By David K. Shipler
Not
since the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 has a senator’s death
inspired such an outpouring of affectionate eulogy as the loss of John McCain.
It takes nothing from McCain to observe that this week of mourning has been mostly
a celebration of contrast—the stark contrast between a decent man who traveled
a noble road and a corrupt president who wallows in the gutters of
vindictiveness.
Had McCain died three years ago,
before the advent of Trumpism, he would probably have been accorded due respect
but hardly the effusive tributes and live funeral broadcasts that have been
conveyed by “the enemy of the people,” as Trump enjoys calling America’s free
press. McCain’s stature has been enhanced, ironically, by the misdeeds of his
own party: Trump, who effectively dodged the draft, denigrated McCain’s ordeal
as a POW in North Vietnam; McCain, as a victim of Vietnamese torture, denounced
American torture under president George W. Bush; McCain stood up against Trump’s
divisive incivility toward Americans and his obsequious flirtation with Russia;
McCain gave his famous thumbs down on the Senate floor to his Republican
colleagues’ witless attempt to strip Americans of the health benefits of Obamacare. So
the late senator has now been immortalized as a principled, independent thinker
and a creative maverick.
That is an exaggeration. Mostly he
went along with his party on key conservative issues. And he certainly
exercised poor judgment from time to time: He and four other senators intervened
unethically with regulators on behalf of Charles Keating Jr., a bank executive
who gave his campaign $112,000 and later went to prison for fraud against
elderly investors. McCain later confessed to having learned a couple of
lessons, including a sensitivity to the mere appearance of conflict and a willingness
to address accusations openly in the press, rather than trying to hide. (“Flashing
his quick temper, he insulted, cursed and hung up on reporters questioning him
about his ties to Keating,” CBS reported.) He went on to team up with former Democratic
Senator Russ Feingold to champion limits on campaign financing.
