John McCain's final message before his death:

[kentuck]

"My fellow Americans, whom I have gratefully served for sixty years, and especially my fellow Arizonans,
Thank you for the privilege of serving you and for the rewarding life that service in uniform and in public office has allowed me to lead. I have tried to serve our country honorably. I have made mistakes, but I hope my love for America will be weighed favorably against them.

I have often observed that I am the luckiest person on earth. I feel that way even now as I prepare for the end of my life. I have loved my life, all of it. I have had experiences, adventures and friendships enough for ten satisfying lives, and I am so thankful. Like most people, I have regrets. But I would not trade a day of my life, in good or bad times, for the best day of anyone else's.

I owe that satisfaction to the love of my family. No man ever had a more loving wife or children he was prouder of than I am of mine. And I owe it to America. To be connected to America's causes – liberty, equal justice, respect for the dignity of all people – brings happiness more sublime than life's fleeting pleasures. Our identities and sense of worth are not circumscribed but enlarged by serving good causes bigger than ourselves.

'Fellow Americans' – that association has meant more to me than any other. I lived and died a proud American. We are citizens of the world's greatest republic, a nation of ideals, not blood and soil. We are blessed and are a blessing to humanity when we uphold and advance those ideals at home and in the world. We have helped liberate more people from tyranny and poverty than ever before in history. We have acquired great wealth and power in the process.

We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe. We weaken it when we hide behind walls, rather than tear them down, when we doubt the power of our ideals, rather than trust them to be the great force for change they have always been.

We are three-hundred-and-twenty-five million opinionated, vociferous individuals. We argue and compete and sometimes even vilify each other in our raucous public debates. But we have always had so much more in common with each other than in disagreement. If only we remember that and give each other the benefit of the presumption that we all love our country we will get through these challenging times. We will come through them stronger than before. We always do.

Ten years ago, I had the privilege to concede defeat in the election for president. I want to end my farewell to you with the heartfelt faith in Americans that I felt so powerfully that evening.

I feel it powerfully still.

Do not despair of our present difficulties but 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.

Farewell, fellow Americans. God bless you, and God bless America.

[SCantiGOP]

1. And that, my friends

was the end of Lindsey Graham.
Apparently his admiration of McCain was all that kept him going full speed Trump Crazy.

[Jarqui]

18. Kompromat works in mysterious ways ... nt

[calimary]

20. I wish that were true.

Unfortunately, Lindsey found another alpha male or two to play sidekick for.

[brooklynite]

27. The feral poodle needs an alpha dog to follow.....

[Hekate]

2. "a nation of ideals, not blood and soil" ... The following are my takeaways...

“ We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe. We weaken it when we hide behind walls, rather than tear them down, when we doubt the power of our ideals, rather than trust them to be the great force for change they have always been. ”

“ Ten years ago, I had the privilege to concede defeat in the election for president. I want to end my farewell to you with the heartfelt faith in Americans that I felt so powerfully that evening.

I feel it powerfully still.

Do not despair of our present difficulties but 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 for this, kentuck. It’s a good reminder that once upon a time there was greatness in that party, however much I disagreed.

[pazzyanne]

32. + 1 nt

[SarcasticSatyr]

3. He was a good man who served his country with honor ..

In spite of the wrongness of his politics, he proved you could disagree without being disagreeable.

[LakeArenal]

6. I don't like Presidents that disparage war heroes.

[Blue Owl]

4. There are no longer any republicans like him

[calimary]

21. Boy, that's for sure!

With the exception of his desperation choice of the despicable Sarah Palin as running mate.

He thought that would “get the women’s vote”. Well, not for THAT woman.

NEVER for THAT woman.

[wnylib]

23. Did McCain choose Palin? I thought I read that party strategists

chose her and that McCain trusted their judgment and did not independently vet her himself

[calimary]

29. I was never sure how she got there. You're probably right, though.

It was a cold hard calculation that OF COURSE she’d get the women’s vote.

Dear God, I shudder to think how that woulda worked out! The minute she first opened her mouth, I knew she was nothing more than a calculated manipulation.

As usual, those strategists completely misjudged - AND underestimated women voters. We knew enough not to be fooled by that particular wolf in sheep’s clothing. And sometimes I wonder if that reason alone enabled a big-enough number of women to refuse to take the bait.

The more I think about it, the bigger an insult to women I realize it was. I certainly remember feeling insulted. “Is THAT how you think you can con us women into voting for you? Boy, dude, you sure don’t have much respect for women’s brains.”

Maybe he and his advisers thought that was the window dressing that would distract us women voters effectively, while they gave not a half-a-damn about the ISSUES we women care about.

