Buffington: Remembering John McCain, an American hero

The death of Sen. John McCain was more than the death of an individual.
It was the death of political courage in an era where most national political leaders put loyalty to party over loyalty to country.
It was the death of statesmanship, of bipartisan compromise to get things done for the American people.
It was the death of humility in a political arena now filled with bluster, bombast and ego.
It was the death of decency at a moment when hatred has become the currency of our political dialogue.
It was the death of decorum in an era where politicians favor the showmanship of glitz and kitsch.
It was the death of restraint in an atmosphere where political leaders feel free to say anything to anyone at any time.
It was the death of truth in a political era where lies flow daily out of the mouths of leading political figures.
It was the death of reason at a time when unreasonable demands have been elevated to the national spotlight.
It was the death of a hero at a time when there are few heroes walking across the American landscape.
John McCain was a larger-than-life fixture on the American stage for decades. He marched to his own drummer, sometimes agreeing with his party, other times reaching across the aisle to compromise.
As a former POW who had been tortured in Vietnam, McCain called on America to rise above its anger and ban the use of torture during the post 9/11 years.
“America must be a model citizen if we want others to look to us as a model,” McCain said. “How we behave at home affects how we are perceived abroad.... We can’t torture or treat inhumanely suspected terrorists we have captured.”
That was not a popular stand with many, but McCain had the moral standing to make his argument and defend it against critics.
McCain was not a perfect political leader. He made mistakes. But he was a big enough man to admit those mistakes.
In his first run for the presidency in 2000, McCain vacillated on whether or not the Confederate flag should be taken down at the South Carolina state house. He said the flag represented “heritage,” a nod to those who wanted it to stay.
But McCain, whose ancestors fought for the South in the Civil War, later went back to South Carolina and apologized, admitting he took his earlier stand for political reasons and not from what he really believed.
‘’I feared that if I answered honestly, I could not win the South Carolina primary,’’ McCain said. ‘’So I chose to compromise my principles. I broke my promise to always tell the truth.’’
In 2008, McCain again ran for president and made what was perhaps his biggest mistake — selecting Sarah Palin as his running mate. He later said he regretted having done that and wished he had selected Joe Lieberman.
“I was persuaded by my political advisers it would be harmful, and that was another mistake that I made,” McCain later admitted.
He didn’t know it at the time, but Palin’s rise in the political arena represented a new, ugly strain of American demagoguery, ignorance and celebrity politics that evolved to its ultimate expression in 2016.
Despite his mistakes, McCain was a decent human being who more often than not, rose above the fray. His concession speech in 2008 to Barack Obama was a masterpiece of grace and historical resonance.
During that election, McCain had the decency to defend Obama against spurious attacks and false accusations at a town hall meeting.
“I have to tell you: He is a decent person and a person you don’t have to be scared of as president of the United States,” he told one member of the audience at a campaign rally.
In recent years, McCain became known for his unrelenting opposition to Donald Trump.
During the 2015 campaign, the two men began a bitter war of words that led to what may have been the lowest point in American politics in a generation.
“He’s not a war hero,” Trump said of McCain in a statement that stunned the nation. “He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that aren’t captured.”
Trump, who got a deferment from the draft because of “bone spurs,” openly insulted McCain’s heroism, a move that left many observers disgusted.
Despite that level of debased political rhetoric, Trump went on to win the presidency and the two men continued their war of words to the end. Following July’s controversial meeting between Trump and Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, McCain said it was “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.” In his final instructions, McCain made it clear that he didn’t want the president at his funeral.
After McCain died Saturday night, Trump issued a brief, bland comment to the McCain family that did not honor McCain’s service and Monday morning, raised the American flag back to full staff at the White House, a clear show of disrespect toward McCain by Trump. (Trump later re-lowered the flag after getting pressure from national veteran’s groups.)
But that bitter political feud will not diminish McCain’s standing in history.
This week, McCain will receive a hero’s funeral that will focus on his service to his nation, both in the military and in the political arena.
And when the history of our time is written in the future, McCain will be remembered for his innate decency, moral courage and public service.
America needs more John McCains.
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Mike Buffington is co-publisher of Mainstreet Newspapers. He can be reached at mike@mainstreetnews.com.