NOTE - the second half of this was originally written before his burial. Obviously, the things at the beginning were added to it.
We are living in historic times. Today, Cory Booker risked being thrown out of the Senate for releasing confidential e-mails on Brett Kavanaugh's judicial feelings on racial profiling and abortion. Yes, he's a potential Presidential candidate, but desperate times call for definite responses. Like or hate his politics, you have to respect his decision to put it all on the line while the partisan status quo rushes forward Trump's Supreme Court nominee.
That said, Kamala Harris has been incendiary on taking the nominee to task as well.
The future will not wait with so much at stake... such as whether a Supreme Court nominee feels Trump could pardon himself for his own crimes.
But Kavanaugh is "empathetic" to those people not like him. In his own magnanimous words:
"I understand for example, well, to start, I understand the situation of homeless people because I see them on a regular basis when I’m serving meals."
Yesterday, an anonymous senior White House staff member wrote an op-ed for the New York Times.
It said the following (as well as other things):
There is a quiet resistance within the administration of people choosing to put country first. But the real difference will be made by everyday citizens rising above politics, reaching across the aisle and resolving to shed the labels in favor of a single one: Americans.
It may be cold comfort in this chaotic era, but Americans should know that there are adults in the room. We fully recognize what is happening. And we are trying to do what’s right even when Donald Trump won’t.
The majority of the essay was about how Trump's own team has to babysit him and keep him from signing orders that could mess up the world.
With a "President" who is hesitant to reign in Moscow, it's scary to think about Russia telling the U.S. it is prepared to attack an area in Syria where American troops patrol.
Prior to John McCain's death, the following last letter was released saying this (as well as other things):
Do not despair of our present difficulties but believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here. Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history.
We are three-hundred-and-twenty-five million opinionated, vociferous individuals. We argue and compete and sometimes even vilify each other in our raucous public debates. But we have always had so much more in common with each other than in disagreement. If only we remember that and give each other the benefit of the presumption that we all love our country we will get through these challenging times. We will come through them stronger than before. We always do.
Thank you for the privilege of serving you and for the rewarding life that service in uniform and in public office has allowed me to lead. I have tried to serve our country honorably. I have made mistakes, but I hope my love for America will be weighed favorably against them.
We are three-hundred-and-twenty-five million opinionated, vociferous individuals. We argue and compete and sometimes even vilify each other in our raucous public debates. But we have always had so much more in common with each other than in disagreement. If only we remember that and give each other the benefit of the presumption that we all love our country we will get through these challenging times. We will come through them stronger than before. We always do.
Thank you for the privilege of serving you and for the rewarding life that service in uniform and in public office has allowed me to lead. I have tried to serve our country honorably. I have made mistakes, but I hope my love for America will be weighed favorably against them.
Farewell, fellow Americans. God bless you, and God bless America.
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Today, Twitter ejected Alex Jones rather than allow itself to be a platform for his conspiracy hate. Yesterday, he tried to instigate Marco Rubio, who didn't bite.
"I know you've got to cover them, but you give these guys way too much attention," Rubio told reporters on Capitol Hill. "We're making crazy people superstars. So, we (are) going to get crazier people."
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After what the Trump fans called the FLIGHT 93 ELECTION (the linked article mirrors the alt-right with the alt-left in how they are both choosing to disrupt politics as usual with radical change - and not in a good way), there are 2 takes on whether McCain's funeral was a resistance event... FOR people to stand up for necessary change and AGAINST radical change, but rather to collaborate to make things better in a taking back the Republican party kind of way (from the Breitbart / Hannity / Alex Jones gangs). As the latter article says:
For those of us who’ve never been Republicans, it’s easy to say that perspective is wrong. For those who are, it must be a genuinely difficult choice. But it’s a choice that has been made — in 2018, America will either elect a Congress that continues to bolster Trump’s regime or it will elect one that tries to erode it. Those resisting Trump are pushing for one kind of Congress, and those not pushing for an anti-Trump Congress aren’t resisting Trump.
With the next event in the Trump resistance being THIS explosive book Fear (which Trump talked to writer Bob Woodward about HERE), I feel it's a call to take back our country. Whether that classifies as resistance or not, it may not be for the radical left, like we often view protest, but it is a declaration against the insane right.
The same can be said for the intentions of the 2017 Women's March and the March for Science, though this holds more power.
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In a world where Brett Kavanaugh's history is deliberately hidden, to fight against a rush job confirmation with so much on the line (pre-existing conditions), the Republican force to push him into a lifetime position, is the correct thing to do. We don't need more time. We've had enough. Eject him from the position before he gets to it and can allow Trump to Pardon himself. Prepare the 25th Amendment to remove an out of control man from a seat of power. This isn't the WWE. This is real life.
