01 Sep Senator John S. McCain III
I have been refraining from blabbering about political matters for a while now. The time for making fun of the revolting buffoon currently residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is well past: The Drumpf regime is no laughing matter and hasn’t been in quite a long time (if ever it was). I find myself struggling daily to comprehend the horrifying depths to which this pathetic excuse for a human being will sink, aided and encouraged by the shameless complicity of his spellbound cabal. Watching clips of Drumpf’s never-ending campaign rallies I despair of the possibility that we can ever find common ground again in any of the core values that this flawed union was founded upon. The hate and divisiveness seem overwhelming and appeals to reason and decency fall on deaf ears.
The passing of Senator John McCain, however, provides an exceptional opportunity for reflection. I long found John McCain to be a frustrating presence in the national political debate—frustrating because I considered him a thoughtful, honorable and decent individual whose hawkish tendencies I strongly disagreed with. In the waning days of the second Obama administration, when the nuclear treaty with Iran was being hammered out, I was dismayed to hear McCain insist that we should not be negotiating with the Iranians—his approach was more along the lines of ‘Bomb now, talk later.’ Of course, I was adamantly opposed to his presidential ambitions and his fateful decision to hitch his star to the likes of Sarah Palin for the 2008 campaign was ill advised in the extreme, not only in terms of how it diminished McCain’s own stature but in that it conferred a certain degree of legitimacy on the nascent Tea Party movement. Those now seem like innocent and idealistic times.
The old Carl Sandburg adage that ‘A tree is best measured when it is down’ is very appropriate to the passing of Senator McCain. The stark contrast between McCain—the man, the soldier, the politician—and the capo of the Drumpf syndicate is something that even the most MAGA-addled acolyte would (or at least should) have a difficult time denying. For whatever disagreements one might have had with McCain’s politics, there is no denying that he was a patriot, that he truly believed in the noble intent of the principles upon which this nation was founded, and that he made extraordinary personal sacrifices in service of them. I have never seen any evidence of any sort to suggest that the Orange Goblin has ever made any sacrifice in service of anything other than greed, vanity and self interest.
Having now survived into September, the final quarter of 2018 will very likely prove to be decisive for this country. The Mueller investigation will probably lay its cards on the table in the next few months and the mid-term elections will provide a crucial referendum on Drumpfism and the mind-boggling shitshow of the last year and a half. I wish John McCain could be with us to stand up against the dark forces that threaten this nation from within. I wish he was still in the senate to speak out against despotism, racism and intolerance, but instead we have the full measure of the man to consider against the Orange Goblin and the dismal tide he rides. As widely observed, one of the most telling examples of John McCain’s qualities was the moment during the 2008 campaign when a woman attending a rally said that she didn’t trust then-senator Barack Obama because he was ‘an Arab.’ McCain retrieved the mic and said, politely but firmly, ‘No ma’am. He’s a decent family man and citizen’—probably two of the highest compliments that he could confer. The thing about that moment is that it was absolutely clear that McCain’s response was reflexive: He didn’t have to think about it. He did not hesitate for even a second to consider how his reply might play out on in the room, in the news, in the polls, in the voting booth or on Twitter. It was a baseless, racist assertion and McCain shut it down immediately because it was the right thing to do and he had no choice but to do it. That’s the kind of man he was.
Rest in peace, Senator McCain.
