Senator John McCain, who faced down his captors in a Vietnam prisoner of war camp with jut-jawed defiance and later turned his rebellious streak into a 35-year political career that took him to Congress and the Republican presidential nomination, died Saturday after battling brain cancer for more than a year. He was 81. RIP John McCain. We will never forget you.
McCain, with his irascible grin and fighter-pilot moxie, was a fearless and outspoken voice on policy and politics to the end. He was unswerving in his defense of democratic values and unflinching in his criticism of President Donald Trump. Incidentally, voters in Arizona elected McCain to the Senate six times. RIP John McCain.
An upstart presidential bid in 2000 didn’t last long. Later, he fought back from the brink of defeat to win the GOP nomination. McCain chose Sarah Palin, a little-known Alaska governor, as his running mate in that race.
Maverick Comeback
McCain returned to the Senate determined not to be defined by a failed presidential campaign. In the politics of the moment and in national political debate over the decades, McCain energetically advanced his ideas and punched back hard at critics — Trump not least among them. RIP John McCain. America will never forget you.
The scion of a decorated military family, McCain embraced his role as chairman of the Armed Services Committee, pushing for aggressive U.S. military intervention overseas and eager to contribute to “defeating the forces of radical Islam that want to destroy America.”
McCain said he wanted the people to remember him as simply: “That I made a major contribution to the defense of the nation.”
Syria’s Hero Too
When the wimp Barack Obama ignored the plight of the Syrian people being massacred by a sociopath, John McCain, along with Senator Graham Lindsey, stood tall in defense of the Syrian helpless people. They cajoled and pressured Obama to act to no avail. The wimp has made up his mind he wanted people to remember him as striking a deal with Iran. Instead, Obama Americans will always remember as the President who ignored Genocide. Basically, Obama refused to act to stop the killings of innocent women and children. RIP John McCain. We won’t forget you.
John McCain even visited Syria secretly to inject hope in the hearts of the moderate Free Syrian Army. The Syrian people fighting for their lives will never forget John McCain either. Even when Barack Obama refused to stop Assad massacres for fear of offending Iran, John McCain never wavered in applying whatever pressure was necessary to get the wimp to see the error of his ways. While John McCain will be remembered as the ultimate American hero and politician, Obama will be remembered as the first black President who was a better fit as a Provost of some university than a U.S. President.
John Sidney McCain III was born in 1936 in the Panana Canal zone.
AP contributed to this article.
COMMENTS