May 7, 2018

"If McCain retires before May 30, an election to replace him would (likely) be held this fall; if not..."

"... Arizona’s Republican governor will be able to appoint a reliably pro-Trump senator who would hold the seat until 2020. Which is to say: If McCain wishes to 'battle' Trump politically (as opposed to merely rebuffing him personally), he will give the voters of his state a chance to weigh in on his replacement in November."

From "Hatch: It’s ‘Ridiculous’ That John McCain Didn’t Invite Trump to His Funeral" (New York Magazine).

It's very strange — these statements coming from a dying man about what he wants at his funeral. I can't remember ever hearing anyone talking about his own funeral with the assumption the President of the United States wants to attend and then taking a shot at the President saying don't attend. I mean, how do you get to be the sort of person who, facing death, imagines everyone clamoring to attend your funeral and then telling some of them you don't want them there? It's similar to a Bridezilla, thinking everyone's so interested in attending her wedding and then being dictatorial toward these people.

I don't understand it, but then I'm the sort of person who would refrain from staging a big (or even a small) wedding because I can't imagine people genuinely wanting to participate in a Festival of Me. And a wedding is a happy occasion. But a funeral... good Lord! What would possess you to think your funeral is going to be such a hot ticket people will be put out if they can't attend and then letting it be known who you want on the outs?

I'd like to see more dignity and privacy around McCain as he plays his final scene. It's his brain that is wrecking him. Shouldn't his family enclose him and protect him?

113 comments:

walter said...

Maverick-y

Bill Crawford said...

And how would McCain stop Trump from attending anyway? He's giving Trump the opportunity to be the bigger man.

Michael K said...

Remember, when McCain got back from the POW camp, he had psychological testing, as all the returned POWs did.

His psych results included a "histrionic personality."

Then he dumped his wife who had been waiting for him and married the heiress of the beer fortune.

walter said...

Right Bill.
That would go over really well.
Not that his family would allow him anywhere near.

john said...

I don't want Trump at my funeral either. He would distract attention from my coffin.

Hagar said...

McCain was born a jackass and will die a jackass.

Bill Crawford said...

Walter - even if he chooses not to attend, Trump, not McCain, will have the last word. If Trump chooses to praise him, then McCain will be remembered as petty and Trump as gracious.

Sally327 said...

I think McCain did Trump a favor because I think Trump would not want to go to the funeral and this way he can just say he's honoring the dead man's last wishes. So maybe it's a gracious gesture after all even though it plays like a huge insult. You just never know with these politicians.

mockturtle said...

We Arizonans hope he retires ASAP. He should have retired years ago.

Michael K reminds us: Then he dumped his wife who had been waiting for him and married the heiress of the beer fortune.

Yes. This was reprehensible. And his trophy wife, Cindy, became addicted to pain killers and stole them from her own charity organization.

Sprezzatura said...

"I mean, how do you get to be the sort of person who, facing death, imagines everyone clamoring to attend your funeral and then telling some of them you don't want them there?"

FTR, Althouse has stated that she thinks that future generations are going to be studying her blog posts.

Anywho, back to jabber about this piss-ant McCain v. our heroic POTUS.

Tom T. said...

This is the politics of personal pique that McCain has always practiced, and since it usually leads him into criticism of other Republicans, it wins him great press. His family's not about to put a stop to it.

Sprezzatura said...

Doc Mike,

I though all psych docs were not to be trusted, according to you.

Now, yur deferring to their authority.

Quaestor said...

McCain was a royal asswipe from waaaay back. The brain tumor merely exacerbated the character defect. I voted for this creep in preference to Obama, whom I assessed as a pathological narcissist, one who blithely accepted the shameless worship offered him as nothing more than his due. Furthermore, I took Obama for a political lazybones, seeing as how he didn't even bother to vote on nearly 50% of the bills and resolutions that came his way during his brief stint as the Junior Senator from Illinois. Better the cantankerous and occasionally treacherous McCain than Caligula Redux.

I may have been mistaken...

sane_voter said...

In the back and forth of the run up to 2016 primary, “He's not a war hero,” said Trump. “He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured.”

So that probably pissed McCain off. However McCain's comment about regretting the Palin pick was really unnecessary. I don't think McCain had a shot against Obama until he picked her. And then the financial meltdown killed all his hopes, not Palin.

But you have to imagine such an aggressive brain tumor affects the brain functions. However, as long as he is dissing the GOP, no matter what his health is, it's all good for the MSM.

