The Republican That Democrats Like the Most

August 27, 2018

Like millions of others on Saturday, August 25th, I was alerted to the “breaking news” on my iPhone that John McCain had succumbed to the gioblastoma that he had battled since being diagnosed 13 months ago. On hearing the news, I did something that I haven’t done in almost two years – I asked my husband to change the television channel from the NFL preseason game he was watching to CNN, so that we could watch the tributes to the man that throughout his Senate career was dubbed “The Maverick,” and also “the Republican that Democrats like the most.”

As expected, the heartfelt tributes came from individuals from both sides of the political divide.

Gabrielle Giffords: Arizona will not be the same without Senator John McCain. There is no equal to his service and integrity. @ShuttleCDRKelly and I are holding his family in our hearts tonight. We’ll miss you, John.

Mark Kelly: I have only encountered a few true heroes in my life, but Senator McCain was one of them. That he became a friend is one of the greatest privileges of my life. Thank you, John, for a lifetime of hard work for the people of Arizona and of this great nation.

Former President George W. Bush: Some lives are so vivid, it is difficult to imagine them ended. Some voices are so vibrant, it is hard to think of them stilled. John McCain was a man of deep conviction and a patriot of the highest order. He was a public servant in the finest traditions of our country. And to me, he was a friend whom I’ll deeply miss. Laura and I send our heartfelt sympathies to Cindy and the entire McCain family, and our thanks to God for the life of John McCain.

Hillary Clinton: @JohnMcCain lived a life of service to his country, from his heroism in the Navy to the 35 years in Congress. He was a tough politician, a trusted colleague, and there will simply never be another like him. My thoughts and prayers are with Cindy and his entire family.

Former President Barak Obama: John McCain and I were members of different generations, came from completely different backgrounds, and competed at the highest level of politics. But we shared, for all our differences, a fidelity to something higher – the ideals for which generations of Americans and immigrants alike have fought, marched, and sacrificed. Obama went on to say, “Few of us have been tested the way John once was, or required to show the kind of courage that he did. But all of us can aspire to the courage to put the greater good above our own. At John’s best, he showed us what that means. And for that, we are all in his debt. Michelle and I send our most heartfelt condolences to Cindy and their family.”

Former Vice President Joe Biden: John McCain’s life is proof that some truths are timeless. Character. Courage. Integrity. Honor. A life lived embodying those truths casts a long, long shadow. John McCain will cast a long shadow. His impact on America hasn’t ended. Not even close. It will go on for many, many years to come.

We can only hope, Vice President Biden. We can only hope. As I watched a CNN interview with Hillary Clinton, Clinton agreed that McCain’s death is like a “punch in the gut,” because it comes at a time when Senator McCain’s legacy of bipartisan work seems like a long forgotten fairytale. He was a conservative to his core, yet he believed that politicians needed to work across party lines to do what is best for our country. His friendships with former Senator Ted Kennedy and former senate colleague and Secretary of State Clinton are legendary.

I’m not an expert political analyst. There are others who are, and they have commented more eloquently than I can about what standing up for what is best for our country and for his values may have cost Senator McCain. Did it cost him the opportunity to be President of the United States? Did his stance on immigration and healthcare reform, as well as his candor about the Confederate flag and racial injustice alienate the Republican Party who ultimately elected Donald Trump?

During his 2000 presidential campaign against George W. Bush, McCain responded to a reporter’s question about the Confederate flag using language amenable to Civil War revisionists who falsely claim that southern states did not secede and enter the Civil War to preserve and extend slavery. Two months later, McCain apologized for putting political interests ahead of honesty. He said he thought if he answered honestly, he couldn’t win the South Carolina primary. In the latter speech, McCain said his Confederate forefathers in Mississippi “fought on the wrong side of American history.” He continued, “I don't believe their service, however distinguished, needs to be commemorated in a way that offends, that deeply hurts, people whose ancestors were once denied their freedom by my ancestors.

Although my political views have rarely aligned with Senator McCain’s, I have respected him for many years. But for maybe a nano-second in 2008, I actually considered voting for him because of his response at a campaign event to a woman who claimed President Obama was an “Arab.” In a video clip that has gone viral, Senator McCain took the microphone from the woman and said, “No, ma’am, he’s a decent family man and citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and that’s what this campaign is all about.” Today, in a time when fact checking by most candidates has become nonexistent and lies have become “alternative facts,” John McCain shut down a negative comment (and lie) with the truth. How many candidates running for office today have that integrity?

