# John McCain is all right **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 12, 2018, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-is-all-right/814029 "2018-05-12T03:50:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2018, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-is-all-right/814029/21 "2018-05-12T22:30:10Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > I was unable to take McCain serious in the 2008 campaign, but that was 100% Palin’s fault. McCain could have made a good, trustworthy president. But that Palin thing made that impossible. > McCain just proved his love of country by asking trump to stay away from his funeral. > Fair winds and following seas, Mr. McCain. McCain was just trying to spare the people attending the shock of his withered body leaping by reflex out of the coffin to kiss the fattest part of Trumps’s ass. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-is-all-right/814029/22 "2018-05-13T13:22:58Z")
John McCain is a fucking sellout. I don’t know for sure if his ‘maverick’ phase was genuine, but for several years up to mid-2004, he certainly played the part well enough to convince me. Aside from his hawkishness in foreign policy, his stances on domestic issues were very atypical for a Republican even then, and he routinely made common cause with Democrats on various issues. Then in June 2004, he apparently decided that if he ever wanted a shot at the Presidency, the best route was to abandon his mavericky ways, endorse Bush, and become a standard-issue Republican. Which is what he’s been ever since, with only very rare deviations. I will give him this, though: one of the GOP attempts to kill Obamacare last year would have succeeded if he’d voted for it. But he didn’t. So it still exists, despite the best efforts of the GOP to kill it. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-is-all-right/814029/23 "2018-05-13T13:36:28Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > So: He is a better person than most politicians. This is a little like being the thinnest shit sandwich. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-is-all-right/814029/24 "2018-05-13T16:06:24Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > I also remember that he didn’t allow that idiot woman to get away with calling Obama an Arab. Other than that, he seems to be just like Rand Paul, jumping in front of a camera to say what a maverick he is, only to vote the party line almost every time. > [@John\_Mace](#): > > McCain said early on that he was committed to supporting whoever the GOP nominee was. I can understand if you think that’s a distinction without a difference, but I don’t see it as necessarily a bad thing to have some party loyalty unless you think that loyalty would result in actual harm coming to the country. Of course one can readily argue that a Trump presidency should give any thinking person pause, so there’s that, too. Is “chose a running mate who was blatantly racist, but didn’t allow her to make statements that were both racist AND really stupid in public while campaigning with him” really a point in his favor? Or “he endorsed Trump, but did it for personal gain and not for idealogical support, and stopped his endorsement when it wasn’t helping him anymore?” The kind of stuff people say in support of the Trump-supporting, Pain boosting, standard issue republican who paints himself as a maverick while voting the party line doesn’t exactly endear him to me. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-is-all-right/814029/25 "2018-05-13T16:09:21Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > I will give him this, though: one of the GOP attempts to kill Obamacare last year would have succeeded if he’d voted for it. But he didn’t. So it still exists, despite the best efforts of the GOP to kill it. True. On the other hand, think of how much better the ACA would be if McCain had supported it in the first place and brought some Republicans over with him to craft a more rounded bill rather than being an active participant in McConnell’s obstruct & sabotage game. It’s great that he developed a conscious after he got brain cancer (well, not the cancer part of course) but it’s a damn shame it came so late and under those circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-is-all-right/814029/26 "2018-05-13T16:15:23Z")
McCain was one of the few Republicans to try to be bipartisan on occasion. Remember McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform? He took decades of heat for that from his party. Yet it seems he treated his first wife horribly. As I said, better than the average politician. Yet that’s not a high bar to achieve. Unless you’re a politician, maybe. He got my grudging respect, but not my vote. Not that he cared. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-is-all-right/814029/27 "2018-05-13T17:06:13Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > I was unable to take McCain serious in the 2008 campaign, but that was 100% Palin’s fault. McCain could have made a good, trustworthy president. No, he wouldn’t have. No Republican since Eisenhower _did_, so it’s perfectly reasonable to suppose that they have been categorically unable to do so. ETA: He’s still alive, right? Is this thread just a death watch while we rush to take our last opportunities to say bad things about him? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-is-all-right/814029/28 "2018-05-13T17:15:07Z")
