Although the world may be mourning the death of Sen. John McCain, somewhere in the heavens the man known as ‘The Maverick’ is looking down and smiling at the thought: “I did it MY way!”
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John McCain, a former Vietnam prisoner of war, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, and the senior US Senator from Arizona, passed away on Saturday after surviving an astounding 13 months with an aggressive form of brain cancer. Sen. McCain had been undergoing regular cancer therapies to extend his life, however, he decided on Friday to cease all treatment and to accept the inevitable. He passed away only 24 hours after that courageous decision while surrounded by his wife and family at his home in Sedona, Arizona.
Following his release as a POW in 1973, John McCain dedicated his life to public service and quickly earned a reputation as a powerful and independent voice in the Republican Party. A staunch, old-guard conservative, McCain believed in putting country above party and engaging in political compromise for the greater good. He went on to live his life with that same accommodating approach.
At a 2008 rally during McCain’s run for president, an elderly white woman stood up in the crowd and said: “I can’t trust Obama. I have read about him, and he’s not, he’s not — he’s an Arab.”
A visibly shaken McCain squelched the (pre) Trump-style racism and immediately corrected the woman.
“No ma’am,” McCain said. “He’s a decent family man, a citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and that’s what this campaign is all about.”
During a separate incident on July 28, 2017, Sen. McCain rose out of his sick-bed in Arizona and traveled to Washington to cast the deciding vote NOT to repeal the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). Because Donald Trump had based his entire candidacy on erasing Obamacare and any and everything President Obama ever did or accomplished, the McCain vote set up a bitter battle between Maverick McCain and “I-Think-I’m-King” Donald Trump.
“He’s a war hero because he was captured,” Trump once said in a war of words with John McCain. “I like people who weren’t captured.”
In his latest book “The Restless Wave,” McCain wrote: “I’m freer than colleagues who will face the voters again. I can speak my mind without fearing the consequences much. And I can vote my conscience without worry.”
Prior to his death, John McCain made all of his own final arrangements his way. In what some may see as a last “dig” at Donald Trump, Maverick McCain refused to resign and lived long enough to force Arizona to replace him via a special election decided by the people — and not with some semi-permanent flunkie chosen by Arizona’s Republican Gov. Doug Ducey at the influence of Donald Trump.
John Sidney McCain — war hero, Maverick senator, beloved husband and father — lived life his way and left this life only days before his birthday. He was 81.
“We are Americans first, Americans last, Americans always. Let us argue our differences. But remember we are not enemies, but comrades in a war against a real enemy, and take courage from the knowledge that our military superiority is matched only by the superiority of our ideals, and our unconquerable love for them.” – John McCain, during his 2004 Republican National Convention speech
“I hope we can again rely on humility, on our need to cooperate, on our dependence on each other to learn how to trust each other again and by so doing better serve the people who elected us. Stop listening to the bombastic loudmouths on the radio and television and the Internet. To hell with them. They don’t want anything done for the public good. Our incapacity is their livelihood.” – John McCain after voting against the repeal of Obamacare
“To fear the world we have organized and led for three-quarters of a century, to abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe, to refuse the obligations of international leadership and our duty to remain ‘the last best hope of earth’ for the sake of some half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems is as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma of the past that Americans consigned to the ash heap of history.” – John McCain in response to Donald Trump’s world view
Your post is spot on DJ. Well done.
Though I vehemently disagreed with him on foreign policies, John McCain was indeed a true American hero and proud patriot. A real man of integrity and an “imperfect” servant, he absolutely LOVED his country and was willing to sacrifice his ALL for that great love. America.
John McCain, the man and his voice, will surely be missed.
May he Rest in Peace.
‘My fellow Americans’: A farewell from McCain’s ‘The Restless Wave’
Excerpts:
“My fellow Americans. No association ever mattered more to me. We’re not always right. We’re impetuous and impatient, and rush into things without knowing what we’re really doing. We argue over little differences endlessly, and exaggerate them into lasting breaches. We can be selfish, and quick sometimes to shift the blame for our mistakes to others. But our country ‘tis of thee.‘ What great good we’ve done in the world, so much more good than harm. We served ourselves, of course, but we helped make others free, safe and prosperous because we weren’t threatened by other people’s liberty and success. We need each other. We need friends in the world, and they need us. The bell tolls for us, my friends, Humanity counts on us, and we ought to take measured pride in that. We have not been an island. We were ‘involved in mankind.‘
H/T: Politico
‘My fellow Americans’: A farewell from McCain’s ‘The Restless Wave’
Conclusion:
“What an ingrate I would be to curse the fate that concludes the blessed life I’ve led. I prefer to give thanks for those blessings, and my love to the people who blessed me with theirs. The bell tolls for me. I knew it would. So I tried, as best I could, to stay a ‘part of the main.‘
“I hope those who mourn my passing, and even those who don’t, will celebrate as I celebrate a happy life lived in imperfect service to a country made of ideals, whose continued service is the hope of the world. And I wish all of you great adventures, good company, and lives as lucky as mine.”
