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Senator John McCain, after suffering a long battle with a brain tumor, finally passed away on August 25, at the age of 81. The Senator was one of the more influential members of the Congress during my lifetime. For both better and worse, his opinion on the policy issues of the day have driven much of the debate in this country for over the last two decades.
Also, “RINO” is an actual political definition.
I read Breitbart’s book when it came out. That’s where I first heard about the Frankfurt school and critical theory. I thought it was a good book. I never saw any criticism of it. We’re living it out in spades now, especially because the tea party was more or less neutralized.
Who gets the most attention on Twitter? The whack jobs. Their blatherings are reconstituted as the opinion of everyone allegedly on their side.
The signal-to-noise ratio is way too low.
I didn’t say I hate McCain. I certainly disagreed with him on a number of political stances, but that’s not hatred.
Many people have served this country with honor, grace, and distinction without having the flag lowered for them at all. It was lowered for McCain because he was a sitting Senator at the time of his death. Lowering the flag for any reason outside of what is officially described in the flag code is up to the President’s discretion.
John McCain did not like Donald Trump, and because of this asked that the sitting President not give him special honors a President would normally extend someone with his history of service (attending his funeral, giving an eulogy, etc). By giving him nothing more than what official code said he is due, Trump respected McCain’s wishes. You are complaining that McCain was not given special recognition beyond his due and against his wishes, then claiming that thinking this is right impugns my character?
They shamed the White House into changing the flag protocol because _________.
I have my opinion.
John McCain was a humble man. While it can be argued that all people should be given what they are asked for at the time of their departure, this has not always been carried out, nor should it be, I would say. A man of distinction is due certain things, especially when he has been so public a man.
If you say that you did not hate McCain, I’ll take your word for it. Donald Trump certainly gave every indication that he hated McCain, when, for no reason at all, he denied him his hero statis years ago, by saying that he did not like men who had been captured. This from a man who had not served one hour in uniform. The way he has conducted himself throughout this ordeal will be a blot on his name and reputation – along with everything else he has said and done since announcing for the Presidency.
Two thoughts.
First, President Trump and Senator McCain are/were each strongly polarizing figures, with many decent people and reasonable arguments on both sides in each case. Perhaps it would be wise to bury their enmity along with the late Senator, chalk it up to a clash of powerful and independent spirits, and move on.
Secondly, quite a bit of what President Trump has said and done since becoming President pleases me very much and, I think, reflects well on him. Quite a bit of what he’s said, and a little bit of what he’s done, displeases me as well and, I think, reflects poorly on him.
When it comes to President Trump, Ricochet is a little center-right microcosm of the larger social media world, a place where hyperbole and misplaced absolutism tend to run away with us. I think we should fight that very human tendency to simplify people to caricatures and then idolize or demonize the results.
What would be perfect right now would be for @davesussman to interview Minnesota’s own @Shabbosgoy on the current nature of the media and the political system. One hour. He’s been on Fox and all kinds of regional media.
I’m sorry, Henry. I guess I admire your attempt to be peace-maker, but I have become increasingly appalled by the President’s behavior in many things. Except for trade, his policies have been exemplary. But, as you well know, public life is more than policy. Like it or not, we do look to our leaders for guidance, and to fashion good behavior. The fact that many throughout history have failed at this should not keep us from hoping for this outcome, and for decrying the men and women who do not give it to us.
Donald Trump is a disgusting human being, and as much as I am glad he won the election, and has given us a fine collection of judges, I shall never forgive him for further staining the Presidency, and giving our children the idea that it doesn’t matter that good people serve in our most cherished institutions or not. It is only policy that matters.
That is the way I see it.
I understand. And I certainly won’t try to change your mind; I also have serious problems with President Trump.
But what you said was that everything he’s said and done is a blot on his presidency. We can disagree without going overboard in our rhetoric.
For the record, I don’t know how anyone can be very knowledgeable about any of the scandals McCain has on his record. I heard he had a vicious political machine working on his behalf, though.
I know a lot of people maimed from being in a war. None of them voted to not repeal Obamacare. None of them were in the Keating 5.
Is this the comedy channel? No one that runs for national office is humble, even less so those that win. John McCain is the antithesis of humble by any definition.
Clay Travis had a great point on his “Outkick the Coverage” blog this week that ESPN got itself into trouble by thinking the angry blatherings of progressive whack jobs on Twitter represented some huge mass of fandom out and about across America, in part because the whack job’s liberal ideas jibed with their own thinking. They wanted to believe there was some huge audience out there craving a huge mix of woke politics with sports, because Twitter told them so, and former ESPN president John Skipper then built a lineup to feed the Twitter trolls, but which drove everyone else away.