Gilbert Pinfold said...

For good insight into McCain (as well as Oliver North, James Webb, and John Poindexter), read "The Nightengale's Song" by Robert Timberg. McCain comes off like a self-centered jerk, dumping his wife who was crippled in a car crash while he was in prison in North Vietnam. Honestly, not someone who merits the lionization he has received and will continue after death.

Quaestor said...

I though [sic] all psych docs were not to be trusted, according to you.

Delusional ut solet, eh Ritmo?

Mark said...

The problem is that whether McCain actually said these things, or whether they are distortions from the MSM, both are entirely believable.

And when he does depart, it will have already been too late to not say uncomplimentary things about him. He was sabotaging the Republican president years before Trump ever took office.

YoungHegelian said...

Shouldn't his family enclose him and protect him?

Oh, too late. Much, much too late.

Sprezzatura said...

"I'd like to see more dignity and privacy around McCain as he plays his final scene. It's his brain that is wrecking him. Shouldn't his family enclose him and protect him?"

I, like Althouse, want these attacks from McCain on POTUS to be stopped. We call for civility.

Instead, let's recall McCain praising DJT for bombing Syria. That was back when his mind was working well.

roesch/voltaire said...

It is not unusual for people who know the end is very near to make their requests for how they want their funeral to take place including which relatives etc to invite, and given the things said by Trump about McCain I can understand his wishes.

William said...

He's not leaving the stage in a classy way, and apparently there's no one around him to caution against these moments of malice.

rcocean said...

You obviously don't want to realize that McCain really is a "Maverick"

Common decency, & normal, recognized standards and behavior don't apply.

That's why he could stab his party in the back a million times. Or tell voters he'll vote against Obamacare or "Build the Dang Fence" and then do the opposite when elected. And laugh at rubes who believed him.

Quaestor said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Gahrie said...

I mean, how do you get to be the sort of person who, facing death, imagines everyone clamoring to attend your funeral and then telling some of them you don't want them there?

Spending 31 years in the Senate and losing a race for president might be one way.

(He was preceded by Barry Goldwater for Christ's sake.)

MaxedOutMama said...

I expressed much the same sentiments to my husband at dinner ("I'd like to see more dignity and privacy around McCain as he plays his final scene. It's his brain that is wrecking him. Shouldn't his family enclose him and protect him?")

Nonetheless, some of this ego is just McCain, and has been with him for many years. That was my husband's response, and I admitted he had a point.

It is sad to see this playing out in public, to be sure. An uncle of mine died of the same thing, and as the cancer invades the brain, some oddities are to be expected.

I think we all ought to extend some charity to McCain in the interpretation of his reported comments. He should now resign, however, and I would hope his family is urging him to do so.

God bless him and keep him, and help his family through these last days. McCain suffered a great deal for his nation and did so very honorably, and I would prefer to remember that as his true character. No human being is truly represented by his or her worst/most confused times.

Gahrie said...

FTR, Althouse has stated that she thinks that future generations are going to be studying her blog posts.

I do too.

rcocean said...

His whole life has been an ego trip. Frankly, if I was Trump why would I want to attend?

Trump is against everything McCain holds dear: invading the world, inviting the world, sucking up to the New York Times, love of the DC insiders, contempt for the rube voters.

Trump is the anti-McCain. Not to mention, McCain is involved in the Dossier, and when healthy was attacking Trump 24/7.

Given that, I'd be embarrassed to be at McCain's funeral and have to pretend it was a national tragedy this old fart died.

Sprezzatura said...

"It is not unusual for people who know the end is very near to make their requests for how they want their funeral to take place including which relatives etc to invite, and given the things said by Trump about McCain I can understand his wishes."

Wrong.

Yur not supposed to treat him like a person who knows what he's doing and saying. He's an out of his mind loon who should be silenced by his family.

But, if he wants to say nice things about DJT -- and, how could there not be a long list of wonderful things McCain has insider knowledge of re DJT -- then we'll know that his mind is working properly and he should be allowed to express himself publicly.

It's shameful to not agree w/ this. Have you no civility?

Drago said...

"Then he dumped his wife who had been waiting for him and married the heiress of the beer fortune."

You know, he wasn't the only returning long-term POW whose marriage did not survive the homecoming.