On election night 2008, I was in Winnipeg, Manitoba with my friend, Carrie at a Safe Communities Canada meeting and training. As I watched the election returns with Carrie and our Canadian colleagues, I was filled with hope. Our country had elected an African American as President of the United States. At the time, I believed (perhaps naively) that our country was capable of overcoming the merciless discrimination of the past. My heart swelled with pride as I watched the celebrations of those gathered in Chicago at Grant Park when the Obama family walked onto the stage, and listened to the cheering from our Canadian friends. I was further convinced of this when I watched Senator McCain, in his concession speech, acknowledge the historic nature of President Obama’s victory.

“My friends, we have come to the end of a long journey. The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly. A little while ago, I had the honor of calling Sen. Barack Obama — to congratulate him on being elected the next president of the country that we both love.

In a contest as long and difficult as this campaign has been, his success alone commands my respect for his ability and perseverance. But that he managed to do so by inspiring the hopes of so many millions of Americans, who had once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence in the election of an American president, is something I deeply admire and commend him for achieving.

This is an historic election, and I recognize the special significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight.

I've always believed that America offers opportunities to all who have the industry and will to seize it. Sen. Obama believes that, too. But we both recognize that though we have come a long way from the old injustices that once stained our nation's reputation and denied some Americans the full blessings of American citizenship, the memory of them still had the power to wound.

A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt's invitation of Booker T. Washington to visit — to dine at the White House — was taken as an outrage in many quarters. America today is a world away from the cruel and prideful bigotry of that time. There is no better evidence of this than the election of an African-American to the presidency of the United States. Let there be no reason now for any American to fail to cherish their citizenship in this, the greatest nation on Earth.

Sen. Obama has achieved a great thing for himself and for his country. I applaud him for it, and offer my sincere sympathy that his beloved grandmother did not live to see this day — though our faith assures us she is at rest in the presence of her Creator and so very proud of the good man she helped raise.
Sen. Obama and I have had and argued our differences, and he has prevailed. No doubt many of those differences remain. These are difficult times for our country, and I pledge to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face.

I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our goodwill and earnest effort to find ways to come together, to find the necessary compromises, to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited. 
Whatever our differences, we are fellow Americans. And please believe me when I say no association has ever meant more to me than that.

It is natural tonight to feel some disappointment, but tomorrow we must move beyond it and work together to get our country moving again. We fought — we fought as hard as we could.

And though we fell short, the failure is mine, not yours.

I am so deeply grateful to all of you for the great honor of your support and for all you have done for me. I wish the outcome had been different, my friends. The road was a difficult one from the outset. But your support and friendship never wavered. I cannot adequately express how deeply indebted I am to you.
I am especially grateful to my wife, Cindy, my children, my dear mother and all my family and to the many old and dear friends who have stood by my side through the many ups and downs of this long campaign. I have always been a fortunate man, and never more so for the love and encouragement you have given me.
You know, campaigns are often harder on a candidate's family than on the candidate, and that's been true in this campaign. All I can offer in compensation is my love and gratitude, and the promise of more peaceful years ahead.

I am also, of course, very thankful to Gov. Sarah Palin, one of the best campaigners I have ever seen and an impressive new voice in our party for reform and the principles that have always been our greatest strength. Her husband, Todd, and their five beautiful children, with their tireless dedication to our cause, and the courage and grace they showed in the rough-and-tumble of a presidential campaign. We can all look forward with great interest to her future service to Alaska, the Republican Party and our country.

To all my campaign comrades, from Rick Davis and Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter, to every last volunteer who fought so hard and valiantly month after month in what at times seemed to be the most challenged campaign in modern times — thank you so much. A lost election will never mean more to me than the privilege of your faith and friendship.

I don't know what more we could have done to try to win this election. I'll leave that to others to determine. Every candidate makes mistakes, and I'm sure I made my share of them. But I won't spend a moment of the future regretting what might have been.

This campaign was and will remain the great honor of my life. And my heart is filled with nothing but gratitude for the experience and to the American people for giving me a fair hearing before deciding that Sen. Obama and my old friend, Sen. Joe Biden, should have the honor of leading us for the next four years.

I would not be an American worthy of the name, should I regret a fate that has allowed me the extraordinary privilege of serving this country for a half a century. Today, I was a candidate for the highest office in the country I love so much. And tonight, I remain her servant. That is blessing enough for anyone and I thank the people of Arizona for it.

Tonight — tonight, more than any night, I hold in my heart nothing but love for this country and for all its citizens, whether they supported me or Sen. Obama, I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president.

And I call on all Americans, as I have often in this campaign, to not despair of our present difficulties but to 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. Thank you, and God bless you, and God bless America.”

Amen and Godspeed, Senator McCain. Your legacy of pubic service and gratitude lives on, now and forever.