Hero, Patriot: Warts and All He Was a Great American

Rest in Peace Senator John McCain.

My thoughts on his book here: 

I have come to praise John McCain, not to condemn him. May God grant him many years.* Yet his book, The Restless Wave, is sad, mostly because the “good times, just causes, great fights” seem ancient history already. The valedictory is bitter while intending to be optimistic: scores settled with forced cheer.

McCain helped win a Cold War and salvaged a misguided hot one. He says he had a good time. If so, it was long ago. There is nothing to cheer here, only some good that is based on what was.

John McCain seemed born for greatness. He was a man of great personal courage and endurance, but he kept missing the mark. He was episodically great: as a prisoner in Vietnam, as an opponent of torture in our military, supporting the Surge when it was unpopular, admitting his mistakes.

More here.

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Written before his death. May his soul and the souls of all the faithfully departed Rest In Peace.