Senator John McCain

[BlueberryPud]

A giant of a man with unquestionable integrity.

I've tried without success to add comments to the US sites. . But in our little corner in Mumsnet, I'd like to think that we can pay some respect to a man who suffered 5 years as a prisoner of war, for his country and for the good of others.

Unlike that very small and meany minded Trump man who has trouble even mentioning his name and has suffered heel spurs on several different military call ups

What a massively huge difference there is in the respect that we feel for those two people. I'm betting that there are other similar threads on here, but I can't find them currently.

McCain's 106 year old mother was at his funeral.
What were the chances of that!!??

I wanted to pay respect and I would hope that others do too.

He was a great man. Rip.

I think there was a thread. It was in Chat. Yes I was shocked that his mother had outlived him

I was amazed when I saw his mother had attended. To live to that age is quite an achievement, sad that her child didn’t share her longevity.

I thought, regardless of his politics, McCain was a man of principle and good moral standing. How he and Obama conducted themselves around each other was very telling, right until the last. Both decent, good men.

I'm no fan of the Republican Party, but he came across as a very balanced, statesmanlike politician who genuinely wanted the best for his country. I wonder if there are many senior Republicans who will continue to speak out against Trump now?

And huge kudos to him for planning his own funeral, which was a huge bi-partisan klaxon call to America.

Watching George Bush Jr and Obama speak today makes you realise how dopey Trump really is. Frightening.

I agree, OP. I would not be a Republican, but he struck me as a man of great integrity, courage and magnanimity. What he endured during the Vietnam War would break many people. That he then went on to such a distinguished political career, and showed highly unusual levels of integrity, and ability to build consensus and show respect across the political divide, really marks him out as a giant of a man. The world is a much poorer place for his passing. RIP.

Watching George Bush Jr and Obama speak today makes you realise how dopey Trump really is. Frightening

I haven't watched it yet. I was saving it so I could watch without distraction (kids). But when two opposing parties unite against the sitting president, to honour a man who has a million times more bollocks than the sitting president. That's when you know that they must know that they really have to get this shit sorted.

George Bush Jr and Obama
Everything that is wrong with US and global politics.

All I saw of him showed a true gentleman, he seemed to respect people regardless of their views, he argued passionately without resorting to insults. He seemed humble, brave, strong. He didn’t demean those who did not share his views, passions or strength of character. America is poorer for his passing. RIP.

I knew of him but do not know enough of US politics to comment on his political legacy. However my deepest sympathy goes out to his family - my brother also died of GBM last week, just aged 42 having been diagnosed 4 weeks earlier. I hope that GBM may come into the public awareness now.

www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/john-mccain-make-believe-maverick-202004/
“Few politicians have so actively, or successfully, crafted their own myth of greatness.”

www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/09/john-mccain-world-attack-map-syria/
“Over the last two decades, McCain has rarely missed an opportunity to call for the escalation of an international conflict.”

www.independent.co.uk/voices/john-mccain-death-legacy-trump-us-senator-vietnam-war-a8511441.html
“It is difficultto encapsulate apolitical legacy without sliding into enraged hyperbole or saccharine fawning. WithJohn McCain, it iseven harder…”

www.globalresearch.ca/john-mccain-war-hero-or-something-less/5337240
“McCain supports untouchable defense budgets, American Exceptionalism, and a proactive “defense” policy that is a holdover from the George W. Bush years. He constantly flouts his patriotism and war record, which have become essential parts of his political persona, and he might well be reasonably described as the leading advocate of militarism in the United States Senate.”

www.commondreams.org/news/2018/08/25/sen-john-mccain-republican-war-hawk-dead-81
"Don't let the media forget the thousands of Arabs and Asians he helped displace, injure or kill. Their lives mattered too.”

I wonder if there are many senior Republicans who will continue to speak out against Trump now?

They know they should, and I'm willing them to do that.
I would, and you would, so why the hell won't they?
Worried about their jobs and pensions? Or something more ugly?

Senator John McCain was not frightened to say his piece.

Why are Trump associates making excuses for him? (Trump)

Oh well. Never mind. I started this thread only to pay some respect to Senator John McCain. Tomorrow is his interment and funeral proper.
I lived in the US for a very short time, and I wanted to just say, on record, what a very giant of a good man he was.

Trump is a self absorbed narcissistic dwarf. And doesn't deserve to have his name mentioned alongside that of a gifted giant politician such as John McCain.

Trump is the 'Emperor who has no clothes'
It's a classic fairy story. You can google it.
Trump is the Emperor. And he has no clothes.

All you have to do is look deep inside of you, to see the damage he is wreaking all over the world (ish) Maybe not everwhere. In the UK we just ignore his idiocy.

He's a knob. But he will be a short lived knob. Once he's gone, we'll all get back to normal. He won't survive the November elections, and then the senate and the house of reps will be mostly democrats.
So hope that normality will then prevail.