[wnylib]

33. Well, at least she was fodder for some good SNL skits.

[calimary]

35. And she remains a joke to this very day.

[wnylib]

41. Who can forget this? Palin was so dumb that I don't think she knew

that she was being ridiculed.

?si=2rNjMRW4lESFuvyU

[calimary]

45. Nope. All she knew was "Lookit MEEEEE!!! I'm ON TEEVEEEEEEE!!!!! (How do I LOOK?)"

[Hekate]

34. It sure did for Nicolle Wallace. She admired McCain, but they put her in charge of Palin...

… and that was the end of it. She couldn’t even bring herself to vote for McCain, with Palin on the ticket.

[MLAA]

51. Steve Schmidt, see the article I posted above.

[True Blue American]

36. No he didn't.

You are right that the party forced her on him to have a woman on the ticket.

I still remember John defending Obama when a woman accused him of being a Muslim. Nom ma’m he is not!

[MLAA]

50. Steve Schmidt, now a never trumper, was responsible for selecting Palin.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/who-failed-upwards-better-sarah-palin-or-steve-schmidt/327119/

[summer_in_TX]

54. Steve Schmidt is more than a Never Trumper.

He completely disavowed his former party and is now a registered Democrat.

[wnylib]

55. What's your source for Schmidt being a Democrat?

I have seen some of his Youtube videos and he is still an ultra conservative in his views, just opposed to Trump and MAGAs.

[summer_in_TX]

62. In 2018, Schmidt left the GOP over family separation.

He was an independent at that point.

https://fortune.com/2018/06/20/gop-strategist-steve-schmidt-denounces-republican-party/amp

Schmidt called for the “utter repudiation of Trump and his vile enablers in the 2018 election,” encouraging all to elect Democratic candidates in the upcoming midterm elections. “I do not say this as an advocate of a progressive agenda,” he wrote. “I say it as someone who retains belief in DEMOCRACY and decency.”

Then in 2020, he announced he was now a Democrat.

https://news.yahoo.com/now-one-pro-democracy-political-002102774.html

On becoming a Democrat, former Republican strategist Steve Schmidt says “At the end of the day, there's now one pro-democracy political party in the United States of America and that's the Democratic Party. And I am a member of that party because of that. I'm a single issue voter. I believe in democracy."

He is not my kind of Progressive, but he is someone deeply outraged and morally opposed to the evil of removing children from families. He is a student of history and a lover of democracy, and a most forceful spokesperson for the ideals of a democratic society. As such, I resonate with him as a member of my party, the Democratic Party.

[wnylib]

63. Thanks. Yes, he believes in democracy. That comes across in

his criticism of Republicans and Trump.

But I would never use the word "progressive" in describing him. He is nobody's kind of progressive because he is not progressive. He is still very much a conservative.

I wonder why he changed from being an Independent to becoming a Democrat. My guess is that the influence of Independents in politics is limited to general elections. As a member of a party, though, he can influence choices of candidates in primaries and have a platform from which to promote his own conservative views.

He is to the right of Democratic centrists, even farther to the right of Democratic liberals, and to the FAR right of Democratic progressives.

[Escurumbele]

5. Beautifully written. But, it may be because I am direct, I don't like anyone interpreting what

I say, so I do my best to be as clear as I can.

What am I getting at? It was his last message, and I believe I can tell where he was coming from, what "difficult times we are facing" he is referring to, but it is not direct, so anyone can take it and make it their own, "believe always in the promise and greatness of America" can be taken by a magat because they "want to make America great" and thus, they can see McCain talking to them.

Politicians need to be clear in their message, and nothing has been clearer in many years as when Hilary Clinton called magats "Deplorables", there is no confusion in that message, and others she said about trump.

My rule at my house, and one I always tell my kids is "Be clear when you speak, never allow anyone to interpret what you say. The 'that is not what I meant' is a defense that you should never have to use, if you do it is because your message was not clear and you allowed someone to interpret what you said."

[Axelrods_Typewriter]

7. He was the kind of republican I grew up with. Disagreed on issues but still believed in America.

Nowadays all the GOP believes in is power, power, power, power.

[angrychair]

8. I get that people desperately want to be bipartisan

But Republicans made that impossible years ago, long before Trump.

McCain gave us Sarah Palin and host of other issues.

People seem to love to wax poetic about the "good ole days of reasonable Republicans"
I'm pretty old and I've never personally seen a reasonable Republican party in my lifetime.

Racist, misogynistic and xenophobic my entire life.
The 'Big Lie' told by some is Trump derailed the Republicans, when all he did is mainstream their racism, bigotry, misogyny and xenophobia for the press.

Not during Obama's time, or Bush Jr or Clinton or bush Sr and especially not Reagan.

