Willing to hurl an insult, John McCain has also tried to teach respect
Jul 21, 2017, 6:36 AM | Updated: 8:32 am
Sen. McCain. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
Senator John McCain doesn’t want to hear any more “woe is me” talk about his brain tumor, but this is an opportunity to talk about him as a man, as opposed to a politician.
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I think we can agree that he isn’t a slave to political correctness.
When anti-war demonstrators tried to disrupt Henry Kissinger’s testimony during a Senate hearing, McCain made his feelings crystal clear.
“You know, you’re going to have to shut up or I’m going to have you arrested. Get out of here, you low-life scum.”
Willing to hurl an insult, right? But it was about respect. He was saying – you want me to respect your right to protest? You respect the witness’ right to be heard.
He also applied that standard to his supporters. Remember near the end of 2008 presidential campaign when people in the crowd were calling Barack Obama a terrorist and a liar and scary?
“I want to be President of the United States, and obviously I do not want Senator Obama to be. But I have to tell you. I have to tell you, he is a decent person…”
You remember this woman?
“I can’t trust Obama. I’ve read about him and he’s not … he’s not … he’s an Arab,” she said of President Obama.
“No ma’am. No ma’am. He’s a decent family man — citizen — that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues with.”
Seems weird now – but McCain actually tried to defuse the anger because he thought respect was an important example to set. And somewhere along the way — maybe because he lost that election — a lot of people have decided that respect is just too quaint for prime time.
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