Susan Wright on the Right
And this is the end of civility and common goodness. It has become a novelty in the age of Trump.
This kind of hateful rhetoric is why so many of us have planted our feet on principle and turned our backs on partisanship, unwilling to trade our character, if partisanship means we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with those who spew such heartless dribble.
OH – I’m going off on the White House official who thought Senator John McCain’s slow roll to the grave, due to his brain cancer, is a situation worthy of jest.
Earlier Thursday, and solely based on Senator McCain’s opposition to Gina Haspel, President Trump’s nominee for CIA director, this damaged individual mocked his impending demise.
Special assistant Kelly Sadler made the derisive comments during a closed-door White House meeting of about two-dozen communications staffers on Thursday morning.
“It doesn’t matter, he’s dying anyway,” Sadler said, according to a source familiar with the remarks at the meeting.
Those present when the distasteful comment was made say that it was intended as a joke, but that it made people uncomfortable, so they didn’t respond.
Well, at least there’s that.
The White House isn’t making excuses for the comment, but rather, released a statement.
“We respect Senator McCain’s service to our nation and he and his family are in our prayers during this difficult time,” the White House said in a statement to The Hill.
And Sadler needs to be reprimanded. That kind of talk has no business in our government.
Sadler’s role with the White House concerns illegal immigration. She is a former opinion editor for The Washington Times – a Trump-friendly website – and is tasked with putting out press releases, regarding the immigration issue.
Did she roll that line over in her head before blurting it out there? How could that seem like an “ok” thing to say?
She wasn’t hurting John McCain so much as she was testifying to something broken in her own life.
I’ll point out that I’m no John McCain fan. The man has no conservative credentials, whatsoever. I’ve been disgusted with his votes in the Senate far more than I’ve approved of them.
And how, on God’s green earth, did this man get the nod in 2008 to be the Republican nominee for president? That was a ridiculous call. It really was.
But with all that, for as enraging as the man’s Senate record may be, he also served his country honorably during the Vietnam war.
And he’s a human being, deserving of respect, especially at this very sensitive time.
How is his family supposed to respond? Should they?
At this point, there has been no response, either from McCain’s family or his office. That doesn’t mean all the little pins and needles of disrespect and callousness won’t come back in the early hours of their mourning.
How do they feel then?
We’re not always going to agree, politically, but we should never let our better angels be overcome by base impulses, that would have us blurt out cruel comments, in an effort to get a laugh.
That’s what happened with Ms. Sadler. I can only hope that it’s not too late for her, and at some point, she realizes what she said and why it was wrong.
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