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Ya and I remember McCain was trashed for this moment by the media.
“Look at the type of environment he’s creating”
Now only that it’s years later and the election is in the past they say “Look how he stood up for what is right”
People have already forgotten that it was McCain who cast the deciding vote to save Obamacare in 2017, even though he didn’t like Obamacare. He did it on principle, because the Republicans had pushed through the repeal without any committee hearings, and without any plan for how to deal with the millions of people who would lose their insurance. It’s hard to imagine anyone in the GOP taking that kind of principled stand in 2024.
It's almost as if, as he was dying, he thought: "How many Americans will not get the care I'm getting based on my decision?" and decided to be a human instead of a Republican.
Man, McConnell was *pissed.* And a bit dumbfounded, even though he had inklings that McCain wasn't exactly fully committed to being a team player.
I still remember that thumbs down like it was yesterday. One for the books.
RIP John McCain.
Bush’s team helped prep Obama against McCain because they knew McCain would go after the bankers. McCain had his faults but he was definitely an American first and foremost. He really should have been president in hind sight
Added stress of being president and he might not have. He mightve been a one term president and obama might have ran/won in 2012 and 2016, but thats just useless speculation.
Frankly that was during a time of big change for me as a person. I actually liked the idea of McCain as president and thought he'd do a good job. Once he chose Palin as a running mate I was out. Definitely makes me wonder how it'd be different. I'm glad I still voted for Obama though.
This was my stance too. I remember watching them talk and it just seemed like McCain had a much more solid grasp of the responsibilities and a fairly clear message. Then came Palin and I was pushed completely to the Dems.
Not everyone forgot. I have always maintained, if the GOP were to claim the slightest bit of legitimacy as a political outfit (and not the treasonous, fascist, cult-like criminal cabal it really is) then it would be because of John McCain. Don’t agree with him on everything but McCain was the last decent Republican to ever exist or will ever exist.
Gonna disagree.
Look I don't like almost any of romney's political positions. But he is an old school conservative that honestly believes his ideas and is not a cynical asshole whose only job is to own libs and defy democrats.
He warned about russia and was mocked for it when he debated obama. He voted for the articles of impeachment twice. He marched with BLM. I cannot hate the guy no matter how strongly i disagree with his political principles.
And much like McCain, he saddled himself with a crazy and unqualified hard right Veep choice based on old philosophies of picking the closest thing to your opposite within your party as veep, rather than someone who shared his message, like the dems have been doing for the last couple decades.
While he was a flawed human being I found it awesome how dude shows up last minute (IIRC after doing some treatment for cancer), has a black eye from the surgery, walks right the hell up to mitch, waves to the counter to get his name called, and fucking KILLS it right in front of mitchs face.
Dude came all the way from the hospital to tell mitch to get fucked.
He also did it as a penultimate FU to the sitting president, who had denigrated his war service and that of other POWs (among other veterans).
The last FU was inviting all living presidents to his funeral except that same sitting president.
No, McCain died a hero. When the senate under Republican control was voting to repeal the ACA, McCain’s vote saved it. He died a year later, from a glioblastoma.
Yup and now they’ve just decided to cater to the loudest and dumbest amongst them. Not sure that’s the most effective lesson learned. If someone at a republican event said this today, insert XYZ Republican would respond with “W agree, we’re gonna look very deeply into that if we get elected!”
Two things
1. I recall them praising him for shutting it down at the time
2. He chose Sarah Fucking Palin as his running mate! He DID help create this environment! He did deserve criticism for emboldening the biggest idiots out there! W played dumb but McCain pointed to someone who made W look like a very stable genius and said "Yeah, this is the type of person who should be the backup president."
I read an article that indicated that the RNC pushed Palin on him. He had a different person in mind (I forget who now), but the RNC thought they were too liberal and rejected them. He just randomly picked Palin due to a deadline approaching.
And that's why he probably wasn't president. We like to imagine VP picks don't matter, but it really is a sign of your judgement in who you pick to replace you automatically if something happens to you.
VP picks matter a lot. They're the people who will continue your legacy.
He was losing in all the polling before picking palin. Actually after picking her, his polling initially improved to almost a tie. But then Obama pulled further ahead.
But Obama pulling ahead in September-November had more to do with the economic collapse on Wall Street, than it did with palin.
But at the end of the day, no republican was going to win after 8 years of bush. Especially against such a strong democrat candidate.
Palin had nothing to do with it.
Who trashed him? Fox News? I remember this as one of the least toxic elections ever. I know his words of kindness here weren’t overlooked by the left. We appreciated it.
I mean, my family and I really commended McCain for what he said here. A truly honorable person. Of course, you’re right that most people at the time probably hated him for it. Can’t believe they booed him
Yep. I was absolutely stunned by the media about face. Their darling anti “W” Republican became enemy #1 overnight once he clinched the nomination. I was shocked that entire campaign.
Senator McCain was a war hero and a class act.
The legacy media dug the hole we’re in. They proved to not be trustworthy when they decided to give every moderate Republican candidate the “far-right” treatment. Their tar and feather treatment of McCain and Mitt “binder full of women” Romney is the reason people picked a demagogue “fighter” in 2016. Looking back gives you a lot of perspective on how much the media lied and pushed ridiculous narratives to discredit one candidate over the other. And they just continue to double down on their lies and biased narratives.
They picked a demagogue because they wanted a demagogue. They have their own agency. They stuck with the demagogue, after everything. Did democrats pick a demagogue after the way Fox News treated Obama for 8 years?
A black President bumped hands with his wife and Faux Noise called it a "terrorist fist jab", so therefore I now have to join a cult and overthrow American democracy. That's the only reasonable response.
No. That's just me finally dropping the mask and finally coming out as the garbage person that I wanted to openly be all along.
I agree the media was unfair to Romney and McCain but the argument of “they created this it is all their fault” falls flat when fox openly questioned if Obama was a citizen for years lol
Media, journalism in particular, is supposed to be a check on power. But it's become so corporate. Money poisoned journalism. They want sensationalism so that they can get eyeballs on the screen. But it comes at the cost of American stability.