Pull out a little from just ESPN to ABC News, or CNN, MSNBC and the rest, and the same phenomenon is happening — liberal execs see angry progressive twetters who post way above their signal-to-noise ratio, and because they in general share the same beliefs, convince themselves that the Twitter trolls somehow are the majority, and craft their programming to make them happy (and then when the ratings don’t come because of that, tell advertisers in the fractured media world of 2018, it’s almost impossible to get better ratings with so many viewing options, so there’s no reason not to pander to the angry Twitter trolls, because they’re a larger audience than the group of viewers who don’t want hyper-partisan, angry programming).
Fine. Be honest. We all have egos. Especially politicians. It doesn’t detract from his humility. He often made fun of himself. That is the hallmark of true humility. I appreciate the fact that you don’t want to bash him, and I appreciate it. But why must we quibble over everything? John McCain was a humble man. Why can’t we give him his due?
Again we don’t choose to give him his due. Fine, he wasn’t humble the way Mother Teresa was humble. But he was humble. Next thing you’ll be saying is that Ronald Reagan was not humble. There are degrees to things. Is this hated and attack on this decent man ever going to stop? It is truly disgusting how one can’t be permitted to say a kind word about him.
I’m through talking to people who will show no decency.
He’s a media sensation and a war hero.
You can say kind things about him. I’m sure he loved his dog. And his child. And his wife, so long as she wasn’t crippled in a car accident. But he had a mercurial temper, an enormous conceit, and was anything but humble. An occasional bit of self-deprecation intended to deflect criticism is not a sign of humility.
Ronald Reagan was not humble, but it’s not as easy to see. He was an actor and he well understood the value of presenting a positive image. The difference, among many others, between Reagan and McCain is that Reagan did things for the people of this nation based on his belief in the merits of individual freedom. McCain did things for himself and had no discernable ideology.
Ronald Reagan busted his (colloquialism) studying policy, and philosophy, and figuring out how to communicate it. I wonder who even comes close, these days. He would have wiped out the ACA without a second thought.
He was a Senator. Very few Senators are humble. If he was humble he would have resigned when diagnosed. The people of Arizona deserve an active and mentally competent Senator. Instead, he selfishly hung onto the job, because he liked being treated like royalty. The whole flag controversy would not have happened, if he would have resigned last year. I expect most Senators would make the same choice.
Because he was not gracious or particularly humble. During the 1992 campaign three reporters witnessed him calling Cindy a “trollop” and Samantha Bee’s favorite “C” word in front of his aides because she had the audacity to kid him about his thinning hair. He regularly berated fellow Senators, and even ordinary citizens with language totally unacceptable on prime time television let alone these pages.
His list of screwups is longer than your arm. He always fell back on his name and the mythology of his own creation.
I can’t give him his due for being humble. Sorry. Doesn’t mean he wasn’t a great man. Even with his faults I have a great amount of admiration for the man. He joins great company for non-humble human beings. George Patton and Michael Jordan weren’t or aren’t humble.
So Now you like reporters, when they say something you like! The hate continues, and all I can say is that I hope God forgives you for it. I won’t.
At least I will give you points for not being venomous. And I am glad you admire him. I thank you for that. He was a great man. I do disagree about the humility. Of course he was. There are degrees of that. If he didn’t have a nice amount of humility, he would have gone home when he was offered that option in Vietnam.
Thank you for your comments. We disagree, to an extent. But you sound like a good man.
Oh, George. I’m not looking for your forgiveness, nor anyone’s “permission.” I certainly have no delusions about Trump, McCain or any other mere mortal. Both are self-made men, in as much that they both created a mythology about themselves. The difference is, you apparently buy into McCain’s. And from as far as I can tell, most Trump supporters don’t buy into his, they simply don’t care if it’s true or not. (Which seems to be the most infuriating thing they could possibly do.)
Ok so disagreeing about the character or legacy of a Senator is now a mortal sin that needs God’s forgiveness but will get none from you?
I like reporters when they report straight facts with direct quotes from named sources and the sources will corroborate the story if asked. All of these things did happen. They are all part of who John McCain was, we have no saints in public office. He was a War Hero and a jerk.
I have been accused in comments and in the pod casts of being a member of a cult for supporting Trump. I fully admit Trump has flaws, I just don’t prioritize them above other things. You seem unwilling to accept the documented failings of a mortal man. Maybe there is a “cult” of John McCain.
I think we’ve reached the point of no return; we are two separate countries, and we should take steps to make it formal.
There are nominal Republicans that are more statist than Trump that accuse him of being statist. The left and the Keynesians have us right where they want us.