H/T: politico
Wow those quotes are heavy Truth. Plus I forgot all about that video Mccain had when the woman called Obama a Arab. He is one of the dying breed of Repubs who had different beliefs but still put country first. I was reading last night about the Arizona governor trying to decide if he should appoint somebody like Mccain or somebody more like Trump to replace him. That party is all screwed up.
Read John McCain’s full farewell letter:
“My fellow Americans, whom I have gratefully served for 60 years, and especially my fellow Arizonans,
Thank you for the privilege of serving you and for the rewarding life of service in uniform and service in public office has allowed me to lead. I have tried to serve our country honorably. I have made mistakes, but I hope my love for America will be weighed favorably against them.
I’ve often observed that I’m the luckiest person on earth. I feel that way even now as I prepare for the end of my life. I’ve loved my life, all of it. I’ve had experiences, adventures, friendships enough for 10 satisfying lives, and I am so thankful. Like most people, I have regrets. But I would not trade a day of my life, in good or bad times, for the best day of anybody else’s.
I owe this satisfaction to the love of my family. No man ever had a more loving wife or children he was prouder of than I am of mine. And I owe it to America. To be connected to America’s causes — liberty, equal justice, respect for the dignity of all people — brings happiness more sublime than life’s fleeting pleasures. Our identities and sense of worth are not circumscribed but are enlarged by serving good causes bigger than ourselves.
Fellow Americans, that association has meant more to me than any other. I lived and died a proud American. We are citizens of the world’s greatest Republic, a nation of ideals — not blood and soil. We are blessed and are a blessing to humanity when we uphold and advance those ideals at home and in the world. We have helped liberate more people from tyranny and poverty than ever before in history, and we have acquired great wealth and great power in the process.
We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe. We weaken it when we hide behind walls rather than tear them down, when we doubt the power of our ideals rather than trust them to be the great force for change they’ve always been. We are 325 million opinionated vociferous individuals. We argue and compete and sometimes even vilify each other in our raucous public debates. But we have always had so much more in common with each other than in disagreement. If only we remember that and give each other the benefit of the presumption that we all love our country, we will get through these challenging times. We will come through them stronger than before. We always do.
Ten years ago, I had the privilege to concede defeat in the election for president. I want to end my farewell to you with heartfelt faith in Americans that I felt so powerfully that evening. I feel it powerfully still. Do not despair of our present difficulties. We believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here. Americans never quit, we never surrender, we never hide from history. We make history. Farewell, fellow Americans. God bless you and God bless America.”
john mccain is a real americn hero. at least he fought for his cuontry and didnt pretend he had bone spurs like trump. rip
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump offered brief plaudits for the recently passed Sen. John McCain in a statement on Monday after responding only with silence to questions about the Vietnam War veteran.
“Despite our differences on policy and politics, I respect Senator John McCain’s service to our country,” Trump wrote in the four-paragraph statement, which dealt mainly in the logistical details he’d approved for the week-long remembrance ceremonies.
After facing criticism for raising the flags at the White House to full-staff after lowering them on Saturday, Trump said he’d approved them lowered again.
He also wrote that he asked Vice President Mike Pence to deliver remarks at a ceremony celebrating McCain’s life in the US Capitol on Friday.
And he listed the officials — including chief of staff John Kelly, Defense Secretary James Mattis and national security adviser John Bolton — he had tasked with representing the administration at funeral services.
Asked what had changed and why the proclamation was issued Monday, press secretary Sarah Sanders would only say this was the “President’s decision to do and the statement speaks for itself.”
It was a more robust effort at commemorating the late lawmaker than Trump offered on Sunday and for most of Monday. During a string of appearances before reporters, the President maintained his silence, choosing to ignore questions about the late Arizona Republican.
Questioned whether he believed McCain — a former Navy pilot who was shot down over Vietnam — was a hero, Trump remained stone-faced behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office after announcing a trade breakthrough with Mexico.
Later, walking along the Rose Garden toward the Oval Office with his Kenyan counterpart, he stared straight ahead when asked for any thoughts on the late lawmaker.
Once inside, he ignored questions again while White House press aides shouted over reporters who were inquiring about McCain.
Moments later in the Cabinet Room, a similar scene played out.
“Thank you very much,” Trump said after the questions continued coming.
As he bid farewell to President Uhuru Kenyatta at the West Wing, the President again declined to answer when pitched a question on McCain.
It amounted to a deafening silence for a President who openly feuded with McCain, even as the senator was dying from brain cancer. Trump sent a cursory tweet on Saturday — “My deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John McCain. Our hearts and prayers are with you!” — but did not offer any words about the man himself.
A more fulsome statement had been prepared for Trump, but it was never released. And a presidential proclamation that would require flags on federal buildings lowered to half-staff was sent on Monday afternoon, almost two days after McCain’s death.
That’s left Trump the odd man out in a capital city overflowing with remembrances of the onetime Republican standard-bearer.
Even Trump’s own daughter, now acting as his White House senior adviser, was more effusive in her description of McCain.
“The nation is united in its grief and the world mourns the loss of a true hero and a great statesman,” she said during remarks in Washington.