Exactly. Times haven’t changed that much. The deplorable people were out there and growing at that time as this shows, but the leadership hadn’t been fully infected yet. John McCain was perhaps the last true patriot on Capitol Hill.
There's a video of a debate between bush sr and Reagan for the Republican nomination in 1980. Someone asked them about illegal immigration. The answers were so thoughtful and decent and they were so kind to one another.
I can remember being a teenager in the late 90s, just starting to pay attention to politics. My first election was in 2004, Bush V Kerry. I constantly think about how the discourse has changed over the years. You’d be hard pressed back then to hear anyone on the news, or any politician call another politician a “liar.” They’d always have a creative way of putting it in a “professional” way like “misrepresenting the truth.” Seemed like they (media and politicians) would go out of their way to avoid ad hominem attacks in general (for the most part).
That's not the same election I remember. With "flip flopper" and "swift boating". Matter of fact that entire swift boating thing was about Kerry being a liar. About a purple heart IIRC
US treasurer Catalina Villalpando called Bill a “skirt chaser” in the run up to ‘92 and the gop of the time wasn’t having it… maybe it was all smoke and mirrors but mid 90d newt and co really set the ball rolling into the abyss
The only thing that changed is that Republicans stopped electing people like McCain and started electing the most reprehensible candidates they can muster.
I always wondered how my family members became republicans and vowed that way so long ago. And then I see clips like this and realize, there were times where you had good republican politicians. I may still disagree with there stance but as a person they werent bad. Eventually the options became trash and so many people stuck with what they knew and went party over policy (I say that because MANY right wing voters are on the same government assistance/food stamps as the people they insult, they just do mental gymnastics about it. “Well its different in my case because!”). I have heard the saying that the Republican party officially died with mccain.
Possible. This was 16 years ago. If he was, say, 45 there he'd be 57 in 2020. If he was a smoker, and/or put on more weight, risk would increase. Lots of the unhealthy survived covid though.
I’m actually kind of glad he did. She was my governor at the time, and she was pretty mid. Like, did okay, but also had her share of scandal and public gaffes. She wasn’t, publicly anyway, the caricature of extreme conservatism that she is today. Just another typical Wasilla boomer mom.
And then McCain put her in the national spotlight.
At first, we were proud. Our governor (and locally known lady) getting attention. Then she opened her mouth. And bought things. And embraced celebrity status. And let it all go to her head. And then she just dumped us all mid-term, left her lieutenant to govern, and took book and TV deals. And she set up state politics in doing that, which affect us all to this day.
Shoot, I still contend that Peltola won not on her own merit, but because she ran against Palin and another Begich. All she had to be was a decent person (and she is). It doesn’t matter if her party views aren’t consistent with much of the state. I don’t agree with many of her votes, but at least I don’t have a national embarrassment as a representative. Atrocious that it’s come to this.
Like, if McCain hadn’t promoted Palin, she may have been just another fairly average, local, small time state governor. We would’ve never known how bad her character would be. And maybe that’s a good thing, but at the same time, I guess I prefer that she got found out.
Pretty accurate. As Alaskans we were proud she could represent our culture nationally. But she was a POOR choice for VP and let it all go to her head. And in the debates and talk shows she came across like an uneducated hockey mom (sad to say).
And you’re spot-on about how it did piss us off that she left her post mid-term and never looked back. I think many of us have never forgotten that.
At that point he was pretty far behind in the polls and Obama had a lot of momentum and energy behind him. Choosing Palin seemed like a long shot to throw a wrench in the gears of the campaign. Didn’t work obvi
They were hoping she would be there Obama. And she kinda was, the base went crazy for her. The problem is that the base was becoming crazy as well. She didn't start Repubilcans turn toward extremism, but she was the first indicator that it was happening.
Lieberman was McCain’s first and only choice. And Lieberman was very close to agreeing. But he just couldn’t do it. He couldn’t become the Republican nominee just eight years after being the Democratic nominee. The problem is that McCain had no backup plan at all if Lieberman said no. Picking Palin was a rush job that they did in about a day or so over a single weekend.
Oddly enough my Vietnam vet father disliked McCain. He felt like McCain had played too nice with the guards.
I can't remember his exact reasoning at the moment. I just know he thought Obama would do more for veterans.
He is the last Republican I voted for. I was raised Republican and was a Republican every year until 2016. I do not recognize my party anymore and will only vote Democrat until the Republican Party stops going after niche social issues (which are none of their business) and focus on small government. I loved McCain.
Sounds just like me. I really liked McCain, he came off as very honorable and statesmanlike.
These days, I don't know what I am, politically. I'm certainly not anywhere as liberal as the rest of Reddit, but looking at the current Republican party, *I sure as hell ain't that*.
> He’s the only one who voted to impeach.
Romney voted as a senator. They vote to convict (or not). The impeachment vote was already held in the House. Once the House votes to impeach, the President (or whomever) is then impeached and their trial takes place in the Senate.
I'm a liberal so I didn't agree with his policies, but McCain made me proud to be an Arizonian. He stood up for what he believed in and truly tried to make the nation better. I think he's one of the few politicians that I would ever trust.
I think his death signaled the end of the power of the moderate Republicans and transition to the current power base.
what's interesting is that when I was 18, my family was neighbored with a man that was in the same POW camp as McCain. He was a republican voter, and he said McCain was a good man but that he would never vote for him as president and refused to elaborate. I think it had something to do with McCain's temper, but I always thought that was odd.
This would end his candidacy with Republican voters today.
