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How McCain Got the Last Word Against Trump (archive)
By the time he died on Saturday, Mr. McCain had carefully stage-managed a four-day celebration of his life — but what was also an unmistakable rebuke to President Trump and his agenda. For years, Mr. Trump had used Twitter and the presidential bully pulpit to mock and condemn the senator. In death, Mr. McCain found a way to have the last word, even quietly making it clear through friends that Mr. Trump was not welcome at the services.
“I think it’s fair to say that they have a very different view of this country and what this country means, here and abroad,” said Mark Salter, the senator’s longtime friend and co-author who sat with Mr. McCain — often with a lump in his throat — during the many discussions about his looming death. “His overall message was: ‘It doesn’t have to be this shitty.’”
The series of events honoring Mr. McCain is the kind of grandiose spectacle that is normally reserved for someone who became president, not someone who twice failed to do so. Friends said that Mr. McCain was surprised by the level of interest in his death even as he planned it.
When advisers suggested that his coffin should lie in state at the Arizona Capitol, Mr. McCain said he believed the legislature would never approve such a rare honor for him, recalled Rick Davis, who had been at Mr. McCain’s side for decades and served as his 2008 campaign chairman. “Every inch of the way, he underestimated what he thought this would be about,” Mr. Davis said.
The memorial events this week began in Arizona on Wednesday, when Mr. McCain’s body was taken to the Capitol, and will continue Thursday at a service at North Phoenix Baptist Church. The procession will then shift to the nation’s capital, when Mr. McCain’s coffin will arrive at an air base outside Washington as the president holds one of his raucous campaign-style rallies for supporters in Indiana.
By the weekend, when virtually all of official Washington — Democrats and Republicans alike — gathers at the National Cathedral for a nationally televised farewell, Mr. Trump is expected to have retreated to Camp David, where White House aides hope he will contain his anger at the attention being lavished on Mr. McCain.
[...] Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian activist who survived two poisoning attempts for his opposition to the government of President Vladimir V. Putin, said that Mr. McCain, who was widely seen as one of the Russian leader’s fiercest detractors, had also asked him in April to be a pallbearer. “He spoke the truth regardless of party or political situations,” Mr. Kara-Murza said. “That was his defining characteristic.”
In Washington, a town where Mr. Trump has given Mr. Putin an open invitation to visit, Mr. Kara-Murza said that Mr. McCain’s choice of a Russian pallbearer — one repeatedly brought to the brink of death for challenging his country’s authoritarian brand of politics — was “actually pretty symbolic.”
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Thursday August 30 2018, @06:48PM (16 children)
You know whats shitty?
Lying about chemical weapons to go to war in Iraq
Pushing a war with Iran and North Korea to the MIC (and his doners)
Destabilize Syria to benefit MIC (and his doners)
Shooting down the F22 deal because he made money on the F35 deal
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by Snow on Thursday August 30 2018, @07:13PM (13 children)
It's like your mouth is connected to Trump's asshole. You just eat his shit up.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 30 2018, @07:19PM
That pleasure is all yours [theintercept.com] bon appetite.
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Thursday August 30 2018, @07:41PM (9 children)
No, I just hate McCain because he's a warmonger who has actively worked to restrict the freedoms provided in the Bill of Rights
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by Snow on Thursday August 30 2018, @08:28PM (2 children)
That's fair.
I think that people are praising McCain at the moment not so much because of his track record, but rather because it seemed that he was capable of looking at both sides. In a climate where it's 'Us Vs Them', Trump supporters blindly follow Trump, and Trump haters blindly hate trump. It was nice to see someone that, while officially in the Trump camp, would frequently disagree with him publicly.
