John McCain Passes Away at 81

[Upgrayedd 5804]

13 minutes ago, TheRealRonWeaver? said:

 

*George and ME.

 

#English_as_a_second_language

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We are going to use grammar as a presidential measuring stick?

[Goredho 17345]

I’m pretty sure that was sarcasm.

I find it fascinating that the man basically orchestrated his own funeral as a rebuke to Trump and as a showcase for a different brand of leadership, politics and statesmanship.  I am sure some will view that through a lens of negativity and conceit.  To me it says most clearly how much McCain disdained our current direction and the future it might yield.

This was his last moment where he would command attention.  A moment to take a bow.  A moment to be recognized for his worldly achievements.  A moment for his family to take pride in his life and have their grief assuaged somewhat through rememberance and collective mourning.

McCain used that moment to try to influence America, it’s politics in particular, moving forward.  To perhaps stir others to oppose the anger, hatred, bigotry and self-centeredness of Trumpism.  To offer up the torch for another to carry.

I don’t think it will mean much.  There isn’t going to be some great political epiphany here.  The media coverage will recede and things will return to abnormal.

But you have to give it to a dead man for trying.

[Born to Run 6565]

Well said and I agree.

[Jive Turkey 12568]

On 8/31/2018 at 7:40 AM, EMAWesome said:

At the risk of sounding crude, can we put this guy in the ground already?  Has everyone in Washington D.C. forgot he lost in 2008?  Ford didn't get this kind of coverage and treatment and he was a former president.  This memorial tour is being strung out more than a Star Wars trilogy.

Oh, shut the fuck up.  Ya know what?  The South lost the Civil War, but I bet there’s a 100% chance you bitched about Confederate statues being taken down, even though they got their asses handed to them.  “Hey man, you can’t erase our history.”  Yet you don’t want us to celebrate the life of a great American for more than a day because it‘s hurtful to the man whose feet you worship and suck off every day.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

 

[WhatTheBuck 28705]

The only people who will attend Trump's funeral are whichever of his children aren't in jail. And Mike Pence. 

[Judge Roybeanbag 11806]

6 minutes ago, WhatTheBuck said:

The only people who will attend Trump's funeral are whichever of his children aren't in jail. And Mike Pence. 

I would kinda hope he gets the Benito Mussolinii treatment.  But it’s probably written in his will that he be stuffed, put in a gilded glass enclosure and mounted outside the Trump Tower entrance.  Anyone entering would be forced to buy a fake gold trump token and insert it into a coin slot whereupon a creepy pre-recorded voice says something like “you’re fired!”.

[Aqua Buddha 14501]

1 hour ago, WhatTheBuck said:

The only people who will attend Trump's funeral are whichever of his children aren't in jail. And Mike Pence. 

Robert Jeffress and Franklin Graham will perform the service and talk about how Trump lived his live with a quiet, Christian dignity.

[Underdog 28445]

1 hour ago, Tony Soprano said:

Is the funeral over yet? I don't know which one was more ridiculous. His or Aretha's.

At least we got Bill for Aretha's Funeral, and this...

And Trump could hold his funeral in a phone booth with room to spare. 

Edited September 3, 2018 by Underdog

[Post Oak 20183]

30 minutes ago, Underdog said:

At least we got Bill for Aretha's Funeral, and this...

And Trump could hold his funeral in a phone booth with room to spare. 

I can't stop laughing at this.

[suddenly shaggy 929]

9 hours ago, Underdog said:

And Trump could hold his funeral in a phone booth with room to spare. 

Where he's going, the phone booths are pretty big. 

[suddenly shaggy 929]

Good read from the NY Times about the hypocrisy of the GOP to honor McCain, but not what he actually stood for. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/02/opinion/columnists/republicans-mccain-hypocrisy.html

They Sat in Hypocrisy

Congressional Republicans made a show of honoring John McCain, even as they continue to reject his principles.

 

They sat in seats of honor, near the front of Washington National Cathedral. They bowed their heads when appropriate. They looked up pensively and listened. 

By all appearances, they were honoring their departed colleague, Senator John Sidney McCain III, during a majestic ceremony on Saturday. And by doing so they were showing America that leaders of both parties reject the hateful, petty, law-defying politics of President Trump. They were showing America what a better nation could look like.

But it was all an act — a cynical, hypocritical act that McCain, who had a keen eye for hypocrisy, would have seen right through. 

It was an act for Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader. It was an act for Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House. It was an act, most jarringly, for Lindsey Graham, McCain’s dear friend and the senior senator from South Carolina. It was an act for Orrin Hatch, Rob Portman and nearly all of the other Republican members of Congress who attended the service.

It was an act because they have not kept faith with the principles that McCain held dear — and that he himself organized his memorial service to celebrate, as a clear rebuke to Trump and Trumpism. McConnell, Ryan, Graham and the others have instead done the very opposite of keeping faith. They have made possible Trump’s hateful, petty, law-defying politics.

Despite running a branch of government that the Constitution makes equal to the presidency, they have meekly assented to Trump. Entrusted with power, they have chosen complicity. 

They have refused to defend America’s national security in the face of Russian attacks. They have refused to defend the rule of law against Trump’s attacks. They have refused to defend the F.B.I., the Justice Department and the First Amendment. They have refused to defend the basic civil rights that Trump seeks to deny to dark-skinned American citizens, including the right to vote and the right to hold a passport. 