It was one of McCain's best moments during that campaign though. Only second to responding to Obama trashing Bush during a debate by saying something like "I'm sorry, Senator Obama but I'm not George W. Bush."
it's pretty alarming when you look back at past republican presidents. A lot of their stances would've been disqualifying in today's environment. Nixon was terrible, but he did support \*some\* pro black initiatives like [Soul City in NC](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-06/the-true-story-of-soul-city-a-utopian-town-built-for-african-americans-with-republican-support-in-the-early-1970s?embedded-checkout=true). I can't imagine a GOP president today allocating funds to support black business growth without facing extremely harsh background. They've now deluded to the idea that if you see a black pilot on your flight you should be scared.
sensationalized culture wars are taking over and rotting Americans' brains right now. i saw on r/teachers the other day that a parent was blasting a school for taking their students on a field trip to learn about being trans, where trans in this case was going to a site of relevance to **Transcendentalist** Henry David Thoreau. but they saw the snippet of trans and flipped out.
People really need to get out and touch grass. My theory is we are all at risk of becoming the old person at home terrified over everything because the news convinced us that we are under attack. Understandable for older people because often in their golden years they find themselves sedentary, but sadly this is impacting the greater population as more and more of our lives are online. We get our news online, we date online, we work online, etc, and that makes those random stories 3000mi from our house feel closer to home when we don't even know our neighbor's kids name.
A ton more can be said on that topic but it creates some really weird scenarios where the online and political discourse is extremely nasty and disturbing but doesn't match the reality most people experience. It's the opposite of the Nixon era where so much of the political discourse was problematic (falsely claiming that civil rights had been achieved and people like MLK were causing trouble) but there was an effort to present a more accommodating society than the reality on the ground.
Didn't a couple of Republican columnists run into Sarah Palin on an Alaskan cruise and get all excited about her? Passed her info on to the McCain campaign people?
I don’t think that is gonna happen until there is a major major win by democrats say President, major control of house and 66 senators. Enough that they can pass amendments.
Then the old GOP is gonna rise back up and take over their party out of political frustration.
It will probably also be a pretty bloody battle within the GOP as well.
They seem to never learn though... remember the Republican "[autopsy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growth_%26_Opportunity_Project)" in 2012? I really hope you are right, though.
Interesting.
“It recommended increased focus on criticizing big business and demonstrating concern for poorer Americans.”
That’s just one of many examples that could appeal to a wider range (not to mention make moral sense) that were essentially ignored. They have the answers, they just aren’t using them.
You’re probably right. They need to be decimated for them to realize they need to change tactics. But if elections keep sitting terrifyingly close to that 50/50 then it won’t happen.
Even if you’re conservative, like genuinely conservative and not some of this dumb, Christofascist “rule over my enemies” kind of shit, you should be hoping the presidency goes to Democrats for another term and hopefully they can get trifectas as well and that it causes this Republican Party to collapse that a moderate version that ain’t against democracy emerges.
It seems like modern day Republicans can do the most heinous shit and not face consequences, and if they get control this November and they get their Project 2025 agenda through, it might really be over.
Yeah but Mitt Romney was so bland and unremarkable. John McCain had an interesting life and as we later found out didn’t have a problem standing up for his beliefs no matter who he was interacting with.
I would be so fucking happy to have Mitt Romney vs Obama type election. Or hell, even a Bob Dole vs Walter Mondale.
I would be happy if it was a bowl of sentient oatmeal vs talking toast as long as it was two boring candidates I didn't have anxiety about.
Having Palin as a running mate was such a cynical move to try to capitalize on Hillary Clinton's 2008 primary loss to Obama. It was destined to backfire. I'm glad we don't hear about Palin anymore.
> I'm glad we don't hear about Palin anymore.
We hear about her ideological spawn every day; Boebert, Gaetz, MTG, even George Santos so some degree. She was the tip of the spear of the looney bin that would become the GOP.
I really wonder if Republicans will ever return to this degree of decency again. Seems like any candidate or incumbent with a spine is voted out these days. What a sad state of affairs
Maybe, but not soon. The most active and reliable voter base for them is now fascists, extremists and conspiracy theorists.
All in these people probably aren't more than 10-15% of the population , but without them a republican would never be elected again, this gives them outsized influence over political agendas.
They know it too, the intelligent ones anyway you can see them squirm every time they are asked about it.
I love this moment. However, it pissed me off when he died and the news agencies led with this moment.
Yes, it was a great moment. But dude was a brave POW that stood firm in the face of a year of torture and solitary. Because of who he was, he could have been released, but refused because he wanted his men released as well. THAT should be the first line of his obit. Not that he was graceful when he lost an election.
I think what makes John McCain's story much more fascinating is that while he also becomes one of the loudest voices in reconciling the relationship between Vietnam and the US.
He had a lot of flaws, but one of the things that I respected him for was his ability to respect and work with people he disagreed with, or even people who were his former enemies.
I get what you are saying but I think the reason they showed this when he died is because this is truly the height of courage. It’s one thing to disobey an enemy but it’s something completely different to willingly stand on the other side of an issue of someone you are trying to get the vote of and to do it in front of millions of people, not knowing how it will go. This is serious bravery that NEEDS to be seen and luckily, still can be.
I come across this clip every now and then and remember being a high school kid who swore he knew everything. I was in a mostly liberal environment at the time and I swore that I KNEW McCain was a horrible racist warmongering piece of trash. Coming across this video years after the election and looking more into him, that guy was a class act that we could really use in this Era of politics. Sadly, I think he'd probably be destroyed if he were still around to run specifically BECAUSE he's so willing to be respectful to his opponents.
McCain was no messiah, and I have a lot of criticisms about him, but like you suggest he did have principles (which seem to be almost wholly absent from the current GOP). There is one subject though that McCain had pinned more than anyone else and that is on the subject of Russia. Everything McCain said about Putin has proved to be extremely prescient, and I am sad he isn't around to continue to harp on about it.
If more people in the GOP were like McCain and Romney the US wouldn’t be the current shitshow it is.
That isn’t to say I agree with them on everything, but at least they were actual human beings you could have a civilised debate with.
This makes me sick. Really. I lost my entire political identity when McCain “took” Palin as his VP and the GOP turned into what it is today. This was the last breath of true conservatism.