I lost track of how many times McCain would say the right thing and then vote the wrong way anyway. Also, after the 2000 primaries where Bush played very dirty against McCain (with some egregious push-polling) and won the primary and then McCain completely rolled over and played besties ever after killed the notion of him being a “maverick”. Actions speak louder than words and McCain’s actions in congress were wrong so many times, toeing the party line no matter what. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-is-all-right/814029/29 "2018-05-13T17:41:14Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > True. On the other hand, think of how much better the ACA would be if McCain had supported it in the first place and brought some Republicans over with him to craft a more rounded bill rather than being an active participant in McConnell’s obstruct & sabotage game. It’s great that he developed a conscious after he got brain cancer (well, not the cancer part of course) but it’s a damn shame it came so late and under those circumstances. Quite true. Which is why my top line is still that he was a fucking sellout. > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I lost track of how many times McCain would say the right thing and then vote the wrong way anyway. Hoo boy, yeah. He did it so often it was a joke in many quarters. Never did figure out why the MSM never seemed to catch on. > [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > McCain was one of the few Republicans to try to be bipartisan on occasion. Remember McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform? He took decades of heat for that from his party. Yeah, back when he still could reasonably be called a maverick. I’m not going to credit him today for everything he turned his back on nearly a decade and a half ago. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-is-all-right/814029/30 "2018-05-13T18:21:40Z")
As everyone above has laid out, a decidedly mixed bag with a lot of bad baggage. And yet he still doesn’t deserve the crap he’s taking from deplorable slime molds. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-is-all-right/814029/31 "2018-05-13T18:43:39Z")
I think John McCain knows the depth of the shitty abyss living in the WH better than anyone else in the Senate. So it makes sense for him to publicly furrow his brow more intensely than his Republican colleagues. John knows the shit is about to hit the fan, so the brow-furrowing is his way of ensuring the splatter won’t stick to him and his legacy too much. However, 99% of his votes are in lockstep with the party. He may express “concern” about the president leading the party. But that concern hasn’t compelled McCain to leave the party. He could do it now if he wanted to, but he won’t. He is “all right” compared to the majority of GOP politicians. But Martin Luther McCain, he is not. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-is-all-right/814029/32 "2018-05-13T19:30:03Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I have nothing but contempt for Sarah Palin, but if you’re going to disparage her with a quote, best to do so with something she actually said rather than something from an _SNL_ skit making fun of her. The SNL scripts were \*more \*coherent than what she actually said. As for McCain, I’d believe his “Country First” stuff more if he hadn’t so often been “Republican Party First and Only”. We can honor him without telling falsehoods. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-is-all-right/814029/33 "2018-05-15T00:15:34Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > > [@TonySinclair](#): > > > > I also remember that he didn’t allow that idiot woman to get away with calling Obama an Arab. > > Is “chose a running mate who was blatantly racist, but didn’t allow her to make statements that were both racist AND really stupid in public while campaigning with him” really a point in his favor? No, I agree that nothing he can or will do is enough to make up for choosing Palin, but I wasn’t talking about her. I was talking about this: Unlike most Republican politicians who would have at best thanked her without further comment, and more typically would have agreed with her, he actually corrected her bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-is-all-right/814029/34 "2018-05-15T02:35:20Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > Unlike most Republican politicians who would have at best thanked her without further comment, and more typically would have agreed with her, he actually corrected her bullshit. That’s what is so frustrating about McCain. Unlike someone such as Ted Cruz (as one example) who you are pretty sure has no self awareness when it comes to the evil he does McCain showed he had that self awareness. You could see him realize the utter bullshit he was up to and once in a blue moon it would cause him to pause. Once in a blue moon is not enough though. Sure it makes him better than the likes of Ted Cruz but that is not saying much. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-is-all-right/814029/35 "2018-05-15T11:48:11Z")
Sure, he’d harrumph once in a while, but he’d always go on to vote the party line. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-is-all-right/814029/36 "2018-05-15T15:39:05Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > However, 99% of his votes are in lockstep with the party. He may express “concern” about the president leading the party. But that concern hasn’t compelled McCain to leave the party. He could do it now if he wanted to, but he won’t. As the deciding vote to put the supremely unqualified DeVos into the Dept of Education, I think we can safely say that most of his grumbling about the president or “Country over party” stuff is lip service at best. (Likewise, Collins who could have blocked her in committee but instead let her pass and settled for a token “no” vote knowing that she had the confirmation sewn up) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccain-is-all-right/814029.md?page=1)