McCain was no different. He just said a couple moderate things a couple times and Democrats, who I genuinely believe do want a bipartisan working relationship with Republicans, grab onto anything to move that ball forward despite the fact that that just isn't who Republicans are.

Unless we, As Democrats, irrevocably compromise our priorities and morals, sustainable bipartisanship with Republicans is a fantasy.

[Sky Jewels]

9. THIS. Exactly.

The Republicans have been toxic to everything good in this country for many decades.

[Augiedog]

15. And the worst of it started with ray gun Ronald Reagan

[calimary]

56. Dreadfully so.

Oh man, he cast a spell that soooooooo many voters just fell for like tons of bricks. I never found anything appealing about reagan. All I ever saw in him was a VERY talented and slippery con man. He made me want to run in the opposite direction - as far away from him as I could get. He created shit, painted it red, white, and blue, and millions of people gobbled it up like sweetened mixed berries in cream.

[1WorldHope]

16. I agree. The R party has historically represented bad shit. But there was nobody else on

the right who would have done what he did for the ACA the day he came in very ill and weak to stop the vote against the attempted undoing of the ACA. He wasn't speaking for the Republicans that day, but for democracy and decency.

[wnylib]

37. I agree with your assessment of the

Republican Party in general. I was in grade school during the Eisenhower years, in junior high during JFK's short term, and high school under Johnson. So I've been through them and all who succeeded them up to the present.

However, I did respect McCain for his service and endurance as a POW when he did not take a privileged release ahead of other prisoners. That takes guts and stamina.

I did not agree with his politics, of course, but I did believe that he was sincere (though incorrect, IMO) in his beliefs about what was good for the country. He was willing to work with Democrats and to compromise. So, all things considered, he was, IMO, a man of integrity whose character was challenged in ways that few of us will ever or have ever faced.

[angrychair]

42. I don't hate him

And would never disparage his service and sacrifice as a POW.

I also respect him for standing his ground on the ACA.


There are a lot of little things though, throughout his career, that bug me. Most importantly Sarah Palin, the gift that has kept giving to society, long after McCain was gone.

I will never get over the sense of dread, that but for the strength of Obama as a candidate, Palin could have very likely become president as McCain became sick. I shudder to think the chaos she would have sown.

[edisdead]

53. Yep.

[crickets]

59. Same.

You would think, over the decades, the Republican party would change and grow, but it doesn't. Various individuals do from time to time, but the party as a whole is a lost cause.

[BamaRefugee]

67. I'm really old, I give a pass to Eisenhower. But I was only a little kid at the time.

So I don't really know if he was secretly awful.
But yeah, ever since, EXACTLY what you said.

[angrychair]

70. In my opinion Eisenhower was the worst

He gave in to pressure campaigns from Catholic and other religious organizations to insert "god" into our public life.
He was the one that signed off on changing the National motto to "In God We Trust" and putting it on our money. As well as inserting "God" into the national anthem and pledge of allegiance.

In that regard, breaching that church/state barrier in the 50s is what started this religious push into government.

[BamaRefugee]

71. excellent point

[Xavier Breath]

10. Those are encouraging words to have left behind, for sure.

But, I would have preferred that he tacked on a small P.S.:

Oh, and sorry I plucked that absolute dimwit from obscurity, tried to place her a heartbeat away from the presidency, and planted her front and center in American life. WTAF was I thinking? SMDH over that one.

Smell ya later,

John

[OMGWTF]

13. $arah Palin may be what kept him out of the WH. In which case, thank you for being so GD awful

[Xavier Breath]

14. Hard to believe that it's already been 15 years

so my memory has no doubt faded, but who were the other possible running mates being mentioned at that time? Huckabee, maybe? Picking her wreaked of desperation, so there had to be more solid choices. I just can't remember who else might have been in the running.

[dmr]

17. I don't remember either, except

McCain wanted Joe Lieberman as his running mate.

I don't even remember why he settled for Palin.

She ended up being a disaster for not only McCain's candidacy, but for all of America as well. She's an evil and stupid woman.

[Mr.Bill]

24. Palin wrote the book, intentionally or not,

on how to make millions of dollars losing an election. And many have followed her model. That's what all those clowns on the stage were about having their fake "debate" a week ago.

[Xavier Breath]

26. Lieberman, right, how could I forget that guy?

They must have looked at the polling and figured they didn't have a legitimate shot and needed a Hail Mary. It couldn't have been for reasons of sound logic.

[calimary]

57. Because he invited that reaction in people.

Never trusted him. Or even liked him.