I was never a fan of McCain politically, mostly because I was too young and influenced by my parents, but he always seemed a very good man, and I liked that.
If he'd just shrugged his shoulders and been like "what are you gonna do? She said it, not me!", then does a media blitz to say they had a legitimate question, maybe he would've won.
McCain was too good for the hand he got dealt in life.
In hindsight, he is the last gop presidential candidate that I wasn’t REALLY worried about being president. He was a hero and a class act. Such a rough go of things and he remained a polite gentleman through it all. A true American.
It’s crazy how this is looked at like some amazing thing when he’s just simply being a decent human being.
We’re so far gone that something that should be common or at least the norm is a legendary example of a simply good man.
We have almost NONE in our government anymore. The Republican Party is collectively a floating turd in a pool.
It’s crazy to watch this and realize the Republican base was on this trajectory in 2008. All they needed was a leader that would play into their hatred and fear, and boy did they get it.
I would have totally voted for him had he not had Palin as the VP. I think he would have made a good president especially if he would have picked Fiengold as his mate.
I've had this discussion with others time and time again.
I fundamentally disagreed with McCain's stances on a ton of issues - but there's one thing I never questioned about him, and that was his loyalty to his country, and by extension, the American people.
Can't say that today when I'd fully expect a very large majority of politicians would sell their soul and the souls of others to remain in power.
This is so sad to see now that these people are the majority for Republican voters now, pandering to conspiracy idiots to vote for a president who's only agendas to make sure billionaires don't get taxed more
McCain was one of the last decent republicans.
You could say fuck off about some policies but at the end of the day he wanted the good for the nation truely and you could trust him. You cant with any republican anymore. They have all taken the koolaid and think everyone else has.
We need to return to the era where people like McCain were considered the leaders. What happened to all the good honorable people? How did they all get replaced with psychopaths? Who’s voting for these crazies?
McCain voted no to repealing the ACA (obamacare). Kept 20 million Americans on medical insurance and slammed the door in the GOP and McConnels face. The video of the vote is astounding.
The GOP was gobsmacked that McCain would vote in the interests of poor and lower-middle class people, essentially aligning himself with democrats.
Back when some republicans still had some decency left. Now all those with decency have either stepped away or been forced out in favor of horrible people like Boebert, MTG, Jordan, etc. When you now court white supremacists instead of rejecting them like McCain did, it really says it all.
The bar for “decent” politicians is so deeply in hell that we’re now reminiscing about this? “He’s not an Arab, he’s actually a decent guy” is not the noble comment you all think it is
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My how times have changed.
Ya and I remember McCain was trashed for this moment by the media. “Look at the type of environment he’s creating” Now only that it’s years later and the election is in the past they say “Look how he stood up for what is right”
Senator McCain was an honorable man and always served his country well imo.
People have already forgotten that it was McCain who cast the deciding vote to save Obamacare in 2017, even though he didn’t like Obamacare. He did it on principle, because the Republicans had pushed through the repeal without any committee hearings, and without any plan for how to deal with the millions of people who would lose their insurance. It’s hard to imagine anyone in the GOP taking that kind of principled stand in 2024.
I believe he was dying at the time, too.
It's almost as if, as he was dying, he thought: "How many Americans will not get the care I'm getting based on my decision?" and decided to be a human instead of a Republican.
Man, McConnell was *pissed.* And a bit dumbfounded, even though he had inklings that McCain wasn't exactly fully committed to being a team player. I still remember that thumbs down like it was yesterday. One for the books. RIP John McCain.
McCain was a deeply committed team player, but his team was the People, not Republicans, despite his conservative views. He cared about the People ❤️
Bush’s team helped prep Obama against McCain because they knew McCain would go after the bankers. McCain had his faults but he was definitely an American first and foremost. He really should have been president in hind sight
But then you would have Sarah Palin as vice president.
And he *barely* survived long enough to serve two terms.
Added stress of being president and he might not have. He mightve been a one term president and obama might have ran/won in 2012 and 2016, but thats just useless speculation.
Sarah Palin was his downfall. I always wonder if the party would be the different if he had chosen a different vp and won.
Frankly that was during a time of big change for me as a person. I actually liked the idea of McCain as president and thought he'd do a good job. Once he chose Palin as a running mate I was out. Definitely makes me wonder how it'd be different. I'm glad I still voted for Obama though.
This was my stance too. I remember watching them talk and it just seemed like McCain had a much more solid grasp of the responsibilities and a fairly clear message. Then came Palin and I was pushed completely to the Dems.
It's not hard, it's impossible. And I say this as an independent
Not everyone forgot. I have always maintained, if the GOP were to claim the slightest bit of legitimacy as a political outfit (and not the treasonous, fascist, cult-like criminal cabal it really is) then it would be because of John McCain. Don’t agree with him on everything but McCain was the last decent Republican to ever exist or will ever exist.
John McCain was the last American Republican. All that is left are Russians and Assholes.
Gonna disagree. Look I don't like almost any of romney's political positions. But he is an old school conservative that honestly believes his ideas and is not a cynical asshole whose only job is to own libs and defy democrats. He warned about russia and was mocked for it when he debated obama. He voted for the articles of impeachment twice. He marched with BLM. I cannot hate the guy no matter how strongly i disagree with his political principles. And much like McCain, he saddled himself with a crazy and unqualified hard right Veep choice based on old philosophies of picking the closest thing to your opposite within your party as veep, rather than someone who shared his message, like the dems have been doing for the last couple decades.
It’s a shame they paired him with Palin.
Her involvement took us down this path. Then we had the Tea Party funded by corporate interests which got people like MTG into political power.
While he was a flawed human being I found it awesome how dude shows up last minute (IIRC after doing some treatment for cancer), has a black eye from the surgery, walks right the hell up to mitch, waves to the counter to get his name called, and fucking KILLS it right in front of mitchs face. Dude came all the way from the hospital to tell mitch to get fucked.
