03 September 2018 - John McCain's Funeral
John McCain funeral: Obama's eulogy denounces 'insult and bombast' in politics
David Smith (The Guardian, 01/09/2018)
Donald Trump’s name was never mentioned but Barack Obama delivered a broadside at the president when he spoke at the memorial service for John McCain in Washington on Saturday and decried “insult and phony controversies” in politics and public life.
Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late Republican Senator from Arizona who died last Saturday, also issued blistering criticism of Trump’s politics when she spoke at the event at America’s national cathedral.
Delivering his eulogy from in front of McCain’s flag-draped coffin, Obama said: “So much of our politics, our public life, our public discourse can seem small and mean and petty, trafficking in bombast and insult and phony controversies and manufactured outrage.”
Why Bush and Obama’s eulogies of John McCain were historic
Steve Hendrix (The Washington Post, 01/09/2018)
In Washington, high-profile funerals often fall to vice presidents.
“You die, I’ll fly” was how George H.W. Bush summed up the frequent funeral part of his portfolio when he was Ronald Reagan’s No. 2 in the 1980s. (Bush attributed the quip to Secretary of State James A. Baker.)
But sometimes, the passing of an august figure requires words from the highest political voice in the country, a sitting or former president.
John McCain, a Last Lion of the Senate
Carl Hulse (The New York Times, 25/08/2018)
John McCain was an essential element of the nation’s political conversation for half a century, an ever-present figure eager to challenge friend and foe through his singular temperament — sometimes angry, often funny, always ardent.
Now he is gone, leaving behind a storied life and a tear in America’s political fabric at a time when national unity — always a McCain theme and ultimate goal — seems especially elusive.
“We are losing someone who really, no matter who was the president, believed in the Senate’s role in checks and balances,” said Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, who was a frequent traveling companion of Mr. McCain on official overseas trips. “He truly was a giant in the Senate, a towering figure and someone who really made a difference not just on policy, but in asserting the Senate’s constitutional role.”
George W. Bush and Michelle Obama share a sweet moment at McCain's memorial service
Kate Sullivan (CNN, 03/09/2018)
Former President George W. Bush and former first lady Michelle Obama shared a sweet moment at Sen. John McCain's memorial service Saturday.
McCain, who died August 25 at the age of 81, was honored in a memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral, where Democrats and Republicans came together to celebrate his decades of public service.
Tributes from Bush and former President Barack Obama, who eulogized the late Arizona Republican at the senator's request, were among the highlights, as were daughter Meghan McCain's tearful remarks, in which she contrasted her father's legacy with the rhetoric of President Donald Trump, who was not invited to attend the service.