I'm no fan of McCain (because my name isn't "Chris Mathews" nor "Generic Dem" nor "I like People who attack both HW Bush and GW Bush Guy") but that's a tough situation.

I've seen homecoming scenes on the Pier or the Hangar after the Ship or Squadron returns home after just 9 months or less separations where the marriages fall apart.

There's plenty other stuff to jump down McCains throat about.

Quaestor said...

Dems love him because he could be counted on to betray his party and Arizona just for the sadistic pleasure. What troubles me is how the citizens of Arizona could vote him in time and time again. Wasn't there a single primary challenger with the guts and determination to tackle him?

rcocean said...

As for McCain saying this things.

There have been no denials.

Further, The New York Times LOVES John McCain. He's their favorite Republican. They were invited to Arizona to do a hit piece on Trump and shed tears over McCain.

Besides, when did McCain ever show any class toward people he disliked? He had a history of profanity and anger toward any REPUBLICAN Senator who crossed him. He'd even lash out at Republican voters in some of "Townhalls".

William said...

He had some moments of genuine heroism and conscience. His leavetaking is not worthy of those moments. Your last moments should not be unforgiving. It just causes people to remember all the sins you committed.

rcocean said...

Personally, I'm looking forward to the McCain funeral.

Champagne's on me.

Sally327 said...

"You know, he wasn't the only returning long-term POW whose marriage did not survive the homecoming."

FWIW, his ex-wife has never spoken out against him and I remember reading somewhere that in his first race his opponent called her up and tried to get her to dish and she told him to back off and went to McCain about it immediately.

So yes, there is a lot to criticize him for but I don't think this is one of those things.

rcocean said...

"He had some moments of genuine heroism and conscience"

45 years Ago.

But I guess when you've been an asshole for the last 20 years, people forget that.

Quaestor said...

FTR, Althouse has stated that she thinks that future generations are going to be studying her blog posts.

One reason why Ritmo keep changing his handle to ever more nonsensical concatenations — to convince future scholars that her blog attracted more trolls than it actually does.

They will not be deceived.

gilbar said...

"I'd like to see more dignity and privacy around McCain as he plays his final scene"

why should he start now?

Quaestor said...

FWIW, his ex-wife has never spoken out against him and I remember reading somewhere that in his first race his opponent called her up and tried to get her to dish and she told him to back off and went to McCain about it immediately.

If true this is much more a testament to the goodness and courage of Carol Shepp than McCain. Love makes people do such things. Something else makes people repay love with faithlessness.

Sebastian said...

"I don't understand it"

Oh, please, no, not that faux-nonunderstanding.

You and we understand it perfectly well. It's John Effing McCain we're talking about.

Quaestor said...

Champagne's on me.

I won't be toasting his demise.

But then I didn't celebrate when they carted off that old couch the cat peed on.

rhhardin said...

McCain is a grandstander, including in Viet Nam, something Trump called him on.

It's a coping method, if you're not as good as your famous father, probably.

buwaya said...

His political side (anti-Trump at the moment) is better off forcing an election than letting the governor appoint a replacement. There is a slight possibility of an anti-Trump candidate winning in November vs no chance with an appointment.

Clyde said...

Anyone who has the necessary narcissism to run for president is going to be full of himself when his final turn on the stage comes around. There are no mysteries here; we all know who McCain is, and the amount of damage that he has done. I'm ready for the coda.

readering said...

Didn't the Bush family send the same message with more subtlety? Maybe that experience emboldened those around McCain (who did no apparently speak directly to a reporter on the subject).

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

Reunion time for the Keating Five.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Pain in the ass to the very end.

Big Mike said...

In the back and forth of the run up to 2016 primary, “He's not a war hero,” said Trump. “He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured.”

The trouble is, McCain was shot down because he screwed up. My source is this article

Money quote #1: “All pilots were taught the tactics to keep from getting shot down. To the American public, every pilot brought down by enemy fire was a hero. But carrier pilots made a sharp distinction between someone who was unavoidably shot down and a pilot who simply made a mistake.”

Money quote #2: “By his own admission, then, McCain failed to follow instructions in combat. He did not try to evade the missile. Moreover, the pilots who were flying near him, one of them with a handheld camera, said he was not hit by a SAM. He had flown too low and was brought down by a barrage of antiaircraft fire. Since a SAM exploded in a bright orange fireball visible for miles around, it was unlikely that they had called it wrong. And since official navy records listed John McCain as downed by AAA fire, they were puzzled by why he later insisted in his political campaigns that it was a SAM.

