Tag: John McCain

McCain: There’s No ‘Voice of Reason’ in the GOP

Buck Banks

“That was a tough torch to carry and, as John said, there were many lonely days because he always said what was on his mind. I don’t see anybody carrying that mantle at all, I don’t see anyone carrying the voice — the voice of reason.”

— Cindy McCain, telling ABC News that no one in the Republican Party has become the party’s “voice of reason” after her husband’s death last year.

John McCain Tells It Like It Is

Buck Banks

“To fear the world we have organized and led for three-quarters of a century, to abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe, to refuse the obligations of international leadership and our duty to remain ‘the last best hope of earth’ for the sake of some half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems is as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma of the past that Americans consigned to the ash heap of history.”

— Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), in a speech at the 2017 Liberty Medal ceremony.

McCain: Trump’s North Korea Threat a Mistake

Buck Banks

“I take exception to the President’s comments because you gotta be able to do what you say you’re gonna do. In other words, the old walk softly but carry a big stick, Teddy Roosevelt’s saying, which I think is something that should’ve applied because all it’s going to do is bring us closer to a serious confrontation. I think this is very, very, very serious. … The great leaders I’ve seen don’t threaten unless they’re ready to act and I’m not sure President Trump is ready to act… It’s the classic Trump in that he overstates things.”

— Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), telling KTAR that President Trump’s threat to rain “fire and fury” down on North Korea was a mistake.

McCain Has Not Forgotten Trump Slights

Buck Banks

“There is nothing Trump can do any more that will get to McCain. Battling an aggressive form of brain cancer, the maverick was willing to vote ‘no’ on the ‘skinny repeal’ amendment so that other GOP colleagues who were also opposed to the measure could vote ‘yes’ to save face with the conservative base. To this day, Trump has never apologized for saying that the former fighter pilot was not a war hero because he got captured in Vietnam. It gets less attention, but the president also besmirched the Arizona senator’s character by repeatedly accusing him of not taking care of other veterans. McCain has never forgotten.”

— James Hohmann

McCain: Supporters of ‘Nuclear Option’ Are ‘Stupid’

Buck Banks

“Idiot, whoever says that is a stupid idiot, who has not been here and seen what I’ve been through and how we were able to avoid that on several occasions. And they are stupid and they’ve deceived their voters because they are so stupid.”

— Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), expressing his is anger that the “nuclear option” will not be avoided in the fight over Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation to the Supreme Court, the Washington Post reports.

McCain: A Free Press Protects Against Dictators

Buck Banks

If you want to preserve — I’m very serious now — if you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free and many times adversarial press. And without it, I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time. That’s how dictators get started.

— Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), slamming President Trump’s attacks on the media this week, CNN reports.