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Thursday August 30 2018, @08:46PM (1 child)
I think the left only cares about McCain because he is dead and no longer their problem. He was good at reaching across the isle on issues that benefited the rich and powerful, and thats something the government has always had bipartisan support for. The democrats were great at pointing out how much of a huge racist McCain was back in 2008,
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/that-time-republicans-used-racism-to-defeat-mccains-presidential-bid/ [truthdig.com]
https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/271157/new-york-times-called-mccain-racist-now-it-uses-daniel-greenfield [frontpagemag.com]
McCain now gets a pass because he became a good republican.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday August 30 2018, @09:03PM
I think the left liked McCain in the early 2000s because he had been steamrolled by Bush in the 2000 primary, and many would have preferred McCain to Bush. Warmonger he may be, but it took a very specific crew to get us into the Iraq War, a crew who began planning to invade Iraq the day after 9/11. The 2008 campaign and Sarah Palin obviously soured feelings, although people remember that moment when McCain defended Obama [vox.com] at a town hall meeting. Being a solid anti-Trump Republican who cast the deciding vote on health care in the Senate obviously gave McCain cred. And you can't really blame McCain for being a bitter enemy of Trump, because McCain preferred "straight talk" and bipartisanship to populism. McCain was also one of Trump's early targets during the 2016 campaign, with the war hero remark being one of the first shocks that made people go "Of course Trump is going to drop out because of this... right?" Every similar moment during the campaign just built on that foundation.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 30 2018, @10:20PM (5 children)
Like Trump? I mean, look at the wars we're still engaged in now. It doesn't seem like Trump wants to get us out of any of the 7+ wars we're in right now. It doesn't seem like he wants to end the NSA's mass surveillance, the TSA, the drug war, or any other unconstitutional nonsense. Continuing unconstitutional practices and unjust wars is just as bad as starting them.
Why, it seems more like Trump is nothing more than an establishment puppet who makes stupid Tweets.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday August 30 2018, @11:11PM
Trump calls for death penalties for drug dealers as focus of opioids plan [theguardian.com]
He'll end the war! ...by turning it into a slaughter.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Sulla on Thursday August 30 2018, @11:25PM (3 children)
I have posted it before so I won't bother again. Go look up the international stats (so you don't have to trust the US if you so choose) on number of civilians killed by US or US funded sources since Trump took office. The last time you will see civilian casualty numbers this low was late in the Clinton admin or before 9/11 Bush. We stopped funding Syrian rebel groups early in Trump admin at his ordering and civilian deaths pretty much disappeared along the Iraq/Jordan border, Russians/Turkey/Israel are still causing problems, but Syria is in a much more stable state for the average civilian. After the flury at the beginning of his administration the pro-war rhetoric (with the exception of Dem and Rep hawks) went away for North Korea while a deal is attempted.
Is Trump great regarding war? No. But he is better than Bush I/II, Clinton, and Obama. At this point all you can really blame on Trump in regards to oversees hot conflict is our continued support of the Saudis in regard to Yemen. So even if you want to give him a D, its better than an F.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday August 31 2018, @07:10PM
Under the Trump administration, US airstrikes are killing more civilians [theconversation.com]
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday August 31 2018, @07:13PM (1 child)
Trump has Already Killed More Civilians than Obama in U.S. Fight Against ISIS [newsweek.com]
Donald Trump Is Dropping Bombs at Unprecedented Levels [foreignpolicy.com]
(Score: 1) by realDonaldTrump on Friday August 31 2018, @11:02PM
You elected me to DEFEAT ISIS. Big promise I made. A promise I've kept. Very proudly. Obama & Crooked Hillary are the Founders of ISIS, the literal founders. Very WEAK & INEFFECTIVE against ISIS. THEY HAVE BEEN AROUND TOO LONG!
I've worked with our allies in the Middle East, and with Israel -- I didn't say Israel, by the way, never said Israel -- to help them lead the fight. Very hard fight, very tough enemy. We've been fighting much harder than Obama & Crooked ever did. And we've been winning tremendously.
Defeat ISIS. Move Embassy to Jerusalem. Cancel HORRIBLE Iran Deal. Make TREMENDOUS Arms Deal with Saudi. And start the Sunni NATO, the Arab NATO to go up against Iran. That's my Peace Plan. And it's working beautifully. I'm getting a Nobel Prize for that one. And I'm going to have more Nobel Prizes than anybody. But, ZERO Emmys. The Apprentice never won -- even though it should have many times over. Absolutely horrendous, folks. RIGGED!!!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 31 2018, @02:09AM (1 child)
Do you deny what Sulla said was true? What does it have to do with Trump then. TDS indeed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 31 2018, @11:09PM
I doubt there was any denial, but there is often a strong backlash to "whataboutism". McCain's point of "it doesn't have to be this shitty" is a valid point we should be discussing instead of trying to destroy his message because we don't like him. I never liked him, but I did respect his stance against torture and a few other things where the more typical politicians just sheeple along with it.
The ultimate irony as usual is that Trump supporters say "TDS" when they are actually the ones deranged by Trump and his lies. Projection, it is what you're best at!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 30 2018, @07:14PM (1 child)
Things may well be less shitty now McCain is gone.
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday September 13 2018, @02:11PM
Make America Great Again!