A story about the man to make ya smile……..
So, I have a @SenJohnMcCain story. In December of 2003, my cousin, a Massachusetts resident, was injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq. He spent weeks recovering and enduring eye surgeries at Walter Reed. I was a staff assistant in Joe Biden’s office – the lowest of low Senate jobs.
I asked Erik if there was anything I could do to help him pass time and take his mind off things. He had one ask, and on its face it seemed like a huge one, just get me in to meet @SenJohnMcCain
Oh sure,” I thought. A staff assistant for a Delaware senator will just get a meeting for his Massachusetts-native cousin with the senior senator from Arizona. But I emailed McCain’s scheduler, and almost immediately she gave me a time and date for Erik and his dad to stop by.
I tried to temper their expectations. I assumed we’d be part of a constituent breakfast or another massive group. But when we got there, we were shown right into @SenJohnMcCain’s office. Just the three of us.
Sen. McCain signed a stack of books and took what had to have been 15-20 minutes with Erik. He asked specific questions about the bombing, his time in Iraq before the explosion, and whether he was being taken care of at Walter Reed. He took pictures with us.
Senators’ schedules are insane, and in retrospect the time @SenJohnMcCain took with us is even more amazing. He didn’t have to take the meeting, and he certainly didn’t have to give us all of that time. I’ll never forget it. And I’ll never forget him….
The Death of Political Courage
Commitment to principle, despite its costs, is what America has lost with John McCain’s passing….
…In the remembrances that accompanied his death on Saturday, many emphasized McCain’s moral courage, stretching from North Vietnamese prison cells to his famous “thumbs down” vote on last year’s Republican health-care bill. Whether they agreed with any of his particular views or decisions, most admired his service to America and penchant for brave stands that cast aside the political consequences. McCain bucked his party by working with Russ Feingold on campaign-finance reform and with Ted Kennedy on immigration. He pushed for the surge in Iraq when the crumbling war effort led many to seek withdrawal instead of victory. He was a champion of human rights who supported the use of American power for moral ends. McCain believed deeply in American exceptionalism; his celebrated line that treating terrorist detainees humanely is “not about them, it’s about us” summed up much of his worldview.
Yet McCain was also very funny and lots of fun….
More…
One of McCain’s Former Captors Sends Condolences
Col. Trần Trọng Duyệt, the man who was in charge of the North Vietnamese prison where John McCain was held as a POW for six years during the Vietnam War, offered his condolences to Việt Nam News upon learning of the senator’s passing.
Said Duyệt: “At that time I liked him personally for his toughness and strong stance. Later on, when he became a U.S. Senator, he and Senator John Kerry greatly contributed to promote Việtnam-U.S. relations so I was very fond of him.”
Politicalwire…
Here is a post I wrote as a tribute to John McCain-
http://cgpolitics.blogspot.com/2018/08/john-mccain-forever.html
In this case, I would not mind having it be its own post on here, but that’s up to the site owner. If anyone reads it and does find a typo of any sort, feel free to let me know, as I would like to correct it. Thanks.
This nation’s American flag was dropped to half staff this afternoon because the damn President is so small hedidn’t Want it dropped…..
It was Trump’s probably estranged wife who said something positive about the man,,.
The Senator will lie in state and the services for him will have President’s Bush II and Obama at the service
McCain did want Trump there,.
Editorial: John McCain, the ultimate public servant
The San Francisco Chronicle Editorial Board
Aug. 26, 2018
America has lost a hero, a patriot and a senator whose unflinching candor, humility and commitment to putting the public good over partisan alliances personified everything that is good — and so maddeningly rare — about modern politics.
Sen. John McCain, who died Saturday at 81, was the ultimate public servant.
Well-deserved tributes poured in from across the nation, across the aisle and across the spectrum from beneficiaries and targets of the Arizona senator’s straight talk.
Our editorial board has experienced both sides of McCain. We were favorably impressed when he met with us as a presidential candidate in 2000 — we endorsed him in his unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination — and again when he joined Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., to pitch their bipartisan campaign finance reform act. We also were the recipients of a decidedly testy letter to the editor from McCain when he took great issue with an editorial about his resistance to a BART-to-SFO funding plan in February 1997.
Therein lies the character of John McCain. He was never one to pander or obfuscate….
More at:
https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/Editorial-John-McCain-the-ultimate-public-13183692.php
…twitter….
Michael McFaul
@McFaul
Think about this: President Trump has said many more kind words about Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin than American hero John McCain.