As other pilots saw it, John McCain, quite simply, had got himself shot down.”

JackWayne said...

McCain will be just another in a long line of egotistical politicians who refuses to retire. He’d rather die on the job. And I count judges as politicians.

President-Mom-Jeans said...

23 more days.

Michael K said...

Blogger anti-de Sitter space said...
Doc Mike,

I though all psych docs were not to be trusted, according to you.


No, just you lefty idiots.

robother said...

Teddy Roosevelt was said to be the "bride at every wedding." Trump has surpassed even that, becoming the corpse at every funeral.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

Trump should tweet: I'll dance on your grave!

traditionalguy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
traditionalguy said...

The enmity between McCain and the Military runs very deep. Many refuse to speak his name.

Trump has no fight with McCain. But Trump's Military guys have accumulated enough evidence on McCain to execute him.

Sprezzatura said...

"No, just you lefty idiots."

Right, right, right. My bad. Shame on me.

Psychologists are fine, it's the folks who make comments that you don't read who are bad.


Got it.

Michael K said...

Shiloh, that was my one response or acknowledgement that you exist.

Njall said...

So, of course he will choose to thwart Trump, and thus honor his life’s work choosing petty vindictiveness, virtue signaling, and egotism over party and country.

walter said...

It is a blessing to not be err..held hostage..to Obama speechifyin'.
Hopefully he will have his whistley tooth thing under control.
Maybe he'll find a hottie there and take some selfies.

Tank said...

This is just McCain being McCain.

End of story.

buwaya said...

PB&J is Shiloh?
The styles don't match.

JAORE said...

The New York Times LOVES John McCain. He's their favorite Republican.

Unless he's running for President.

{and Hammond X., thanks for the Keating 5 reference. I was amazed it didn't show up earlier. That wasn't being a "Maverick", that was an asshole act.]

Sprezzatura said...

buw,

You're right.

But, that Doc Mike error is only a tiny part of what makes him so funny in these threads.

He is awesome.


IMHO.

Michael K said...

Buwaya, they all sound alike.

Some are worse, like Ritmo, but they all think they are clever.

ELC said...

If Pres. Trump would have liked to have an excuse to not attend the funeral, Sen. McCain just gave it to him. #winning :)

Ralph L said...

McCain's first marriage lasted longer than a lot of former POW's, especially considering they'd only been married about 2 years before. But he'd been running around and cheating long before he met Cindy.

The POW son in my 6th grade acted up constantly (before the return). Soon after, he went with his father, his sister stayed with their mother. Not sure I want to know what happened to him.

Sprezzatura said...

"but they all think they are clever."

Obviously they are all wrong.

But Doc Mike sure is clever.

pacwest said...

Christ's sake. Some people truly dislike Trump. McCain more than most. And it's his funeral. I guess he wants to go down with his middle finger up.

walter said...

Morticians can make that happen...though all viewers get the same experience.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

But a funeral... good Lord! What would possess you to think your funeral is going to be such a hot ticket people will be put out if they can't attend...

Thank you very much, that's the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for me- Scrooge

FIDO said...

McCain dithers. I hope he does so past May 30th just to spite the Dems...but no, classless McCain, who never hesitated to put a spoke in the Republican bicycle wheel, can be counted on to slip in a shiv at the last moment.

Scott said...

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, --and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of --Wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air...
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark or even eagle flew --
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.


--John Gillespie Magee, Jr

Scott said...

McCain's feisty attitude probably kept him alive when lesser men would have given up the ghost. But he might ultimately find more peace in ways that don't involve stoking his resentments.

Birkel said...

In 2008, I stood with Ann Coulter in thinking that Hillary Clinton would be the least bad option between Obama, McCain, and Hillary. I still hold to that opinion. Hillary would have tried to do most of the worst that Obama managed bit with less political skill, no charisma, and an opposition party steadfastly set against Hillary.

McCain would have instituted the Leftist agenda and ruined Republicans and conservatives for a generation. He is a terrible politician and a worse person.

cubanbob said...

John McCain the naval aviator and combat veteran is an admirable man. John McCain the politician not so much.

Michael K said...

Magee was killed a few months after he wrote that.

What a time to be able to fly !

The Few had some Americans.

Big Mike said...