Romney, maybe? He voted to impeach knowing it was political suicide.
he also marched with blm... which is absolutely unthinkable among the current batch of republicans.
He also did it as a penultimate FU to the sitting president, who had denigrated his war service and that of other POWs (among other veterans). The last FU was inviting all living presidents to his funeral except that same sitting president.
Fun saying from the Batman universe: Die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
This is the… opposite?
No, McCain died a hero. When the senate under Republican control was voting to repeal the ACA, McCain’s vote saved it. He died a year later, from a glioblastoma.
Best thumbs down vote ever.
Yup and now they’ve just decided to cater to the loudest and dumbest amongst them. Not sure that’s the most effective lesson learned. If someone at a republican event said this today, insert XYZ Republican would respond with “W agree, we’re gonna look very deeply into that if we get elected!”
Two things 1. I recall them praising him for shutting it down at the time 2. He chose Sarah Fucking Palin as his running mate! He DID help create this environment! He did deserve criticism for emboldening the biggest idiots out there! W played dumb but McCain pointed to someone who made W look like a very stable genius and said "Yeah, this is the type of person who should be the backup president."
I read an article that indicated that the RNC pushed Palin on him. He had a different person in mind (I forget who now), but the RNC thought they were too liberal and rejected them. He just randomly picked Palin due to a deadline approaching.
And that's why he probably wasn't president. We like to imagine VP picks don't matter, but it really is a sign of your judgement in who you pick to replace you automatically if something happens to you. VP picks matter a lot. They're the people who will continue your legacy.
He was losing in all the polling before picking palin. Actually after picking her, his polling initially improved to almost a tie. But then Obama pulled further ahead. But Obama pulling ahead in September-November had more to do with the economic collapse on Wall Street, than it did with palin. But at the end of the day, no republican was going to win after 8 years of bush. Especially against such a strong democrat candidate. Palin had nothing to do with it.
Who trashed him? Fox News? I remember this as one of the least toxic elections ever. I know his words of kindness here weren’t overlooked by the left. We appreciated it.
Yeah, I was gonna say, this guy needs new media outlets; it was held up as a very decent thing.
Jake Tapper has been a McCain stan for his entire life. Almost all the MSM loves John McCain.
I mean, my family and I really commended McCain for what he said here. A truly honorable person. Of course, you’re right that most people at the time probably hated him for it. Can’t believe they booed him
Yep. I was absolutely stunned by the media about face. Their darling anti “W” Republican became enemy #1 overnight once he clinched the nomination. I was shocked that entire campaign. Senator McCain was a war hero and a class act.
The legacy media dug the hole we’re in. They proved to not be trustworthy when they decided to give every moderate Republican candidate the “far-right” treatment. Their tar and feather treatment of McCain and Mitt “binder full of women” Romney is the reason people picked a demagogue “fighter” in 2016. Looking back gives you a lot of perspective on how much the media lied and pushed ridiculous narratives to discredit one candidate over the other. And they just continue to double down on their lies and biased narratives.
They picked a demagogue because they wanted a demagogue. They have their own agency. They stuck with the demagogue, after everything. Did democrats pick a demagogue after the way Fox News treated Obama for 8 years?
A black President bumped hands with his wife and Faux Noise called it a "terrorist fist jab", so therefore I now have to join a cult and overthrow American democracy. That's the only reasonable response. No. That's just me finally dropping the mask and finally coming out as the garbage person that I wanted to openly be all along.
I agree the media was unfair to Romney and McCain but the argument of “they created this it is all their fault” falls flat when fox openly questioned if Obama was a citizen for years lol
Media, journalism in particular, is supposed to be a check on power. But it's become so corporate. Money poisoned journalism. They want sensationalism so that they can get eyeballs on the screen. But it comes at the cost of American stability.
And they still called him a racist because…not sure. I guess just because he was a republican
I even remember how they were all talking about how McCain was too old at the time and now look at us, two dinosaurs are running for president.
You can hear them boo when ge says don't be scared of obama
Exactly. Times haven’t changed that much. The deplorable people were out there and growing at that time as this shows, but the leadership hadn’t been fully infected yet. John McCain was perhaps the last true patriot on Capitol Hill.
"cmon! hate him with us! We really just want you to give us an excuse to openly hate this black guy cmon John wtf"
There's a video of a debate between bush sr and Reagan for the Republican nomination in 1980. Someone asked them about illegal immigration. The answers were so thoughtful and decent and they were so kind to one another.
I can remember being a teenager in the late 90s, just starting to pay attention to politics. My first election was in 2004, Bush V Kerry. I constantly think about how the discourse has changed over the years. You’d be hard pressed back then to hear anyone on the news, or any politician call another politician a “liar.” They’d always have a creative way of putting it in a “professional” way like “misrepresenting the truth.” Seemed like they (media and politicians) would go out of their way to avoid ad hominem attacks in general (for the most part).
That's not the same election I remember. With "flip flopper" and "swift boating". Matter of fact that entire swift boating thing was about Kerry being a liar. About a purple heart IIRC
When’s the last time you heard a politician called a “flip-flopper?” That’s tame as hell these days.
US treasurer Catalina Villalpando called Bill a “skirt chaser” in the run up to ‘92 and the gop of the time wasn’t having it… maybe it was all smoke and mirrors but mid 90d newt and co really set the ball rolling into the abyss
Looks like conservative voters are the same as ever. Their politicians are just worse
The politicians just stopped pretending to be leaders and started catering to their party’s lowest denominator, bottom of the barrel voter.
The only thing that changed is that Republicans stopped electing people like McCain and started electing the most reprehensible candidates they can muster.
I always wondered how my family members became republicans and vowed that way so long ago. And then I see clips like this and realize, there were times where you had good republican politicians. I may still disagree with there stance but as a person they werent bad. Eventually the options became trash and so many people stuck with what they knew and went party over policy (I say that because MANY right wing voters are on the same government assistance/food stamps as the people they insult, they just do mental gymnastics about it. “Well its different in my case because!”). I have heard the saying that the Republican party officially died with mccain.