[wnylib]

38. I read that party strategists, not McCain, chose Palin.

His mistake was in accepting their judgment. I suspect that, after Bush Jr, the Republicans knew that they would lose against Obama. They considered McCain a "throwaway" candidate and might even have intentionally sabotaged his campaign. He was too moderate for the extremists who were taking over.

[twodogsbarking]

11. I generally listened to what McCain had to say. Agreeing with him at times.

He was off the rails on some topics but I can't imagine not respecting him.

[wnylib]

39. +1

[hueymahl]

69. +1

[dalton99a]

12. Real patriots worship Trump and Putin.

McCain is rolling in his grave

[appmanga]

19. That a man...

...who spent years under brutal conditions as a prisoner of war can say he wouldn't change a thing says so much about this country.

[iluvtennis]

22. I'm a true blue Democrat, but I always admired John McCain's morality and integrity.

Thanks for the post.

[wnylib]

40. Same here.

[MustLoveBeagles]

46. +1

[Mr.Bill]

25. I wouldn't exactly nominate him for sainthood,

but okay, I guess.

[Xavier Breath]

28. Maybe it's just too hard when looking at him, or any old-school Republican,

to not appreciate their "normalcy" to some extent. Back when you questioned a Republican for their policies, but not for their motives. Now, they have no policies and only evil motives. I don't know, at least that's what I'm coming away with here.

[Mr.Bill]

30. I don'r disagree with that. n/t

[Annie-Eve]

31. Alright, Fine Words!

But he picked Palin as his running mate. That was the beginning of the end.

[niyad]

44. Welcome to our DU family.

[Annie-Eve]

47. Thanks! I'm looking forward to participating!

[niyad]

48. Jump right in. You are amoung an amazing group of people here.

[niyad]

43. I think that I am going to throw up. Yes, mccain did some good things in

Last edited Tue Aug 29, 2023, 08:34 PM - Edit history (1)

Congress, including his vote to save the ACA. But his military career, his personal life. Practically tail end charlie (894 out of 899). A reputation as reckless and arrogant (even more so than usual with pilots). Crashed several aircraft (and there are still questions about the fire aboard the Forrestal). Indications that the mission where he crashed was unauthorized. Reputation as a womanizer. Cheated on wife number one with wife number two. Gave us caribou barbie. Called wife number two a c*** on a hot mic. Couldn't remember how many houses they owned. EXTREMELY anti-choice, wy to thhe right on social issues. Etc., etc. Voted Against the assault weapons ban.

"mccain's non-support for veterans and veterans' health care: the master list" by Brandon Friedman at www.huff.com. For all DU veterans and their loved ones. He got his, voted repeatedly against the same for you.

[johnp3907]

49. Well said!

[calimary]

58. Some really excellent reminders here.

I think death and time kinda sanded down his many rough edges, and people forget. And they choose to forget, and give him a free pass as he recedes into the past. Cuz it’s just easier on the conscience, I guess.

But you’re right. He was no angel.

[niyad]

61. His state funeral near-canonization made me ill. And I just took a quick trip down

memory lane to the Keating Five scandal. Fascinated me how benign his actions were as recounted in wiki. And then I found this: "mccain: the Most Reprehensible of the Keating Five" (www.phoenixnewtimes.com) that was a real shocker. His interactions with keating sounded just like clarence's with harlan crow. The article also took him to task for using his POW experience as a shield and cudgel (much like dear megan did on "The View" after his death).

[catchnrelease]

68. Thank you!

I was beginning to think I am the only person that remembers those things about him.

[niyad]

72. You are most welcome. And that was just what I remembered off the top of

my head, and only the substantiated..... there is a whole lot more.

[catchnrelease]

73. I had to look one up

I thought I remembered that he had ended up causing the death of some people in Europe while grandstanding. Flew under and severed a cable with his jet. But apparently that didn't happen, altho' he did sever the cable, it didn't involve anyone else, other than causing power outages. (Unless I couldn't find the right incident that is!)

[hardluck]

74. There are no questions about the fire aboard the Forrestal

The wet start “theory”is just fever swamp bs.

[Martin Eden]

52. I think I detect some contrast between McCain and the Defendant

That's my takeaway, anyway.

[Autumn]

60. A republican does what a Republicans does.

He's dead and I don't mind.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

64. "the privilege to concede defeat": that's what it is all about: Peaceful Transfer of Power. . nt

[Moostache]

65. The greatest tragedy of John McCain...

He allowed desperation to inflict Sarah Palin on the USA and then she and the ghouls poured out of the crazy bottle that had been left on a high shelf to ferment in darkness...

Rest in Peace Senator, while I certainly had many differences of political opinion with you, I do appreciate the sincerity and love of country that comes through in that farewell.

[rickford66]

66. Senate aide to Joe Biden