Sen John McCain has brain cancer

[Seattle Husker]

I guess we now have an explanation for his indecipherable questions during the Comey hearings. I'll give him a pass. You may not agree with his hawkish foreign policy stance or some of his other positions but he's a principled man that deserves respect. Though the prognosis is not good, I wish him a full recovery.

Alas, some people have no decorum. The "father" of the alt-right Richard Spencer is one.

 

[Driver 8]

How can someone be so hateful

 

[OUBubba]

I heard that Brietbart was a real poop show on this thing. Crazy! I mean, he's earned the right to at least get our respect.

 

[Mr. Deez]

Richard Spencer is a throbbing tool and a shameless attention-seeker. I'm not surprised that he'd come up with something tasteless and stupid to say. I thought the statements from the presidents (Trump, Obama, Clinton, and both Bushes) were much better. Trump's statement was classy, but anything he says about McCain is always going to be interpreted context of him demeaning his military service, which is sad. It was a stupid thing to say, and he'll never be able to take it back.

As for McCain, I was never a huge fan. He was the second worst Republican nominee in my lifetime. (Bob Dole was the worst.) He was unpopular with the Republican base, and though independents and moderates respected him, he didn't have enough appeal to them to get their votes. Frankly, I don't understand how a party nominates guys like him or Dole. It's basically a concession of defeat in the general.

However, like Dole, McCain loves his country, gave much for it, and suffered for it in ways that most of us can't even fathom. For that he deserves every American's utmost respect and gratitude. And yes, he is a war hero and not just because he was a captured.

 

[Sangre Naranjada]

I heard that Brietbart was a real poop show on this thing. Crazy! I mean, he's earned the right to at least get our respect.

Except for that time he was running for President, right? You're just going to give yourselves a pass on all of the disrespectful **** the left said about him then.

 

[OUBubba]

Except for that time he was running for President, right? You're just going to give yourselves a pass on all of the disrespectful **** the left said about him then.

Historically, the right has treated John McCain much crappier than the left. I never understood that.

 

[Mr. Deez]

Historically, the right has treated John McCain much crappier than the left.

Except when it mattered.

Politics is an entirely transactional game. When McCain was useful to the left, they liked him. When he wasn't, they didn't. When he was useful to the right, they liked him, and when he wasn't, they didn't.

 

[Seattle Husker]

Palin rightly received much more critical feedback during that election than McCain. Even though he led the ticket, McCain was somewhat an afterthought in the election commentary. His primary criticism was his choice of running mate.

 

[Mr. Deez]

Palin rightly received much more critical feedback during that election than McCain. Even though he led the ticket, McCain was somewhat an afterthought in the election commentary. His primary criticism was his choice of running mate.

Palin (whom I detest) was the easy weapon liberals could use to attack McCain (and therefore enable Barack Obama), but if he had chosen someone else, they still would have attacked him, because after the convention, the election was McCain v. Obama. No way McCain wins that popularity contest among the mainstream, inside-the-beltway political class, because 95 percent of them are Democrats. If he hadn't picked her, they would have criticized him for something else. Bob Dole and Mitt Romney were "respected" as well, and both picked thoughtful and decent men as running mates. The same political class was just as hostile to them as they were to McCain once the election became R v. D.

Just FYI - that doesn't mean the GOP shouldn't care to pick thoughtful and decent men (and women) for candidates. We should pick them because they're better for the country and generally make better candidates, not because the media will like them more, because they won't.