On the death of a flawed maverick

There aren't many GOP leaders that I liked.  Well, not that many Democratic folks either.  But, at least there are moments of a person that I have liked.

John McCain was one of those who I liked at least a little bit, despite the many, many contexts in which I found him to be nothing more than yet-another-politician.  His role in the savings-and-loans disaster was one of my formative political lessons in my new country.  His war mongering I thoroughly disliked. It was McCain who gave us sarah palin and joe-the-plumber, remember?  And palin helped transform the GOP into a party of idiots and anti-science people, which eventually gave us the fuhrer we now have in the Oval Office.

When he was battling for the GOP nomination in 2000, his "Straight talk express" was scheduled to arrive in Bakersfield, where I lived then.  I went to the public park to see him, and listen to him, but his bus was running late and I left.  But, I did pick up a yard sign supporting him--even though I was not a registered party member (I have never been a member of any political party.)  If a Republican had to win in the elections in 2000, McCain would have been much better than the simpleton W.

McCain's half-assed response to a comment about Obama being an Arab has always bothered me.

No, that isn't manning up @StephenKing. The notion that Arabs cannot be decent family men is racist.

In retrospect, and for Arabs, this was one of John McCain's more shameful moments. https://t.co/frL6W7bobc

— Khaled Beydoun (@KhaledBeydoun) August 26, 2018

But, I have always figured that no politician is ever going to be a saint, and flawed they all are.  Among the flawed on the national scene, McCain was certainly one of the best.

One of the best aspects of his personal life was also a major reason that W beat McCain.  W and his filthy crew that was headed by karl rove went after the racism that is part and parcel of the GOP.

Rove invented a uniquely injurious fiction for his operatives to circulate via a phony poll. Voters were asked, "Would you be more or less likely to vote for John McCain…if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?"

It was a cold, calculated question. Because, McCain had a dark-skinned daughter--the Bangladeshi girl they had adopted.

Bridget McCain was a seriously ill baby in Mother Teresa's orphanage when Cindy McCain visited and decided to bring her back to the United States for medical treatment in 1991. John and Cindy adopted her not long after.

In my book, this alone makes up for all his political mistakes.

Happy birthday to my beautiful daughter Bridget! pic.twitter.com/hHDItsXoID

— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) July 22, 2015

Thanks, Senator McCain.