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This was a terrible statement to make on its face.. when you look at it from the McCain perspective. But I think she is trying to reveal a larger truth, albeit in an awkward and unpalatable way.
I believe she was making a non-obvious reference to the MSM/right-wing treatment of, for example, Jill Carroll, who was captured and held hostage in Iraq. Another female hostage (an Italian journalist, so this got a lot of play in Italy) got similar skeptical treatment. So while their experiences come nowhere near to McCain's.. there're still a lot of angry men out there who do hold double standards when it comes to female victims, as in rape cases. Then there was the whole "Jessica Lynch is a fake" crowd. She was the female soldier towards the beginning of the war who was rescued after being captured by Iraqi soldiers. She got it from every which way: left, right, and Ron Paul supporters included. Now we have the Blackwater/KBR rape cases and likely coverups.
These things get taken up and then dropped. If they ever appeared on males' radar screens, they vanish. But most women take note, and remember.
Females get extra, negative scrutiny all around. That is the point, which is correct, though it was made in an unfortunate way. Perhaps there is no better way, though. How would you phrase it, to express this? It's not clear it was delivered as a joke, and the laughter is likely tension release and acknowledgment of a bitter truth, rather than finding McCain's imprisonment somehow hilarious.
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