My heart goes out to John McCain's mother, his children and his family. I've lost both my parents, and a brother, so I know the sadness
that ensues. A feeling person would acknowledge that. But apparently not the sitting president of the USA. Nope. A cursory message on twitter in all he's capable of.

What an absolute and complete and utter unfeeling cunt that person is. I cannot call him a man. He's barely human.

All I saw of him showed a true gentleman, he seemed to respect people regardless of their views, he argued passionately without resorting to insults. He seemed humble, brave, strong. He didn’t demean those who did not share his views, passions or strength of character. America is poorer for his passing. RIP

That's worth repeating. Those qualities are becoming so rare that they are almost ceasing to exist. That's SAD.

See what I did there?

wherewithal

OK I'll read all that.

It's easy to compare McCain to Trump and say he's a good man. At this point pretty much anyone compares well to Trump.

He's also a man who chose Sarah Palin as his running mate in the presidential race. That's not really showing 'unquestionable integrity'. I didn't vote for him in that race.

But he did win my respect in his last few years, and his vote against repealing Obamacare was brave (although Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski had already also voted against it which didn't get nearly as much publicity).

wherewithal

But, you know, 5 years in a POW camp isn't a walk in the park.

(although Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski had already also voted against it which didn't get nearly as much publicity)

Wasn't he the remaining deciding vote though?

Just asking..

Wasn't he the remaining deciding vote though?

Yes he was, and he was a surprise vote. The other two had made it clear for quite some time which way they would vote, so it had been obvious that the Republicans needed one more vote. It gave McCain an opportunity to make a huge difference. Millions of Americans are very grateful including me.

Sorry - obvious that the Republicans needed NOT TO LOSE that one more vote.

I disliked a lot of McCain's politics and picking Palin as his running mate was a huge mistake (one that he acknowledged). However, McCain is a man who had the opportunity to leave a Vietnamese POW camp because of who his father and grandfather were but didn't, because he didnt feel he should have an advantage over his men. A man who took a stance against his own supporters during the Presidential race to defend Obama against obvious racism and prejudice. Plus any man who Joe Biden sheds a tear over is ok in my books.

Also fuck Trump for making me look fondly on Bush. The guy who broke the world is preferable to the Cheeto Mussolini currently is the Whitehouse

Stupomax

You've got Trump and we've got Brexit so the world is going arse over tit at the moment.

But we will all survive it as we always do. I've lived through the cold war and the years of the miners' strikes when the electricity was cut off at teatime till dawn, to conserve coal supplies.

We saw it as great fun. We just made sandwiches for tea, in advance.
and played board games by candlelight. It was a change and it was novel and it actually brought our family closer together than it would have been otherwise.

It came as quite a surprise to my parents and my brothers and me, that being deprived of electricity actually enriched our lives and reinforced our family bonding. We talked to each other, and when it got too dark, we played word games and memory games.
Any games that you can play, in fact, when it's too dark to read.

But we had no technology or mobile phones, so it was less of a blow.
We weren't missing out on any social media. It simply did not exist.
And life was much easier without it.

In current times, our children are completely at a loss without their smartphones. Any loss of contact causes stress and anxiety, and fear of missing out, and the endless texting in the wee small hours.
This promotes anxiety and wakefulness and poor sleep.
I thank goodness that my own children grew up to adulthood
before mobile phones took such a huge grip on our existence,
and before it all got so App crazy.

I have digressed so far as to have lost sight of my OP
Whatever.

twattymctwatterson

Also fuck Trump for making me look fondly on Bush

Yup. We all thought Bush was the biggest knob amongst a community of knobheads.

Now, I'd leave my newborn in his care without a second thought.

Trump really is the lowest you can go.

But, you know, 5 years in a POW camp isn't a walk in the park.

As a POW in a US war of aggression he undoubtedly suffered grievously.

McCain is a man who had the opportunity to leave a Vietnamese POW camp because of who his father and grandfather were but didn't, because he didnt feel he should have an advantage over his men.

Commendable, but not uniquely valorous in the annals of esprit de corps.

A man who took a stance against his own supporters during the Presidential race to defend Obama against obvious racism and prejudice.

He corrected an audience member when she said Obama was “Arab”. Good for him.

Trump really is the lowest you can go.

Thus far, at least, Trump is guilty of causing far less death and destruction than McCain was. As the irrepressible Caitlin Johnstone put it, “If you want to see a world with more and more John McCains, with more and more US wars of aggression and regime change interventionism, then by all means play right along with his public beatification.”

See also Margaret Thatcher and misapplied death etiquette.

Yet give trump time he has cut all support if Palestine so there will be a lot of civilian deaths their soon. As isreal will take advantage if this to fully close all access to the gaza strip again as the USA wont make them stop.