Tonight is not
the night to cite the many times I disagreed with Senator John McCain politically. Perhaps that will come at a later time, when
our country is not under siege from within and without by scoundrels, crooks
and opportunists and my energy is better directed at resisting.
No, tonight is
a night to remember the evening I shook John McCain’s hand. It was February 28, 2000 and Republican
candidate for President, Senator John McCain, was flying into Redding for a
campaign stop. Tim and I were immersed
in following all things politic and he insisted we take the one-hour drive
north to see a presidential candidate although we were both probably not going
to vote for him. Still, we were curious
about this “maverick” and just what brand of Republicanism he represented.
We arrived at
the airport and waited in a hangar that had been set up for a brief stop. The hangar was packed for a Monday night and we
spotted Joe Klein, Time political writer and (originally anonymous) author of
Primary Colors, restlessly waiting for the candidate. His coat was rumpled, no doubt from too much
time on the press bus or press plane. We waited and waited and waited.
When the McCain
plane finally arrived, we were standing near the back of the hangar and
remained there during the very brief speech which was not memorable except for
the fact that a national candidate was in Redding. The crowd was enthused but the wait had taken
a bit out of them.
Tim was
comfortable in this milieu and also, as always, intent on making every
adventure memorable. He saw McCain and
his wife descend from the makeshift stage and quickly tracked the likely exit
back to their plane. It was then that he
insisted we get up to the rope line so I could shake McCain’s hand as he worked
his way back to the plane.
I am too short
to see in a crowd, but followed Tim’s back as he knifed our way through the
crowd. Suddenly, there was the rope
line. Tim nudged me into place and
shortly thereafter I shook the hand of the Republican candidate for
president. (I have to insert that Tim was
similarly insistent about a Clinton book-signing line; I had given up – the line
was very long – but we worked it and I now have a signed Clinton book and a
memory of shaking Bill Clinton’s hand.)
I knew at the
time that McCain was a war hero, a prisoner of war who was tortured and in
solitary confinement in the Hanoi Hilton.
I also knew that he was coming to California on the heels of a South
Carolina GOP primary, during which Bush operatives odiously spread
misinformation which accused him of not being a hero, of fathering children out
wedlock and fathering a black child (the McCains had adopted an orphan from
Bangladesh). Leaflets and phone calls
spread this ‘fake news;’ Bush’s campaign
had not done well in New Hampshire and so Rove and company broke out all the
stops to take South Carolina.
I did not know
that because of his injuries he could not comb his own hair or raise his hands
above his shoulders and there was probably some pain in shaking so many hands
at so many events. I did not hear him that
night in February 2000 vent or whine about the below-the-belt tactics of his
opponent in South Carolina. He was a
total pro, continuing to speak out on his issues and moving ahead with his
campaign on his terms.
He was a public
servant his whole adult life and in the twilight of his life cast a memorably decisive vote on the attempted repeal of the
Affordable Care Act and spoke out about the dismal performance and disgraceful actions
of the current occupant of the Oval Office.
But before those last stands,
there was a moment I will never forget -- a gracious concession speech after losing to
Barack Obama which the nation needed to hear.
(Aside from the praise of Palin – again, another blog another
time). It was an important moment in
American history and the right words were required to meet the moment.
The nation had
just elected the first African American president, the Palin tea party crowd was
ascending right and wacky in the GOP, but the tone of his speech, filled with the usual thanks and acknowledgments, considered history and acknowledged and elegantly appreciated the significance of the
moment. We needed a citizen patriot at
that moment and I think he rose to that occasion.
For that moment
and for his years of service, I thank Senator John McCain. In pain no more.
