On John McCain and his Funeral

Now that John McCain Week is over, I thought I’d make a comment or two. I’ve always been ambivalent about McCain, neither greatly admiring nor detesting the man. And, I do adhere strongly to the old adage about not speaking ill of the dead.

So, yes, I hate it that he was in a prison camp for over 5 years, just as I hate it about the death and suffering resulting from the missiles he fired. The hagiographies this week have skimmed over the personal and career messiness of his post-Vietnam, pre-Senate years. But then, most of our lives couldn’t hold up to very much scrutiny either.

His senatorial career has largely been characterized by warmongering; unthinking, reflexive, bomb-first-ask-questions-later warmongering. Over the last 20 years or so, you can chart my foreign policy positions as being consistently 180 degrees from whatever John McCain and the Amigos were promoting. Coming off the Bush Administration, there was not the remotest possibility that I would consider voting for him in 2008. His choice of Sarah Palin, a decision breathtaking in its reckless irresponsibility, confirmed my worst suspicions. In recent years, in issues ranging from Syria to Iran to Russia, he has surpassed even himself. The image of a clueless McCain, grinning broadly, surrounded by his Syrian jihadists--excuse me, “freedom fighters,” is one I’ll never forget.

I do appreciate two things about his public service. The first was his self-deprecating humor. He did not take himself too seriously. Up until November 2016, that had always been a mark of a successful American political career. I sorely miss it. Second, I do appreciate the tone he set following DJT’s election. McCain did not pretend that this is all normal when it is not. He was not hesitant to call-out Crazy when he saw it. So, McCain's calls for civility and dignity and respect have been appreciated, by me, at least.

Even so, the week-long events have been, I think, just a little much. The schedule was choreographed by McCain himself, in his last days. Clearly, he was trying to send a message to the nation, and I don’t fault that, necessarily. The endless and obligatory references by his hagiographers, however, to his, shall we say, “earthiness,” quickly wore thin. In any other context, they would have been describing a foul-mouthed old crank. The last straw came from Jon Meacham, whose commentary usually runs the gamut from smug to insufferable. He referenced Theodore Roosevelt’s speech at the groundbreaking for the National Cathedral. TR quoted James 1:22, “but be ye doers of the word…” Meacham then brought it around to the present, stating that “there was no greater doer of the word than John McCain.” At that point, I had to turn off the radio. A political life in public service can, I suppose, be a good thing. But that is not at all what the Scripture was saying, if not, in fact, the exact opposite. I have heard no better recent example of the conflating of politics, nationalism, patriotism, and religious sentimentality into the toxic mix that is our national civic religion.