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Sen. 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.
McCain, with his irascible grin and fighter-pilot moxie, was a fearless and outspoken voice on policy and politics to the end, unswerving in his defense of democratic values and unflinching in his criticism of his fellow Republican, President Donald Trump. He was elected to the Senate from Arizona six times but twice thwarted in seeking the presidency.
An upstart presidential bid in 2000 didn't last long. Eight years later, he fought back from the brink of defeat to win the GOP nomination, only to be overpowered by Democrat Barack Obama. McCain chose a little-known Alaska governor as his running mate in that race, and turned Sarah Palin into a national political figure.
After losing to Obama in an electoral landslide, McCain returned to the Senate determined not to be defined by a failed presidential campaign in which his reputation as a maverick had faded. 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.
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."
Asked how he wanted to be remembered, McCain said simply: "That I made a major contribution to the defense of the nation."
Also at The New York Timesand c|net.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by AthanasiusKircher on Sunday August 26 2018, @04:26PM (1 child)
Now, now. I'm not a huge fan of McCain, but he has spoken out against torture publicly many times, most recently regarding Gina Haspel. And he very publicly and notably broke with George W. after the news about torture used interrogations first broke and condemned it as few Republicans were willing to do.
On the other hand, he made deals in Washington politics later about this stuff that undermined his position (though he clearly fought to create bills initially against torture... but gave in to try to compromise).
In short, he learned to be a politician and compromised his ethics as just about everyone in DC does from time to time. But he was also a rare voice among conservatives against the concept of torture.
Do I respect his compromises? No - I think he should have stood his ground. But compared to the vast majority of conservatives on the issue, he at least tried to do something.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @05:02PM
Therein lies the problem. [mondialisation.ca]