Meghan McCain (typed speech here)
John McCain was defined by love. This love of my father for
my mother was the most fierce and lasting of them all, Mom. Let me tell you
what love meant to John McCain and to me.
His love was the love of a father who mentors as much as he
comforts. He was endlessly present for us. And though we did not always
understand it, he was always teaching. He didn't expect us to be like him. His
ambition for us, unmoored from any worldly achievement, was to be better than
him, armed with his wisdom and informed by his experiences, long before we
were even old enough to have assembled our own.
As a girl I didn't appreciate what I most fully appreciate
now; how he suffered and how he bore it with a stoic silence that was once the
mark of an American man.
I came to appreciate it first when he demanded it of me. I
was a small girl, thrown from a horse and crying from a busted collarbone. My
dad picked me up. He took me to the doctor, he got me all fixed up. Then he
immediately took me back home and made me get back on that very same
horse. I was furious at him as a child, but how I love him for it now.
My father knew pain and suffering with an intimacy and
immediacy that most of us are blessed never to have endured. He was shot down,
he was crippled, he was beaten, he was starved, he was tortured and he was
humiliated. That pain never left him. The cruelty of his Communist captors
ensured he would never raise his arms above his head for the rest of his life.
Yet he survived. Yet he endured. Yet he triumphed. And there was this man who
had been through all that with a little girl who simply didn't want to get back
on her horse.He could have sat me down and told me that and made me feel small
because my complaint and fear was nothing next to his pain and memory. Instead,
he made me feel loved. "Meghan," he said in his quiet voice that
spoke with authority and meant you had best obey. "Get back on the
horse." I did. And because I was a little girl, I resented it. Now that I
am a woman, I look back across that time and see the expression on his face
when I climbed back up and rode again, and see the pride and love in his eyes
as he said "Nothing is going to break you."
For the rest of my life, whenever I fall down, I get back
up. Whenever I am hurt, I drive on. Whenever I am brought low, I rise. That is
not because I am virtuous, strong, resilient, it is simply because my father,
John McCain, was.
When my father got sick, when I asked him what he wanted me
to do with this eulogy, he said, "Show them how tough you are." That
is what love meant to John McCain.
Barack Obama (full speech HERE)
“It’s a politics that pretends to be brave, but in fact is born of fear. John called on us to be bigger than that. He called on us to be better than that.”
Joe Biden (speech quotes HERE)
"It wasn't about politics with John. He could disagree on substance, but the underlying values that animated everything John did, everything he was, come to a different conclusion. He'd part company with you if you lacked the basic values of decency, respect, knowing this project is bigger than yourself."
Lindsey Graham (best friend in the Senate)
George W. Bush
"We are better than this. America is better than this."
Larry Fitzgerald (football player)
After hearing all of these speeches, I wonder what Putitn's speech will be like at Trump's funeral. I can't imagine too many other people other than Vince McMahon coming (since Trump's NFL knee comments benefit him the most).
It's one thing to not like a person. It's another thing to tarnish the office you work in with intentional disrespect toward a fellow government servant after he / she dies. This is why I WILL NOT RESPECT a de facto President who can't respect his position.
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We can't always get what we want, no matter what side we're on, as the Rolling Stones sang, but Obamacare went on, even if the individual mandate later vanished, as did the birth control mandate. However, before it did, McCain tried to force debate in a utilitarian way - not just whoever is in charge at the minute gets whatever he / she wants.
McCain was a Republican who knew that sometimes it costs money to get the right things. I can imagine this "maverick" wore his RINO (Republican in Name Only, as they called him) tag with pride, crossing the aisles to save the filibuster to debate Bush 2's judicial nominees and to create an immigration plan. Hell, he even stood against his friend Lindsey Graham's plan when Trump was in his by any means necessary, destroy ACA / Obamacare as fast as possible (as well as anything else Obama did).
This is a great expression of McCain's fight to force debate on a plan that mandates coverage for pre-existing conditions (something that my Parkie self can and does fight for). In the same way that he didn't like the party line vote for Obamacare, he sure didn't like being dragged back to symbolically be the person to destroy it. Why make the same mistake twice just to obey his theoretical party-line master?
Yes, McCain may have voted for things that came next (as some people attacked him for), but at least he created debate first... not caving into partisan politics and step in line with the blowhard in charge (or else - no matter who that is - from the right or left). Real leaders know that very few decisions need to be made immediately, and if they don't, the point it to ponder.
For all of his disagreement with Bush 2 and Obama, they will speak in his honor at his funeral this week.
Despite their differences, Obama still said THIS about his one-time opponent, even after McCain caved to his party's ideology to think he had a better chance to get elected (even taking Sarah Palin onboard to completely sink his ship instead of his choice of Joe Lieberman).
Despite their differences, W said THIS to eulogize his opponent.
