John McCain, R.I.P.

Your quizzical Peasant wants to pay tribute to the recently
deceased longtime United States senator, Vietnam War
POW, Naval Academy graduate, and former presidential
candidate John McCain. The problem is, just what do I
say here in this blog?

We humans are truly complex beings. There are good things
and bad things about us, the noble and the shameful in each
of us. With some of us, there are many elements of both that
just scream out at one; such people seem to alternate between
the opposites so vividly that they stand out a mile. The late
Republican senator from Arizona was one of these.
Sometimes bold of action, sometimes petty of demeanor,
sometimes a staunch friend and ally, sometimes a rabid
detractor and a bitter foe. Tabbed a maverick by many in
the U.S. Senate on both sides of the aisle and by many
political observers, McCain sometimes went for the option
in a disagreement which he thought would work best and
serve the people best. Other times he seemed to take a
route which served just himself, consequences be damned.
The Arizona Republican was a strong, unwavering defender
of the unborn in the battle over abortion. A longtime
critic of President Obama's Affordable Health Care Act,
he nevertheless voted against its repeal in the first year
of President Trump's presidency, to the dismay and
disgust of his fellow Republicans in the Senate and
in the party as a whole. And he reportedly did so to
nurse a personal grudge against President Trump,
with whom he rarely agreed with politically; McCain
was one of the biggest "Never Trumpers" in the
Republican Party.

When he knew that further efforts to treat his brain cancer
would prove fruitless, McCain gave instructions to his
family and his staff to not invite the president to his
funeral service, nor his 2004 GOP running mate
former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. The latter added
whatever excitement to their ticket that it had, and almost
closed the gap in the polls leading up to the election,
while the public found McCain to be just a grumpy old
pol just hanging on for one more hurrah. When the
biased press savaged Palin at every turn neither McCain
nor his campaign staff did anything to come to Palin's
defense. And some in the party, including McCain's
cohorts,  were reportedly relieved that the ticket lost
so that Palin wouldn't steal the show as Vice President.

Yet during a campaign rally that year while talking on the
mic with some of the attendees, one woman made some
hostile remarks about McCain's opponent and eventual
election winner Barack Obama which called into question
his loyalties (U.S. or Islam?), to which McCain interrupted
to say that her allegations were not true and very unfair
before walking away with mic in hand. So much for the
charge against him by the Left of being racist, the very
accusation that they make as a matter of course against
Republican presidential candidates in general.
Here McCain showed his better angels for all to witness.

While your fair-minded Peasant recognizes this positive
quality in the man, I also cannot forget and will be a long
time in forgiving his self-serving moments which cropped
up among his service to others moments in his political
career, such as voting to not repeal Obama's craptacular
health coverage program just to spite President Trump.
But he did one thing in his life for which I shall always
have not a small measure of respect for him; when he was
a POW in the infamous North Vietnamese prison camp
nicknamed "the Hanoi Hilton" he was offered the chance
of release ahead of his fellow U.S. POWs, as he was
regarded as a "prince" by his captors when they learned
that he was a third generation Naval officer and Annapolis
alumnus. McCain, a U.S. Navy captain and fighter pilot,
was having none of it. He turned down their offer, saying
that he wanted other American POWs who were there
longer than he was (he would remain imprisoned at the
prison camp for over five years) to be released first,
otherwise no deal. This, after endless torture and privation
while kept in captivity by the North Vietnamese;
for the rest of his life McCain could not raise his arms
above his head. He had to have someone brush and comb
his hair for him, for his arms were broken multiple times
and were never set properly to heal correctly.

So, your faithful Peasant wishes Senator John McCain
God's love and mercy, and gives his condolences to
McCain's family, friends, colleagues and constituents.
All who knew or knew of John McCain have formed
opinions about him and his service, but it will require
a higher, greater wisdom to judge the man, his life,
and his soul. Rest in Peace, Senator.


MEM