be responsible for influencing an election. "Self-censorship" makes it seem like a bad thing, but really, I would assume that McCain has equal access to his biographical information, and that he has the ability to highlight the parts of his experience that he thinks will show his strength of character. It's not like they are censoring McCain!

I don't care much to be frank.
I don't even know if that's going to help McCain at all, everyone already know that he was a POW and I've heard about him talk about it on profiles done by CNN and ABC before so it's not like it's such a big deal.

I think that if their date of release was supposed to be before election, it may be because of some other back-door financial situation that the public doesn't know about?
I kind of doubt that it's because of political side to be honest with you, big corporation like theirs probably have other reasons.

I think when Arnold was running for governator, no tv stations would show his movies until after the election. Anybody else remember that?

I think it could benefit McCain - actually and I think it would look like an endorsement as well and WOW -- what timing.

They are a private company . They can release their products whenever they wan.t

I am sure the release date has more to do with money than anything.
Maybe they are thinking that if he is elected, more people will check it out (as opposed to releasing it pre-election, when they might get mostly people that already support McCain).

I think it might be safe to assume that WB is going to do what is best to them financially, and hasn't made the decision based on any other factors. Movie execs are always looking at the bottom dollar.

well - i guess they have to kind of maintain their reputation some how and by not releasing it before the election - they are able to do that. i don't know if it would really impact the outcome of the election since we are all well versed on his experiences while he served, but i guess there's a stance that everyone has to take at some point.

I agree with Snowbunny on this one "self censorship" as long as it's not an outside entity trying to prevent them from airing this I have not problem with it. And I also see it as something that could either help or hurt McCain so it's a wise decision not to make a move on this one.