6A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2018
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
Founded in 1873
JIM VAN NOSTRAND
Editor
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM
Business Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
McCain might have been last of his kind
erhaps nothing personifies the late
Sen. John McCain better than this
episode from his 2008 presiden-
tial campaign.
At a campaign rally, a woman said
she did not trust Democratic presidential
candidate Barack Obama because “he’s
an Arab.”
McCain, a Republican, quickly
responded. “No, ma’am. He’s a decent
family man, a citizen that I just happen
to have disagreements with on funda-
mental issues.”
Ten years later, such civility and such
accuracy seem uncommon. McCain,
who died Saturday of brain cancer
at age 81, might have been the last
of his kind. If so, that would be truly
unfortunate.
This is not to canonize McCain, or
to immediately jump on the bandwagon
for renaming the Russell Senate Office
Building after McCain, as Oregon Sen.
Jeff Merkley and others have proposed.
McCain may well be deserving of
that honor. But it’s too early to objec-
tively assess his legacy. Indeed, that
building where many U.S. senators have
their offices is named after a Democratic
senator from Georgia — Richard B.
Russell, who served from 1933 to 1971
— whose segregationist views and stri-
dent opposition to the Civil Rights Act
of 1964 would be anathema to most
people today.
“The history books will be kind to
John McCain because our country is so
much better for his straight talk, com-
mon sense, maverick ways and passion-
ate service,” said former Oregon Sen.
Gordon Smith, who served in the Senate
P
AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin
Cindy McCain, wife of the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., lays her head on his casket
during a memorial service at the Arizona Capitol.
‘… We weaken our greatness when we
confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries
that have sown resentment and hatred and
violence in all the corners of the globe.’
with McCain, though they did not
always agree, and who now heads the
National Association of Broadcasters.
McCain, like the rest of us, was
flawed. He made mistakes. But what he
did with his life was extraordinary.
A Navy aviator, his fidelity to the
U.S. and his courage while a North
Vietnamese prisoner of war became the
stuff of legend. Elected to Congress in
1982, he was chosen by Arizonans four
years later to succeed the equally leg-
endary and erstwhile Republican presi-
dential candidate Barry Goldwater.
McCain generally was conservative,
but like Goldwater, he held broad views
that defied simplistic labels.
He teamed with Democrat Russ
Feingold to successfully push cam-
paign reform, only to have it partially
undone by the courts. He ardently sup-
ported a strong U.S. military while tena-
ciously fighting pork-barrel spending by
the Pentagon. He worked to restore U.S.
diplomatic relations with Vietnam, the
country that caused him so much pain.
He was a leader on immigration reform,
which Congress unwisely let fail. He
took a chance on a little-known Alaskan
governor, Sarah Palin, choosing her as
his vice presidential running mate. He
voted to uphold Obamacare.
And not to avoid the obvious, in
recent times he defied President Donald
Trump’s shallow disdain for him.
Character, commitment and a mav-
erick sensibility defined McCain. Let us
remember his final words to Americans,
released after his death.
“… We weaken our greatness when
we confuse our patriotism with tribal
rivalries that have sown resentment and
hatred and violence in all the corners
of the globe. We weaken it when we
hide behind walls, rather than tear them
down, when we doubt the power of our
ideals, rather than trust them to be the
great force for change they have always
been.
“We are 325 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 dis-
agreement. If only we remember that
and give each other the benefit of the
presumption that we all love our coun-
try, we will get through these challeng-
ing times. We will come through them
stronger than before. We always do. …”
GUEST COLUMN
LETTERS
What Sen. McCain didn’t do
By PATRICIA MURPHY
CQ-Roll Call
ASHINGTON — When we all
look back at the life of Sen. John
McCain, it’s easy to focus on all
that he did — the sacrifice and victories, the
wounds of war and the joy in service. But for
me, it was something that McCain chose not to
do years ago that I’ll always be grateful for.
It was 2002 and my boss, Georgia Sen.
Max Cleland, was in a re-election fight so
ugly, many of us on his staff frankly didn’t
know how to respond. Would voters really
believe that Cleland, a triple amputee from
the Vietnam War, was so blindly partisan that
he would work against America’s national
security and for the Democratic Party instead?
That was the accusation against him in the
campaign.
Cleland had been a lifelong Democrat,
but routinely partnered with Republicans in
Washington, either senators on the Armed
Services Committee to fight for men and
women in the military, or with House members
in the Georgia delegation, to deliver for the
state’s needs back home. Especially in the
months after 9/11, politics in Washington
seemed to fade into the background as mem-
bers of Congress worked together, urgently and
regardless of party, to do whatever they needed
to do to protect the country from the attacks
that might come next.
It was probably naive at the time to think
that the Republicans who had worked so much
with Cleland in Washington would not then
campaign against him when the next election
came around, but that’s exactly what happened.
The race tightened and then turned. It was
politics, after all, and the goal of politics was to
win. Always.
W
Notable holdout
Except when it came to Sen. John McCain.
