What exactly did he do that was heroic? What have I missed?
McCain had a Trump moment in 2008 when he picked Sarah Palin for VP.
By doing so, he raised a question in the minds of conservatives: “Is McCain only doing this to court conservatives, or is it possible McCain is signaling that he genuinely wishes to embrace conservatism?”
At the time, that was not as stupid a question as it is now, in retrospect. In retrospect, we know he doubled down on his amnesty rhetoric and failed to embrace Palin’s conservative positions, or allow them to shape his campaign - and then, in the face of a cruel Leftist media driven character assasination of her, he threw her under the bus - numerous times. In retrospect, he answered the question in no uncertain terms - “No, I am not genuinely embracing Palin’s brand of conservativism.”
But at the time, when he first picked Palin, it was not such a stupid question. Remember, in the not so distant past, Trump raised s similar question: “Is Trump just courting conservatives or is he signaling that he genuinely wants to be one?” After all, it was hard at the time to judge from Trump’s political campaign contribution history whether he was even a Republican, much less a conservative.
Unlike McCain, Trump wound up giving us the right answer - Trump has proven to be a genuine conservative - he saw the light. I’m not sure when he first saw it - maybe he saw it long ago and just stayed below the radar - or maybe he “evolved” in 2016. Either way, he chose right and McCain chose wrong.
McCain had the opportunity to choose right in 2008. If he had, I really believe he could have beaten Obama soundly. But his liberal side won out and instead of being proud of his VP pick, he treated her (and us) like she was an embarrassment. Conservatism was an embarrassment. He betrayed her and in so doing squandered a political opportunity every bit as ripe as the one Trump harvested in 2016.
In 2008, the Left’s cruel and disgusting hate-fest of a woman VP candidate revealed just how empty their “diversity” rhetoric was, how hypocritical was their claim to be the defenders of womenkind, and how unhinged and unattractive they were at their core. If McCain had seized on that opportunity the way Trump seized on his - he coulda been a contender.
But McCain failed to defend Sarah Palin. He failed to admire and emulate her principled courage. He failed to call out the Left for their vile behavior, and thus relegated himself to the dustbin of history.
And that’s what I think of John McCain.
I’m not sure that “hated his guts” is an accurate enough phrase to describe my loathing and contempt for this man.
“Trump knows something you don’t: his base”
He knows, or knew :), who Mc was.
Bullshit.
I actually agree with McCain on that.
Had he not chosen Sarah, she would have served multiple terms as Alaska governor, and would have wound up becoming an unstoppable force in American politics.
Who knows, maybe Trump would have tapped her to be his running mate in 2016. She would be his VP today, and would be well poised to become President in 2024.
I’m reminded of Thumper from Bambi, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothin’ at all.”
rwood
The modern day ‘Manchurian Candidate” find it odd how he and his head captor got along famously. He was not an ace as a pilot as he crashed into a carrier killing many sailors. He was very disloyal as a Senator, and counted among his buddies, Obama, Schumer, Pelosi and their ilk. Did he accomplish any good thing as a Senator? We know he was responsible for keeping Obamacare. We all have to go sometime and there is no remorse on his passing from this side.
Well, then call me “crazy”, because I don’t see McCain as a hero.
He was a flawed human, sure, but a hero? Nope.
Instead of a hero’s character, what McCain had/has is good PR people maintaining his character’s image as a “war hero”, which he then rode into office and often used as a prop or as a shield.
As it was, his own character’s character was remarkably consistent at being AWOL from his youth until his death.
I think it’s interesting that he was called ‘Songbird’ and that he showed a similar character and behavior with his demonrat colleagues against his own party as a Senator, as he did with his captors against his country as a POW.
Same as he ever was. Same as he always was.
You can see the same with Hillary. Just look at why she was fired from the Watergate commission and you’ll see that same “Hillary” at any point in her timeline from then until now.
May their truths come out into the light for all to see and understand.
The replacement’s name must not be McCain.
Now Graham is on TV and he’s CWYING about losing his friend. Boo frickin’ hoo.
If you are a Republican, why would you give a crap about McCain? He backstabbed, undermined, and contradicted everything a standard Republican would stand for. He sought approval from those who hated republicanism. McCain is the guy who eagerly volunteers to do the bidding of the invading Martian force. He did many things. He didn’t stand up for me.
Pointless column.
I’m not confused at all.