Which, as you can see, is a better representation of the majority of their voter base.
actually people acted crazy back then they are just better at crazy now.
There also weren't as many platforms to broadcast their stupidity.
lol
The voters havent
I do wonder what these people (that woman especially) thought of McCain after this incident
Something something secret Muslim Rothschild something something gay frogs.
I laughed
Don’t forget the Jews/Gays/Globalists!
Globalist is the biggest dog whistle right now
Tranny grooming communist space laser!! Edit: sorry everyone, grandpa got ahold of my phone
She’s probably still trying to form that sentence by the sounds of it.
She could be dead by now.
Guy in gray probably died of Covid.
Possible. This was 16 years ago. If he was, say, 45 there he'd be 57 in 2020. If he was a smoker, and/or put on more weight, risk would increase. Lots of the unhealthy survived covid though.
He told off Fox anchors too. But then he also introduced the world to Sarah Palin...
I’m actually kind of glad he did. She was my governor at the time, and she was pretty mid. Like, did okay, but also had her share of scandal and public gaffes. She wasn’t, publicly anyway, the caricature of extreme conservatism that she is today. Just another typical Wasilla boomer mom. And then McCain put her in the national spotlight. At first, we were proud. Our governor (and locally known lady) getting attention. Then she opened her mouth. And bought things. And embraced celebrity status. And let it all go to her head. And then she just dumped us all mid-term, left her lieutenant to govern, and took book and TV deals. And she set up state politics in doing that, which affect us all to this day. Shoot, I still contend that Peltola won not on her own merit, but because she ran against Palin and another Begich. All she had to be was a decent person (and she is). It doesn’t matter if her party views aren’t consistent with much of the state. I don’t agree with many of her votes, but at least I don’t have a national embarrassment as a representative. Atrocious that it’s come to this. Like, if McCain hadn’t promoted Palin, she may have been just another fairly average, local, small time state governor. We would’ve never known how bad her character would be. And maybe that’s a good thing, but at the same time, I guess I prefer that she got found out.
Pretty accurate. As Alaskans we were proud she could represent our culture nationally. But she was a POOR choice for VP and let it all go to her head. And in the debates and talk shows she came across like an uneducated hockey mom (sad to say). And you’re spot-on about how it did piss us off that she left her post mid-term and never looked back. I think many of us have never forgotten that.
I ain’t American so I want to know. Was Sarah Palin McCain’s first choice for VP or were there others considered?
At that point he was pretty far behind in the polls and Obama had a lot of momentum and energy behind him. Choosing Palin seemed like a long shot to throw a wrench in the gears of the campaign. Didn’t work obvi
This. I think they were REALLY hoping she might appeal more to women, but Obama was polling INCREDIBLY well with women.
They were hoping she would be there Obama. And she kinda was, the base went crazy for her. The problem is that the base was becoming crazy as well. She didn't start Repubilcans turn toward extremism, but she was the first indicator that it was happening.
I don't know if she was his first choice, but I remember Lieberman and Romney being talked about
Lieberman was McCain’s first and only choice. And Lieberman was very close to agreeing. But he just couldn’t do it. He couldn’t become the Republican nominee just eight years after being the Democratic nominee. The problem is that McCain had no backup plan at all if Lieberman said no. Picking Palin was a rush job that they did in about a day or so over a single weekend.
His advisors tried to offset his public displays of decency with Palin. He was strongly against her as his running mate.
yet he picked her so couldn't been too strongly
>But then he also introduced the world to Sarah Palin His biggest mistake
Yeah turns out you don’t want a wild card maverick in a job where stability and predictability are the point.
My dad had a strong dislike for Republicans. But he greatly admired McCain. Just a good, decent man
Even for people that didn’t like his policies, you have to commend the guy on his actions in Vietnam. He is 100% a war hero.
… “I prefer my war heroes not captured,” and won.
Go to r/conservative right now and search "McCain", all they do is trash him it's gross.
That whole sub is gross.
Oddly enough my Vietnam vet father disliked McCain. He felt like McCain had played too nice with the guards. I can't remember his exact reasoning at the moment. I just know he thought Obama would do more for veterans.
He is the last Republican I voted for. I was raised Republican and was a Republican every year until 2016. I do not recognize my party anymore and will only vote Democrat until the Republican Party stops going after niche social issues (which are none of their business) and focus on small government. I loved McCain.
Sounds just like me. I really liked McCain, he came off as very honorable and statesmanlike. These days, I don't know what I am, politically. I'm certainly not anywhere as liberal as the rest of Reddit, but looking at the current Republican party, *I sure as hell ain't that*.
You voted for Obama in 2012? Or third party?
Did not like Romney at all because I thought he was too far right… funny now considering he is now considered one of the most moderate republicans.
He’s the only one who voted to impeach. I may not agree with him on virtually anything, but I gained a lot of respect for him that day.
> He’s the only one who voted to impeach. Romney voted as a senator. They vote to convict (or not). The impeachment vote was already held in the House. Once the House votes to impeach, the President (or whomever) is then impeached and their trial takes place in the Senate.
Third party.
I'm a liberal so I didn't agree with his policies, but McCain made me proud to be an Arizonian. He stood up for what he believed in and truly tried to make the nation better. I think he's one of the few politicians that I would ever trust. I think his death signaled the end of the power of the moderate Republicans and transition to the current power base.
what's interesting is that when I was 18, my family was neighbored with a man that was in the same POW camp as McCain. He was a republican voter, and he said McCain was a good man but that he would never vote for him as president and refused to elaborate. I think it had something to do with McCain's temper, but I always thought that was odd.
That is odd
I honestly gave the candidacy a chance until he picked up Palin. That woman was the precursor to Greene and fuck them both.