When George W. Bush said the following words in his eulogy for McCain, what did the congressional Republicans in attendance think that Bush possibly could have meant: 

“He was honorable, always recognizing that his opponents were still patriots and human beings. He loved freedom, with the passion of a man who knew its absence. He respected the dignity inherent in every life, a dignity that does not stop at borders and cannot be erased by dictators. Perhaps above all, John detested the abuse of power. He could not abide bigots and swaggering despots.”

When Barack Obama’s eulogy was organized around a recitation of McCain’s principles, what contrast could Obama have possibly been drawing:

“John cared about the institutions of self-government — our Constitution, our Bill of Rights, rule of law and separation of powers. … He understood that if we get in the habit of bending the truth to suit political expediency or party orthodoxy, our democracy will not work. … John understood, as J.F.K. understood, as Ronald Reagan understood, that part of what makes our country great is that our membership is based not on our bloodline; not on what we look like, what our last names are.”

And when Meghan McCain rose and did what her father advised for this occasion — she showed them how tough she was — surely the congressional Republicans knew exactly what she was referring to:

“The America of John McCain is generous and welcoming and bold. She is resourceful and confident and secure. She meets her responsibilities. She speaks quietly because she is strong. America does not boast because she has no need to. The America of John McCain has no need to be made great again because America was always great.”

The cathedral then broke into applause, not exactly a common occurrence during a eulogy.

Over the last few years, McCain sometimes struggled with how to respond to Trump. McCain first refused to endorse Trump, then caved, unfortunately, before ultimately revoking the endorsement. Once Trump took office, McCain went further in trying to restrain him than nearly any other Republican — but not as far as he could have. So McCain understood the political tensions facing the congressional Republicans he leaves behind: Trump remains extremely popular with Republican voters, and he can also help conservatives achieve their policy goals.

In the end, however, McCain saw the situation clearly. Political expediency and short-term policy goals are not worth undermining basic American values. It’s not even close.

In his final book, McCain described Trump’s behavior as “disturbing” and “appalling.” In one of McCain’s final public statements, he called out Trump’s “naïveté, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats.” And in McCain’s final public act, he turned his memorial service into a piercing alarm about a president of the United States damaging and threatening his own country.

The congressional Republicans inside the Washington National Cathedral on Saturday would surely say they came to honor John McCain. But they were there for show. Faced with a choice, they have rejected McCain’s America for Trump’s.

[bernorange 8348]

Principles? Lulz.

If you don't say nice things and honor the man at his funeral, you get chastized for being an unempathetic asshole.  If you do say nice things and hold your tongue on his shortcomings, you're a hypocrite.  Win win!

[suddenly shaggy 929]

In a perfect world, McCain wouldn't need to use his own funeral in an ultimately futile effort to teach his colleagues basic decency and rudimentary civics, but here we are. 

[Lucid 3]

Oldie but a goodie: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/09/john-mccain-world-attack-map-syria/

 

 

Great American.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

Dynamite drop in Borris. 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

 

[SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3861]

Potentially a good pick.  A R that isn’t going to run in 2020 means he might not be beholden to the same influences as most other R supporters. 

[RomaVicta 29775]

No disrespect, but I'm ready for this story to pass into history. I grew up without wall to wall coverage of deaths, viewings, wakes, funerals and burials. From the day McCain's plane went down, he behaved heroically as a soldier of the US. He had some fine moments on the national stage and some not so fine. A good life.

As with all of us, bury him and move on.

[Jiggy-Z 3432]

13 minutes ago, RomaVicta said:

No disrespect, but I'm ready for this story to pass into history. I grew up without wall to wall coverage of deaths, viewings, wakes, funerals and burials. From the day McCain's plane went down, he behaved heroically as a soldier of the US. He had some fine moments on the national stage and some not so fine. A good life.

As with all of us, bury him and move on.

Yeah.  Add this to the list of week long birthday and bachelor(ette) parties, endless "support the troops" shows, and Superbowl halftime as things that go on too long.  Enough already.

[Mo Horn 8807]

1 hour ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

Potentially a good pick.  A R that isn’t going to run in 2020 means he might not be beholden to the same influences as most other R supporters. 

I lived in Arizona when he was in office. I'd be shocked if he didn't fall right in step with the rest of the GOP in the Senate. He was one of the most conservative senators at the time and I don't expect that he's changed any. 

[Bateshorn 9898]

1 hour ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

Potentially a good pick.  A R that isn’t going to run in 2020 means he might not be beholden to the same influences as most other R supporters. 

He's an anodyne GOP vote, like Roger Wicker or Mike Enzi.  He isn't going to rock the boat.  

Best of all, he's been working on K street, so he doesn't have to move.  They can swear him in this evening if they want.

[SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3861]

9 minutes ago, Mo Horn said:

I lived in Arizona when he was in office. I'd be shocked if he didn't fall right in step with the rest of the GOP in the Senate. He was one of the most conservative senators at the time and I don't expect that he's changed any. 

My hope is that since he left the Senate before the Trumpism, 'conservative' means more the 2010 vintage conservatism than the 2016 and on version.  He hasn't had to show fealty to Trump and change his views based on that.  

[Mo Horn 8807]

7 minutes ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

My hope is that since he left the Senate before the Trumpism, 'conservative' means more the 2010 vintage conservatism than the 2016 and on version.  He hasn't had to show fealty to Trump and change his views based on that.  

Hope you are right. And the fact that he's already said he won't run in 2020. It would be a pleasant surprise. 

[yaqdum 182]

thinking about mccain and then stephen hawking, i realized somebody needs to keep a list of well known people who die while this mess is unfolding.  people who knew it was going on and never learned the outcome.