Tag: North Vietnam

In contrast, aside from the commemoration of the dead, Americans mostly have seen funerals as solemn reminders of how frail and transitory life is for all of us, and how our shared fates should unite even the bitterest of enemies. Mr. Wellstone’s Minnesota funeral was meant to be a commemoration of a life of public servant well lived. Mr. McCain and President Trump were hardly friends. In not-so-veiled allusions, daughter Meghan McCain received loud applause for blasting Mr. Trump, as if she had delivered a partisan campaign speech: “We gather here to mourn the passing of American greatness, the real thing, not cheap rhetoric from men who will never come near the sacrifice he gave so willingly, nor the opportunistic appropriation of those who live lives of comfort and privilege while he suffered and served.” Former President Barack Obama used his time similarly to reference Mr. Trump, with similar not so subtle attacks, “Much of our politics can seem small and mean and petty. He contrasted Mr. McCain with Mr. Trump’s policies on illegal immigration and the summit with Vladimir Putin, “[McCain] respected the dignity inherent in every life, a dignity that does not stop at borders and cannot be erased by dictators.” Once a funeral is turned into politics, then politics takes on a life of its own. Why are funerals of celebrities and politicians turning into extended and televised political rallies? Partly, the volatile Donald Trump and his frantic political and media critics are locked in a crude, no-holds-barred war against each other — waged everywhere nonstop. Partly, everything in America has become politicized. Not even the dead escape it. Politicizing funerals will not end well.

The navy ran in his blood. Born in the Panama canal zone to a family in which both father and grandfather were four-star admirals, John McCain lived a life of unswerving devotion to country with more than a bit of the aviator’s swagger, channeled into the rhythms of public service yet often erupting with the zeal of a reformer, even at times an iconoclast. A missile hit his plane and McCain parachuted out, one leg and both arms broken. When the North Vietnamese realised his father commanded all US forces in the Pacific, he received intense pressure to accept early release. He always held a strong interest in Native Americans, an example of his concern for those who have few other advocates. 'American original': John McCain praised by political friends and foes Read more For many years, McCain served as chairman of the International Republican Institute, working to build political parties and democracies. This, and an early encounter with the temptations of money and influence in politics, led to McCain’s passionate conviction that the system of campaign finance must be reformed to preserve democracy. He ran for president twice, first in 2000 declaring that his was “a fight to take our government back from the power brokers and special interests and return it to the people and the noble cause of freedom” – rhetoric from others but passionately held views from one who believed that “I owe America more than she has ever owed me”. He believed in luck. John McCain: a life in pictures Read more If Al Smith, the first Catholic nominated for president, is known as the “happy warrior” of American politics, perhaps John McCain is best remembered simply as the “warrior.” Not in the sense of unbridled militarism – far from it – but rather as embodying the best traits of the martial spirit in a democracy.