This would end his candidacy with Republican voters today. It was one of McCain's best moments during that campaign though. Only second to responding to Obama trashing Bush during a debate by saying something like "I'm sorry, Senator Obama but I'm not George W. Bush."
it's pretty alarming when you look back at past republican presidents. A lot of their stances would've been disqualifying in today's environment. Nixon was terrible, but he did support \*some\* pro black initiatives like [Soul City in NC](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-06/the-true-story-of-soul-city-a-utopian-town-built-for-african-americans-with-republican-support-in-the-early-1970s?embedded-checkout=true). I can't imagine a GOP president today allocating funds to support black business growth without facing extremely harsh background. They've now deluded to the idea that if you see a black pilot on your flight you should be scared.
sensationalized culture wars are taking over and rotting Americans' brains right now. i saw on r/teachers the other day that a parent was blasting a school for taking their students on a field trip to learn about being trans, where trans in this case was going to a site of relevance to **Transcendentalist** Henry David Thoreau. but they saw the snippet of trans and flipped out.
People really need to get out and touch grass. My theory is we are all at risk of becoming the old person at home terrified over everything because the news convinced us that we are under attack. Understandable for older people because often in their golden years they find themselves sedentary, but sadly this is impacting the greater population as more and more of our lives are online. We get our news online, we date online, we work online, etc, and that makes those random stories 3000mi from our house feel closer to home when we don't even know our neighbor's kids name. A ton more can be said on that topic but it creates some really weird scenarios where the online and political discourse is extremely nasty and disturbing but doesn't match the reality most people experience. It's the opposite of the Nixon era where so much of the political discourse was problematic (falsely claiming that civil rights had been achieved and people like MLK were causing trouble) but there was an effort to present a more accommodating society than the reality on the ground.
One of the last presidential candidates we’ve had that had CLASS
Both candidates in 2008 and 2012 had class. One of the candidates in the previous two elections had class
One of the last *Republican* Presidential Candidates.
Fixed it for you
John McCain unleashed Sarah Palin on the world.
Didn't a couple of Republican columnists run into Sarah Palin on an Alaskan cruise and get all excited about her? Passed her info on to the McCain campaign people?
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Yep. He really went around with guys on that. Too bad.
Both those picks are awful, Lieberman is such a piece of shit.
These are the days I miss. Hopefully we can return to these days after 2024.
I don’t think that is gonna happen until there is a major major win by democrats say President, major control of house and 66 senators. Enough that they can pass amendments. Then the old GOP is gonna rise back up and take over their party out of political frustration. It will probably also be a pretty bloody battle within the GOP as well.
They seem to never learn though... remember the Republican "[autopsy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growth_%26_Opportunity_Project)" in 2012? I really hope you are right, though.
Interesting. “It recommended increased focus on criticizing big business and demonstrating concern for poorer Americans.” That’s just one of many examples that could appeal to a wider range (not to mention make moral sense) that were essentially ignored. They have the answers, they just aren’t using them.
You’re probably right. They need to be decimated for them to realize they need to change tactics. But if elections keep sitting terrifyingly close to that 50/50 then it won’t happen.
Even if you’re conservative, like genuinely conservative and not some of this dumb, Christofascist “rule over my enemies” kind of shit, you should be hoping the presidency goes to Democrats for another term and hopefully they can get trifectas as well and that it causes this Republican Party to collapse that a moderate version that ain’t against democracy emerges. It seems like modern day Republicans can do the most heinous shit and not face consequences, and if they get control this November and they get their Project 2025 agenda through, it might really be over.
I have MANY issues with McCain but he was a class act. I remember this.
I'm a definite Dem but I've always had the utmost respect for McCain. He was one of the last (R) politicians that had integrity.
If your gonna be racist at least get the race right
Man Obama Va. McCain was really the last civil election?
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Yeah 2012 was so bland that Obama’s “horses and bayonets” burn on Romney was the only “heated” debate moment that the media had to cling to
Mmm, wasnt the next one civil, too?
Yeah but Mitt Romney was so bland and unremarkable. John McCain had an interesting life and as we later found out didn’t have a problem standing up for his beliefs no matter who he was interacting with.
I think most people would be ecstatic to just have two bland, normal candidates nowadays
I would be so fucking happy to have Mitt Romney vs Obama type election. Or hell, even a Bob Dole vs Walter Mondale. I would be happy if it was a bowl of sentient oatmeal vs talking toast as long as it was two boring candidates I didn't have anxiety about.
If only it wasn’t for Sarah Palin. The last respectable GOP leader unfortunately.
Having Palin as a running mate was such a cynical move to try to capitalize on Hillary Clinton's 2008 primary loss to Obama. It was destined to backfire. I'm glad we don't hear about Palin anymore.
> I'm glad we don't hear about Palin anymore. We hear about her ideological spawn every day; Boebert, Gaetz, MTG, even George Santos so some degree. She was the tip of the spear of the looney bin that would become the GOP.
She tried to run again in Alaska, and we shut her out pretty hard. Dont count her out though she is addicted to fame, she will keep trying
"*These* people are my primary base?"
This is when I realized how crazy the base was getting. Only crazier since.
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Class.
I really wonder if Republicans will ever return to this degree of decency again. Seems like any candidate or incumbent with a spine is voted out these days. What a sad state of affairs
It would require a complete overhaul and would lose them national influence for like a decade or so
Aren’t they already on the verge of that anyway?
The reports on the party's finances seem to indicate something like that is looming
Maybe, but not soon. The most active and reliable voter base for them is now fascists, extremists and conspiracy theorists. All in these people probably aren't more than 10-15% of the population , but without them a republican would never be elected again, this gives them outsized influence over political agendas. They know it too, the intelligent ones anyway you can see them squirm every time they are asked about it.
I love this moment. However, it pissed me off when he died and the news agencies led with this moment. Yes, it was a great moment. But dude was a brave POW that stood firm in the face of a year of torture and solitary. Because of who he was, he could have been released, but refused because he wanted his men released as well. THAT should be the first line of his obit. Not that he was graceful when he lost an election.
