Tag: College Station, Texas

“What I want to have people know I stood for were ‘Duty, Honor, Country,’ and, yes, as Dad taught us, ‘service.’” The deaths this year of Mr. Bush and Senator John McCain have been described as the passing of an era, the demise of pragmatic Republicanism. And accommodations on issues were often made (and as often regretted) in order to win or stay in office. They also came of age at a time when military service was common; wartime bonds and shared cultural touchstones often trumped partisan differences; and zeal was not required for elected office. Mr. Bush was a naval aviator during World War II. Senator John McCain was a naval aviator during the Vietnam War. That crusade led him toward a greater willingness to confront his own party, and he ran to the left of George W. Bush in the 2000 primary before occupying a similar place on domestic issues during the younger Mr. Bush’s presidency. “They both had an understanding that politics was something that’s imperfect but the idea was that you do the best you can and the most important thing is that you govern and work things out,” said former Senator John C. Danforth, a Missouri Republican who served with Mr. McCain while Mr. Bush was vice president and president. “He was saying, ‘I was your friend in the House, I’m still your friend and we’re going to do stuff together,’” Mr. Danforth said. But these are different times. Jesse Jackson, who twice sought the presidency in the same era that the political careers of Mr. McCain and Mr. Bush took flight.