I will let John McCain’s final words be a lot of this post. He was a great American. He was an American Hero. We were lucky to have him in our corner.
We live at present with turbulence and ugliness that is NOT a hallmark of being an American and certainly resembles no Republican party I recognize and, in fact, it’s a travesty. Maybe you don’t like my opinion, but it is what it is and I am not alone in my sentiments. In my humble opinion, John McCain represented a good portion of what I respected once about most Republicans.
Sad trivia: John McCain died 9 years to the day from when Ted Kennedy died…and McCain and Kennedy died from the same cancer. Sadly, I will never view Ted Kennedy with the same eyes.
Time for a brief segue… (come on now, it’s only a wee ramble…)
When I was child, Ted Kennedy was in Philadelphia. It would have been after Chappaquiddick. Anyway, he was making a stop at the American Catholic Historical Society at 263 S. 4th Street in Society Hill. My family at the time lived at 271 S. 4th Street.
I was a little girl with an autograph book (remember those?) and I knew a Kennedy would be a few doors down from listening to all the grown-ups talk about it. So I asked my parents if they could take me down for an autograph. Kennedy got out of the car. He didn’t see me and waved his arms out I guess to wave at people or greet them or something a politician would do… and he knocked me down. Seriously and for real. He didn’t stop to see if the little girl he knocked over was o.k. But that is why at an early age, I became an UN-fan of Senator Ted Kennedy.
Back to John McCain. He was true to himself and to the American people. You can’t ask for more than that in a public servant/politician.
John McCain was a man whom I would have been proud as an American to have had as a President. Sadly, they paired him up with Caribou Barbie, otherwise known as Sarah Palin. He would have had a much better shot at becoming President I think if they had not stupidly chosen Sarah Palin. No I have nothing kind to say about Sarah Palin. I have always found her to be ridiculous. Her comments upon his death are no exception. She sounds like a bitter divorcée who lost her alimony or something. However, since even our current President is apparently lacking in the decorum at death department, why should Scarah Palin be any different? Maybe she’ll be the next new hire on the White House edition of the Apprentice?
The New York Times has written a beautiful obituary on John McCain . READ IT HERE.
Excerpt from New York Times Obituary:
John S. McCain, the proud naval aviator who climbed from depths of despair as a prisoner of war in Vietnam to pinnacles of power as a Republican congressman and senator from Arizona and a two-time contender for the presidency, died on Saturday at his home in Arizona. He was 81.
According to a statement from his office, Mr. McCain died at 4:28 p.m. local time. He had suffered from a malignant brain tumor, called a glioblastoma, for which he had been treated periodically with radiation and chemotherapy since its discovery in 2017.
Despite his grave condition, he soon made a dramatic appearance in the Senate to cast a thumbs-down vote against his party’s drive to repeal the Affordable Care Act….A son and grandson of four-star admirals who were his larger-than-life heroes, Mr. McCain carried his renowned name into battle and into political fights for more than a half-century. It was an odyssey driven by raw ambition, the conservative instincts of a shrewd military man, a rebelliousness evident since childhood and a temper that sometimes bordered on explosiveness.
Also read this Penn Live Editorial and here is an excerpt:
With McCain’s death, a call to serve | Editorial
Updated 3:43 PM; Posted 2:19 PMBy PennLive Editorial Board penned@pennlive.com
Fittingly for someone who always seemed larger than life, the death Saturday of U.S. Sen. John McCain at the age of 81 seemed like several events wrapped into one.
For McCain’s family, friends and colleagues – both in Washington and across the nation and world – it was a time to mourn a beloved father, spouse and colleague who battled bravely against an aggressive form of brain cancer to the very end.
For historians and political scientists, it offered the chance to observe, in real time, the passing of one era of American politics and the continued dawning of a new – and very different – one.
And for the rest of us, it was an opportunity to reflect on an extraordinary career of public service….Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, who appeared at McCain’s side throughout his 2008 White House bid, said his longtime friend “lived a life to service as few others have. And when you take a look at that lifetime of service, his was performed with unfailing integrity.”
….He taught us that we work best when we work together.
I hope you read the entire Penn Live Editorial. It is brilliant.
Finally, The Washington Post Obituary on John McCain:
John McCain, ‘maverick’ of the Senate and former POW, dies at 81
By Karen Tumulty August 25
U.S. Sen. John S. McCain, the son and grandson of four-star admirals, was bred for combat. He endured more than five years of imprisonment and torture by the North Vietnamese as a young naval officer and went on to battle foes on the left and the right in Washington, driven throughout by a code of honor that both defined and haunted him.
Sen. McCain, 81, died Aug. 25 at his ranch near Sedona, Ariz., his office announced in a statement. The senator was diagnosed last year with a brain tumor, and his family announced this week that he was discontinuing medical treatment…..A man who seemed his truest self when outraged, Sen. McCain reveled in going up against orthodoxy. The word “maverick” practically became a part of his name.
Sen. McCain regularly struck at the canons of his party. He ran against the GOP grain by advocating campaign finance reform, liberalized immigration laws and a ban on the CIA’s use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” — widely condemned as torture — against terrorism suspects….Once Trump was in office, Sen. McCain was among his most vocal Republican critics, saying that the president had weakened the United States’ standing in the world. He also warned that the spreading investigation over Trump’s ties to Russia was “reaching the point where it’s of Watergate-size and scale.”
John McCain was indeed a maverick. And American here. An example of a dying breed of public servant. We need more like him from both parties. I think it’s high time to look for actual public servants, true voices of the people. Not puppets for their respective political parties, beholden to lobbyists and deal makers.
John McCain, thank you for your service. A literal lifetime of service. You weren’t perfect, you did not pretend to be, but I think you were amazing. May your memory be a blessing.