I can cut McCain some slack over the Keating 5. He was the junior senator from his state, the other four senators — all Democrats — included the senior senator from his state (Dennis DeConcini) and two heavyweights who were close to household names at that time: John Glenn (yes, the former astronaut) and Alan Cranston. He got snookered, but it must have been flattering to be a newbie senator and receive positive attention from the likes of DeConcini, Cranston, and Glenn.

I’m a lot less happy about Harry Reid rolling him so easily during the economic meltdown on 2008.

Michael K said...


Blogger Scott said...
McCain's feisty attitude probably kept him alive when lesser men would have given up the ghost.


I suspect the specter of his father and the ghost of his grandfather (Who took the rap for Halsey after the typhoon) helped keep him in line but none of us will ever know for sure.

Michael K said...


Blogger Big Mike said...
I can cut McCain some slack over the Keating 5.


I don't blame him for that but his shame and ego gave us "McCain-Feingold" which gutted Congress and gave us the administrative state as the politicians spent all their time raising money. The staffs wrote the legislation, then shifted to lobby firms and bureaucrats.

Beldar said...

@ robother (5/7/18, 8:58 PM): The source is TR's daughter Alice Roosevelt Longworth, and the quote is: "My father always wanted to be the corpse at every funeral, the bride at every wedding and the baby at every christening."

Compared to the pharaohs, McCain isn't being very picky. He's been a grumpy old man ever since he entered public life, so why wouldn't he be consistently grumpy regarding his funeral?

Tom said...

Politically, McCain and I disagree a lot. But what Trump said about his service is disgustingly horrible. If I were McCain, I'd have told Trump to go perform an anatomical impossibility on himself.

Earnest Prole said...

It's poor form to speak ill of the dead so I'll say it now while there's still time: John McCain is a Weasel with a capital W.

robother said...

Trump should respond to McCain's snub in the spirit of that old Irish joke about Paddy going to Mike's bedside as Mike was about to meet his Maker.
"Ah Paddy, could ye do me one final favor, pour a quart of Powers out on me grave?"

Paddy responds, "Oh ye know that I will Mike. But Mike, now, ye wouldn't be offended I was to pass it through me first, now would ye?"

Yancey Ward said...

To his credit, McCain is doing what is best for his party and the voters who reelected him the last time- last it out until the end of May and then likely resign so that the governor can appoint the replacement from the Republican Party.

However, I do expect to see a federal judge somewhere try to force the election to be held in November regardless of when McCain leaves the Senate permanently.

narciso said...

The ninth circus includes Arizona no?


Michael Fitzgerald said...

I like senators who don't get brain cancer.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

BTW, it is ARM who is Shiloh.

Bad Lieutenant said...


Blogger Michael Fitzgerald said...
BTW, it is ARM who is Shiloh


How do you come to this conclusion? Thanks for the information, if true.

Martin L. Shoemaker said...

Brings to mind the old adage about a vain person: the bride at every wedding, the corpse at every funeral.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

Once ARM made a mistake in some comment, and Shiloh corrected it. I instantly indicted ARM for sockpuppetry. He denied it, but after that, Shiloh activity in our sector dropped to nil.

Daniel Jackson said...

I doubt that he will resign early. He could/should have done that when he announced his terminal illness.

He does not care for neither party nor constituency. He only cares about Big John.

Nope. To resign would be the end of the spotlight. Unlike Kerry, who still has his hat, Big John wants to keep his seat until the bitter end.

E.G.O.

Kevin said...

Jeremy: Man, I had a little imaginary friend when I was a kid. His name was Shiloh. We used to play checkers with each other everyday and bless his heart, Shiloh would always let me win.

stevew said...

McCain, always and ever a small, petty man who sees himself much bigger than he is. I'm sure he's convinced himself he's doing this for the people and the public good.

-sw

Kevin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Humperdink said...

His comment about picking Palin was a large mistake is what defines McCain more than anything else for me. If McCain was the only person on the ticket, he would have lost in a landslide.

Just retire, you classless a**hole.

Megthered said...

I read somewhere that his wife and family are doing the tweeting and commenting for him now. He's too far gone to attempt it. So to keep him in the news they are doing it for him. I can believe it. My family has been touched by malignant brain tumors, and they weren't doing any tweeting at the end. I get that the family hates Trump, but it m acc him look so petty.He also had a shitty, entitled, attitude as a Naval aviator.

I'm Full of Soup said...

We are getting a look at he Real Mccain.

RichAndSceptical said...

