Campaign McCain

Two Insights to John McCain’s Character

By J. Wesley ⋅ April 9, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

There are aspects of John McCain’s character which make me want to choke him — his self-righteousness springs to mind. 

On the other hand, two recent articles reminded me that while he can be infuriating, there is greatness in John McCain.

The first was a Times piece on the Iraq War service of his son, Jimmy.  Serving not as an officer, but as an enlisted Joe in the Marine Corps, Jimmy signed up at 17 and is currently serving in Iraq.  Any other politician would be using his son as a poster boy for the campaign, particularly one such as McCain, who has staked his candidacy on the war.  Instead, the McCain campaign forcefully argued for the Times to spike the article.  That impressed me almost as much as his son’s service.  The headline says if all: Vocal on War, McCain Is Silent on Son’s Service.

The second article is on McCain’s friendship with the late Democratic leader Mo Udall.  The article is definitely worth reading.  Long after the time when others had abandoned the ailing old man, McCain would still visit him in the veteran’s hospital.  While McCain’s willingness to compromise with Dems is annoying, I like that he comes from an earlier time when partisanship wasn’t so vicious.