Sen. John McCain passed away last night, and his legacy is that of a veteran and senator who saw his party crumble into the abyss, his hand more than a bit responsible. When it was clear he was done ten years ago, he made the call to bring in Sarah Palin as his running mate. McCain was not a "maverick" and the words of then candidate Barack Obama make that clear.
[T]he record’s clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time. Sen. McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than 90 percent of the time? I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to take a 10 percent chance on change.
The truth is, on issue after issue that would make a difference in your lives — on health care and education and the economy — Sen. McCain has been anything but independent. He said that our economy has made “great progress” under this president. He said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. And when one of his chief advisers — the man who wrote his economic plan — was talking about the anxiety Americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a “mental recession,” and that we’ve become, and I quote, “a nation of whiners.”
A nation of whiners? Tell that to the proud autoworkers at a Michigan plant who, after they found out it was closing, kept showing up every day and working as hard as ever, because they knew there were people who counted on the brakes that they made. Tell that to the military families who shoulder their burdens silently as they watch their loved ones leave for their third or fourth or fifth tour of duty. These are not whiners. They work hard and give back and keep going without complaint. These are the Americans that I know.
The very next day, August 29, 2008, McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate.
You can draw a direct line from that event to the Trump regime today. I spoke my mind yesterday about it and I haven't changed my mind from then.
This is a man who voted against a federal Martin Luther King holiday in 1983 because it was politically expedient for him to do so then. When it was no longer politically expedient because he was running for president, he announced he had been wrong. He's not the first politician to do this, he won't be the last. Very few did it regarding the legacy of Dr. King however.
Chuck Schumer wants to rename the Senate's Russell Office Building after McCain. I don't particularly believe he deserves that honor, but this is why I'm not an elected official. Nine years ago to the day yesterday, Ted Kennedy passed. Would that this be the Kennedy Senate Office Building, but no.
It is not something I will forgive McCain for anytime soon. Maybe someday, when America emerges from the hell it is in today. John McCain is a better man than Donald Trump to be sure, but that bar to clear is on the ground. McCain requested that his eulogies be read by George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Donald Trump? He'll probably be at a rally.
But Donald Trump would not be in the Oval Office at all if it wasn't for John McCain.
I will forgive the man someday, yes. He lived a full life, he served his country for decades, he suffered like no human being should ever have to suffer, but in the end he was flawed and he made terrible decisions that hurt the country he loved.
I will forgive the man someday, yes. But not today. I leave with this tweet from author Dianne Anderson:
We can hold multiple truths at once in the event of someone’s death: 1. that his passing is a loss for his family and those in mourning deserve respect and understanding, and 2. Death does not erase a lifetime of bad political decisions.— Dianna E. Anderson 🏳️🌈 (@diannaeanderson) August 26, 2018
And so, John McCain is gone.
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