Unlike other Republicans, he told Cleland he
would not campaign against him and he didn’t.
Along with fellow Republican Sen. Chuck
Hagel (another Vietnam combat veteran),
McCain also denounced an attack ad that put
photos of Cleland alongside Osama bin Laden
and Saddam Hussein and accused the senator
of lying and failing to protect the country at a
time of war. While others were silent, McCain
spoke out against it. “I’ve never seen anything
like that ad,” he told The Washington Post.
“It’s worse than disgraceful, it’s reprehensible.”
McCain’s statement didn’t make a major
difference in the race. Cleland still lost. But it
made a difference to those of us who needed to
believe that some things were more important
McCain is a hero
and a loved American
want to thank the men and women of the
military who serve, or have served our
country for telling that sad man in the White
House that he was wrong. I also thank the
members of American Legion for doing the
same.
What a mockery to lower the flag half
mast, then raise it full. Then, after all the com-
plaints from people in the U.S. and other peo-
ple of the world, that sad man in the White
House lowers it half mast again under pres-
sure from us, the people.
How did this happen to our beloved coun-
try? Sen. John McCain is a hero and a loved
American. He is a “real man.” May he rest in
peace.
A. DIANE FINUCANE
Warrenton
I
Thank you Sen. McCain,
for all you gave us
AP Photo/Matt Rourke
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., receives the Liberty Medal in 2017 from the National Consti-
tution Center in Philadelphia. The honor is given annually to an individual who displays
courage and conviction while striving to secure liberty for people worldwide.
than politics and that there were leaders in
Washington who believed that, too. McCain,
Cleland and Hagel were three of the six
Vietnam veterans in the Senate at the time.
They all knew the costs of war and the incred-
ible gifts of the country they fought — and
could have died — for. For them, every day,
nothing was more important than country.
Two years later, McCain did something
similar for Sen. John Kerry, who had clinched
the Democratic nomination for president when
a group of veterans cut an ad attacking his
actions during Vietnam. McCain called that
ad “dishonest and dishonorable” and said the
White House should condemn it. That same
year, McCain told Fox News, “John Kerry is
a friend of mine. I don’t choose to attack or
disparage him and I will not.” He went on:
“I know that having a friend in Washington
from another party is not acceptable to some
in Washington. I have two words for them: too
bad.”
I left Capitol Hill after the Cleland race.
But thanks to McCain, I didn’t lose my faith in
politics or the dignity of public service or the
honor in the United States Senate. Today, it’s
not only difficult to imagine the Senate without
John McCain, I don’t particularly want to try.
Keeping the faith
I’d rather believe that the Senate is still
a place where someone believes that some
things are more important than politics and that
nothing is more important than country. I’d
also like to believe that the Senate can stand
up for itself when necessary and will stand up
for the American people when required. I want
to believe that America is still a country that
rewards a person who chooses service over
self, instead of the other way around.
With John McCain in the Senate, I knew all
of that was true. Without him, the others who
fit the bill — and I know they are there — are
going to have to raise their hands and make
themselves known to the rest of the country.
We need to have faith in our leaders as so
many had faith in John McCain.
I don’t mean to lionize the senator and
there’s no need to. Like all of us, he had plenty
of faults. But unlike most, he pointed out his
own shortcomings often. And he distinguished
himself in today’s politics by stepping away
from partisanship when he needed to make
room for a path to do what he thought was
right.
In his final farewell message Monday,
McCain called on Americans to do the same.
“We have always had so much more in com-
mon with each other than in disagreement,”
he wrote. “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.”
McCain embodied that message in all that
he did — and didn’t do — in his own life. It’s
fitting that his final act of service is to pass it
along to the country he loved so much, even in
his death.
Roll Call columnist Patricia Murphy covers
national politics for The Daily Beast.
his may be obvious to some, but I believe
it needs to be spoken. I hope Trump sup-
porters can see what most of us knew, or
at least felt, before 2016. For the president
of the U.S. to say nothing about the pass-
ing of Sen. John McCain, not even a “he
will be missed” statement, is proof we have
a 12-year-old, spoiled-rotten child for a
president.
Politics aside, Sen. John McCain has been
one of the few men I have been trying to emu-
late my whole life. He and his actions are
one reason I joined the Navy at the age of 16.
He never quit. The spirit of his soul and the
actions of the man were truly God-given. Rest
in peaceful slumber, my hero, and thank you
for all you have given us.
TROY HASKELL
Astoria
T
Why use children
in a political ad?
hildren. Children are being used in a bed-
time story in a political ad. What’s next,
mentally disabled people? What happened
to Lincoln’s party? The ethics, values, pride,
fairness, truth and where to draw the line.
What happened to the people of America,
especially Oregonians? We were frontiers-
men with courage, integrity and toughness,
and now we are using children to get us what
we want.
Our newspapers, too. Using the bully pul-
pit, we read opinions full of conjecture and
intimidation.
CAL GETTY
Nehalem
C