Lots of people who weren't aboard the McCain train said nice things. As for the "president," Trump had to be made to fly the flag at half mast.
McCain, though running for election against Obama, once took down a racist making stupid comments to defend Obama. He also braved the party-line hatred to honor the man who would be president when it came time to concede. And yes, they traded barbs along the way with McCain's inability to know how much property he owned being used against him, but in the end, they mended fences.
Because that's what civil people do.
In a world where people who never served try to vilify McCain for his time in POW Hell, John survived those horrible days with permanent injuries. I'm not sure how long it would take ass clowns who attacked his character (like Milo) to scream "Do it to Julia," but the fact is McCain endured torture, came to oppose torture, and still had to deal with barbs like that while being accused by W's campaign of being too angry and reactionary to lead the nation (and Obama's campaign of being so old he might die in office - then again, the GOP did that, too - more on Kelli Ward later).
AUTHOR'S NOTE - even in the eulogies, much was made of McCain's "famous" temper.
That said, if you're a former POW, like James Stockdale (who never gave in), have at. That said, Stockdale respected McCain for his years in that nightmare. If you're so inclined to believe the smear merchants, keep on keeping on. That's what you're inclined to believe, and you have the right to believe what you want.
This is still a free country where you're allowed to think for yourself, even if it's to spread hate to encourage an all out holy war (though Wilders is Dutch, there's enough American whackos that would have came out to play on THIS - see this about Pamela Geller's American Freedom Defense Initiative's 2015 Texas soiree than ended with a security guard shot and two attackers killed).
Shouldn't there be underground Fight Clubs so these people who want their extremist crap can take each other out instead of hurting the rest of us?
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For the rest of us, just use your rights to believe what your eyes see... not what the party line and conspiracy nonsense tells you to believe.
As the anonymous op-ed in the New York Times said:
The root of the problem is the president’s amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making.
Although he was elected as a Republican, the president shows little affinity for ideals long espoused by conservatives: free minds, free markets and free people. At best, he has invoked these ideals in scripted settings. At worst, he has attacked them outright.
UNFORTUNATELY, the partisan right looks at this act to restore dignity to the administration (which it stands with and for) as TREASON and demands the writer quit.
It's like they want the ship to sink.
Mind you, losing the House and / or Senate in fall will ensure the demise of the Republican party as those who are a part of it know it to be. In a country that needs many voices and legitimate middle of the road debate, for either the GOP or the Democrats to go off the rails, we would sink further into the swamp.
This can't be.
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That said with opposition like those in charge, sometimes, I'd like to have my own restaurant to keep people out when they can't play nice with others. Let's face it; some people's money just isn't worth it. Then again, some companies make money to stand up for their ideological causes, whether we agree with them or not. For those who feel hate for it, cut off your Swoosh. The money is in the bank.
You don't have to pay to play anymore, but there are plenty more who will, and many of them are Nike's target audience as opposed to many opponents who weren't.
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That said, for the self righteous, just remember, it's OK to protest when it's for slights to Sarah Huckabee Sanders or Trump, not his enemies. I may not be a Kaepernick fan on or off the field, but he has his 1st Amendment right to make a political stance for his cause. People have the right to tune out and not buy, but this is America... not partisan fueled outrage. While I don't support all of what he's saying, I realize why he does. Oh yeah, this is a great ad campaign that must have inspired Senator Cory Booker.
BTW - this is a great editorial on the situation.Historically, see Muhammad Ali's conscientious objection and Curt Flood's "well paid slave statement."
When you look at most of McCain's haters, they were either harder right (a respectable place to be since they've at least rationalized their beliefs as I have my own and they stand by them when they make sense) or downright "crazy" (a place unworthy of respect because it defends thee old cause no matter what - let's call it Palinland, where one minute, you're ready for war with Russia and the next, they want to hang out with you).
Ben Folds / Nick Hornby - Levi Johnson's Blues
In a world with an administration that hates the McCain point of view and appoints candidates to head the EPA on the basis that they would never do this (SEE VIDEO BELOW), I'd love to own a Chinese restaurant so that if I had to serve people like Sanders (which this new Supreme Court said I don't have to do - provided it goes against my core values), I could bring out the new and improved pu pu platter to people like her and KELLI WARD who somehow think McCain's choice to go off meds and DIE was aimed at her campaign. Oh, to live in Arizona so I could at least vote against her.
In the end, John McCain was my favorite politician who lived in my lifetime. He made a difference for many people. What's more; he chose to die with dignity, calling off the fight against cancer treatment and choosing to shuffle off this mortal coil on his terms. Politics aside, we can look at a beautifully imperfect life and say, "He made a difference."
It sure beats letting a draft dodger tell us what isn't heroic as he gets bought and sold by the KGB and the US really and truly needs to be made great after we sanitize this administration's office.
Joe Biden / Cory Booker 2020.
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