“In Praise of John McCain, Senator from Arizona”
October 17, 2017
The Honorable John Sidney McCain III, Senior Senator from Arizona, elected to his 5th term in the U.S. Senate in 2016, was presented the Constitutional Center Liberty Medal. Senator McCain has served as the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee since January 3, 2015. Prior to that he served as Chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee (2005-2007) and Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee (2003-2005). From 1983-1987 he served the 1st District of Arizona in the US House of Representatives. In 2008 John McCain was the Republican Nominee for President of the United States.
Prior to serving in the US House of Representatives, John McCain served in the US Navy from 1958-1981 and achieved the rank of Captain. In October, 1967 while serving as a Naval Aviator, he was shot down and injured. Captured by the North Vietnamese, John McCain was a Prisoner of War, enduring torture by the North Vietnamese captors. From this he has suffered life-long disabilities. Retiring from the US Navy in 1981, he was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1982, serving two terms.
During the awarding of the Constitutional Center Liberty Medal, which is reserved for those who have given a lifetime of service to this country, Senator John McCain gave a most memorable speech. I am quoting today a portion of his speech which was recorded by Jonathan Chait of NY Mag.com. This speech was given last night, October 16, 2017, coincidentally while President Donald Trump was at a fund raiser in Greenville, South Carolina, about 15 minutes from my home. I did not go to hear the President. I did not want to go. I would have given anything to have been present for Senator John McCain’s speech, which is why I am quoting this now. Senator John McCain, in his acceptance speech for this medal gave a spirited speech on leadership and provided a strong critique of the policies and intentions of the current administration. An excerpt of what he said follows:
The Senator derided “half-baked spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems,” liking it to “any other tired dogma of the past that Americans consigned to the ash heap of history.” John McCain in the larger speech reminded us, according to John Kirby, CNN National Security Analyst, “of who we are as a people and, perhaps more importantly, who we were.” He recalled a moving speech by President George H.W. Bush that extolled the bravery of those killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
He remembered America as “the land of the immigrant’s dream, the land with the storied past forgotten in the rush to the imagined future.” And he spoke of the international order the United States helped create after two world wars and how that order benefited not only millions of people around the worked but our own citizens at home.
“We have done great good in the world,” he said. “That leadership has had its costs, but we have become incomparably powerful and wealthy as we did.” Our land is a “land of ideals, not blood and soil.” (Senator John McCain)
(John Kirby is a retired rear admiral in the US Navy who served as a spokesman for both the State and Defense departments in the Obama administration. He concludes: “McCain comments are a reminder of who we are, how we’ll come out of the dangerous political moment stronger.”)
While serving in the US Navy from 1958 – 1981 Captain John McCain received the following military honors:
Silver Star
Bronze Star (3) with Combat “V”
Purple Heart
Legion of Merit (2) with Combat ‘V”
The Navy and Marine Distinguished Flying Cross
Commendation Medal (2) with Combat “V”
John McCain graduated from the US Naval Academy, 1958. He is married and has seven children.
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I have searched the public records to see if President Trump has ever offered any comparable service to his country. I have found no record of service to any social or national organization, nor in the armed forces. I have found no record of any elected office in which President Trump served before he was elected President of the United States in 2016. He has never even served as mayor of a small community. He has, however, been directly involved in over 500 law suits. President Trump never received any medals of any type for any reason. He has made and lost a lot of money in real estate, some of it dealing with the Russians. He has never received any national honors of any kind.
In searching all the records of public service, we might be led to ask, “Which of these two men should be our President?” A great mistake has been made in the history of the United States!
Today we celebrate the life and public service of the Honorable Senator from Arizona, John McCain. We have nothing at all to celebrate about our egocentric president. This concludes my statement for today.
“O Lord Jesus Christ, Lord of Lord and King of Kings, and the Redeemer of all people. Thank you, dear Lord, for honorable men who have served this country with a lifetime of generous service, even to the point of being willing to give his own life in service to our nation and its ideals. Our brother, O Lord, is now dying of brain cancer. Yet his life is a shining light of hope, faith and courage in this most dark of hours in our nation. He is the Light of Day among us, in a land with so few leaders who speak for truth, justice and for the American ideals. He represents for us Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. In this one man we see our dreams realized and fully embodied. Remember John McCain, O Lord Jesus Christ, a leader of men and women and a servant of your kingdom. Bless him, honor and keep him, both now and in his dying hour. Grant him to see the Light of Your New Day! We pray in your blessed name, to whom be all praise, glory, honor and blessing, both now and forever. Amen and Amen.”
The voice of one crying in this wilderness, “Make straight in this desert a highway for our God!”
Tweety Bird 