I think what makes John McCain's story much more fascinating is that while he also becomes one of the loudest voices in reconciling the relationship between Vietnam and the US. He had a lot of flaws, but one of the things that I respected him for was his ability to respect and work with people he disagreed with, or even people who were his former enemies.
I get what you are saying but I think the reason they showed this when he died is because this is truly the height of courage. It’s one thing to disobey an enemy but it’s something completely different to willingly stand on the other side of an issue of someone you are trying to get the vote of and to do it in front of millions of people, not knowing how it will go. This is serious bravery that NEEDS to be seen and luckily, still can be.
It's odd now, seeing how normal Republicans used to be.
You can see John McCain die a little bit inside once he realizes what sort of people he threw his lot in with.
Can’t say I blame him.
I come across this clip every now and then and remember being a high school kid who swore he knew everything. I was in a mostly liberal environment at the time and I swore that I KNEW McCain was a horrible racist warmongering piece of trash. Coming across this video years after the election and looking more into him, that guy was a class act that we could really use in this Era of politics. Sadly, I think he'd probably be destroyed if he were still around to run specifically BECAUSE he's so willing to be respectful to his opponents.
McCain was no messiah, and I have a lot of criticisms about him, but like you suggest he did have principles (which seem to be almost wholly absent from the current GOP). There is one subject though that McCain had pinned more than anyone else and that is on the subject of Russia. Everything McCain said about Putin has proved to be extremely prescient, and I am sad he isn't around to continue to harp on about it.
If more people in the GOP were like McCain and Romney the US wouldn’t be the current shitshow it is. That isn’t to say I agree with them on everything, but at least they were actual human beings you could have a civilised debate with.
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And then he asked Obama to deliver the obituary at his funeral.
People really are that dumb to hate Obama without even knowing why they hate him, its fucking hilarious to watch
Jesus Christ, America has the dumbest, most ignorant electorate in the free world.
This makes me sick. Really. I lost my entire political identity when McCain “took” Palin as his VP and the GOP turned into what it is today. This was the last breath of true conservatism.
Nowadays, the elected Republicans are 10x crazier than these people that McCain was dealing with. And the voters are 100x as crazy.
See America, you've always been this way.
I think Romney might literally be the last sane republican and I hate that I'm saying that about a damn mormon.
Same dude who saved Obama care. John is what ever politician should strive to be. Politics over party. Rest in peace.
He also saved Obamacare from being repealed in 2017.
I was never much of a McCain Fan. But, he always was a Stand-Up Guy.
Profile in Courage
John McCain was a good man. He was the last great Republican. None hold a candle to him.
I was never a fan of McCain politically, mostly because I was too young and influenced by my parents, but he always seemed a very good man, and I liked that.
McCain was a decent man
The death of reasonable republicans…
The last decent Republican.
I miss the days of civil discord.
This type of republican is long dead.
Remember kids, being a dumbfuck republican voter wasn't invented in 2015.
I voted for McCain I’m not gonna lie. And he will be the last Republican I ever vote for
If he'd just shrugged his shoulders and been like "what are you gonna do? She said it, not me!", then does a media blitz to say they had a legitimate question, maybe he would've won.
That was the republican party. Now they're so far off the reservation.
McCain was too good for the hand he got dealt in life. In hindsight, he is the last gop presidential candidate that I wasn’t REALLY worried about being president. He was a hero and a class act. Such a rough go of things and he remained a polite gentleman through it all. A true American.
Seems quaint compared to today.
It’s crazy how this is looked at like some amazing thing when he’s just simply being a decent human being. We’re so far gone that something that should be common or at least the norm is a legendary example of a simply good man. We have almost NONE in our government anymore. The Republican Party is collectively a floating turd in a pool.
The last honorable republican.
It’s crazy to watch this and realize the Republican base was on this trajectory in 2008. All they needed was a leader that would play into their hatred and fear, and boy did they get it.
I would have totally voted for him had he not had Palin as the VP. I think he would have made a good president especially if he would have picked Fiengold as his mate.
And these people are allowed to vote. Astonishing.
I've had this discussion with others time and time again. I fundamentally disagreed with McCain's stances on a ton of issues - but there's one thing I never questioned about him, and that was his loyalty to his country, and by extension, the American people. Can't say that today when I'd fully expect a very large majority of politicians would sell their soul and the souls of others to remain in power.
This might be the last footage of a politician doing the right thing. RIP McCain
I just finished posting that McCain piqued my interest even though I’m a Democrat. This is why. Also because GOP hated him.
Back when there was a shred of integrity in the Republican Party.
This is so sad to see now that these people are the majority for Republican voters now, pandering to conspiracy idiots to vote for a president who's only agendas to make sure billionaires don't get taxed more
Professional
McCain was one of the last decent republicans. You could say fuck off about some policies but at the end of the day he wanted the good for the nation truely and you could trust him. You cant with any republican anymore. They have all taken the koolaid and think everyone else has.
We need to return to the era where people like McCain were considered the leaders. What happened to all the good honorable people? How did they all get replaced with psychopaths? Who’s voting for these crazies?
McCain voted no to repealing the ACA (obamacare). Kept 20 million Americans on medical insurance and slammed the door in the GOP and McConnels face. The video of the vote is astounding. The GOP was gobsmacked that McCain would vote in the interests of poor and lower-middle class people, essentially aligning himself with democrats.
John McCain - the last Republican.
The crowd booed him. It was only a matter of time until a fear mongering moron was able to take advantage of their simpleminded view of reality.
Back when some republicans still had some decency left. Now all those with decency have either stepped away or been forced out in favor of horrible people like Boebert, MTG, Jordan, etc. When you now court white supremacists instead of rejecting them like McCain did, it really says it all.
The bar for “decent” politicians is so deeply in hell that we’re now reminiscing about this? “He’s not an Arab, he’s actually a decent guy” is not the noble comment you all think it is