Why are people surprised McCain is still being McCain? He has always been a self-centered SOB.

mikee said...

McCain has been a reliable supporter of Democrats since he wasn't indicted in Abscam.
And that's all there has been to him as long as he's been in office, other than praise from leftist media for being such a Maverick. He blew a presidential election, and is honored for that by Dems, too. Of course he didn't invite his political opponent, Trump, to his funeral. That would have been voting Republican.

RAS743 said...

“ What would possess you to think your funeral is going to be such a hot ticket people will be put out if they can't attend and then letting it be known who you want on the outs?“
Ummm — the gigantic ego of a guy who thinks he’s the indispensable man? The good news about McCain is he once was a legitimate war hero. The bad news is he’s been a disaster as a politician, doing his part to make our politics as 5hitty as they are.

Truthavenger said...

Why would anyone want ANYBODY to come to their funeral? Funerals are horrible. Why would you want to subject anyone to that?

I have left explicit instructions NOT to have a funeral at my death. I can't imagine a more horrifying spectacle than people traipsing to the microphone trying to come up with good things to say about me.

Just cremate me and scatter the ashes.

Danno said...

Can I reverse my vote for McCain in 2008? I sure would like to.

I still wouldn't vote for the empty suit messiah.

Anonymous said...

Truthavenger: Why would anyone want ANYBODY to come to their funeral? Funerals are horrible. Why would you want to subject anyone to that?

What kind of person doesn't understand human funeral rituals? When people stop sending off the dead in proper style, that's when you know your culture's on the fritz.

Though I guess I can understand the antipathy if your only experience consists of nothing but "people traipsing up to the microphone to say good things about me", like some sort of cheesy anti-roast, a collection of vacuous gestures unconnected to any larger sense of one's place in space and time. A funeral is like a wedding - it's not really about the individual dead person or the particular marrying couple. When it is...well, yeah, then I admit those kinds of deracinated ceremonies are pretty horrible.

Truthavenger said...

Angle-Dyne, Angelic Buzzard: "What kind of person doesn't understand human funeral rituals?"

I understand funeral rituals, and their importance to some people. And if some people want a funeral, fine.

Me personally, I get the willies at the thought of being the center of attention, even at my funeral. That's why I don't want one. And I have been to a lot of funerals where a clergyman has given the eulogy and it's clear he didn't even know the deceased. Just stringing together platitudes and salvation theology.

No thanks.

Whatever you say said...

Blogger William said...
He's not leaving the stage in a classy way, and apparently there's no one around him to caution against these moments of malice.

McCain has always surrounded himself with nasty people like Steve Schmidt and Nicole Wallace of MSNBC fame. Even if McCain is unable to insult Trump on his way out, his circle will speak for him.

mtrobertslaw said...

Once McCain passes, will his fellow prisoners feel free enough to say what they really thought of him?

Anonymous said...

He's been a dick his entire political life. Why would his family see this as any change?

narayanan said...

He is vain enough a traitor to his state
-
to not resign - while arranging his funeral guest list

TWW said...

Who not what.

langford peel said...

McCain is just being McCain.

A vain arrogant failure with an enormous sense of entitlement.

He could care less that the People of Arizona have not had a Senator representing them for months.

He could care less that his party is missing a vital vote that could pass laws and confirm appointees in the face of universal Democratic obstruction.

He has even demanded that someone in his family be appointed to fill out his term.

Die already. He will leave this life the way he led it. As a failure and a disgrace.

langford peel said...

Hey is it possible that he can crash his coffin when they are putting it in the hole?

Martin said...

All of Althouse's questions can be answered by the simple fact that McCain has an ego of galactic proportions.

I credit him for his courage in captivity in Hanoi, but the US would have been better served if he had got what he deserved in the Keating Five scandal.

langford peel said...

All of McCains suffering in Vietnam would have been avoided if his Admiral Father didn't get him a pass for crashing his plane on the aircraft carrier more times than any other pilot in history.

He got a pass from being in the bottom of his class at the Academy and was pushed along every step of the way.

He is the sneering asshole with a sense of entitlement in every movie you ever saw.

He if fuckin' Doug Neidermeyer come to life.

AllenS said...

My first vote in a Presidential election was in 1968. The only time that I didn't vote in one was when McCain ran. I detest the man. I truly felt sorry for Palin when she accepted the Vice Presidential role. Only a complete asshole would now say that they wished they had asked someone else. Leiberman? What a joke.