As Politico reports, several prominent Republicans are (finally) coming to the defense of the late Sen. John McCain after President Trump started attacking McCain’s legacy as part of his Sunday Tweetstorm:
Senate Republicans are stepping up their defense of John McCain. And Donald Trump is ignoring them entirely.
In just his latest bid to tarnish McCain’s legacy and reshape the GOP in his own image, the president offered a new set of attacks on the dead Arizona senator even after Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) blasted Trump for “deplorable“ behavior on Wednesday and other Republicans issued statements defending their former colleague.
But Trump made clear at an appearance in Lima, Ohio, that he’s simply not going to adjust his public views of McCain just because it makes his own party uncomfortable.
Trump said on Wednesday of McCain that he “never liked him much … probably never will” and dinged him again for passing the Steele dossier, a mostly unverified report focusing on the president’s alleged ties to Russia, to the FBI. Trump said McCain’s vote against Obamacare repeal ended up “badly hurting our nation.” He also said McCain, who worked on expanding veterans’ health options with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), “didn’t get the job done for our great vets in the V.A., and they knew it.”
Isakson, the Georgia Republican who chairs the Senate Veteran Affairs Committee, went off on Trump’s criticism of McCain in an interview with “The Bulwark” and called on fellow Republicans to follow suit. As Politico notes, South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham has spoken out meekly about Trump’s comments; mostly, Republicans like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have praised McCain but generally avoided talking about Trump:
Today and every day I miss my good friend John McCain. It was a blessing to serve alongside a rare patriot and genuine American hero in the Senate. His memory continues to remind me every day that our nation is sustained by the sacrifices of heroes.
— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) March 20, 2019
Such a brave statement. 🙄
If Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) says anything about Trump’s repeated attacks on McCain, we’ll be sure to update this page. Maybe he’ll feel more like talking after seeing this ridiculousness from Trump today. The explanation in the Tweet below is only a slight exaggeration, as you’ll see from watching the video:
Trump complains that John McCain did not come back from the dead to thank him for the nice funeral he held for him pic.twitter.com/6ejtB96axp
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) March 20, 2019
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McCain nostalgia is like Bush nostalgia. Fuck we've come to a low spot to genuinely miss these guys.
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We're nostalgic for decency.
You call this decency?
As Ben Mathis-Lilley of Slate puts it:
What's an Erik Loomis (author of your linked piece)?
Google is your friend.
I'm aware of Google. Loomis is just a hit-piece writer in need of something more substantial in life.
You're wrong.
I've subscribed to The Progressive off and on since the 1970s whenever I wanted to get a good dose of far left wing dippyness.
I subscribe to Mother Jones as it has better writing and is far more coherent. I also get Hightower Lowdown; both of which balance off my subscriptions for the other side of politics; National Review and Washington Examiner.
What does that have to do with Loomis being a history professor and author of numerous books?
Read your own link. Progressive Magazine calls Loomis a "brilliant historian."
All the logical fallacies in the world won't save you from your absurd assertion.
All his books are hit-pieces?
Being a history professor is not something substantial?
John McCain should be judged only by those who have sacrificed one percent as much for this country as he did. Neither the yellow bellied coward now on the White House or Erik Loomis qualifies.
"When the North Vietnamese discovered that McCain’s father was an admiral, he became a showpiece for them and he was treated a little better and received medical care for his wounds, although he certainly received his share of brutality after that too. He was moved from prison to prison, including two years of solitary confinement than began in March 1968. Torture started to break him. He considered suicide but was interrupted while preparing for it. He signed a bogus confession, and was later ashamed, but of course no one can really stand up to torture. He finally was released from prison in 1973, after five hellish years. Whether all this makes him a “hero” or not is a question I guess you will have to decide. I certainly don’t question the man’s toughness or personal bravery. I don’t find the term hero particularly useful and I’m unclear how this qualifies someone for the title as opposed to, I don’t know, organizing people to lift themselves out of poverty, but this is a battle I recognize I will never win. In any case, I don’t think his history should have meant anything when it came to political respectability but of course it did."
I didn't serve in Vietnam. but I served with people who did. Loomis is a snide, insulting POS who is richly deserving of a punch in the mouth.