Sen. McCain’s Memoir Discusses His Retirement and the Opportunity to Speak His Mind
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Sen. McCain’s Memoir Discusses His Retirement and the Opportunity to Speak His Mind

Sen. McCain’s Memoir Discusses His Retirement and the Opportunity to Speak His Mind

“I’m freer than colleagues who will face the voters again. I can speak my mind without fearing the consequences much.”

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has released some excerpts from his upcoming memoir The Restless Wave as he battles stage 4 brain cancer in Arizona.

He wrote that he will be retiring after finishing his current term, which has made him feel “freer” to speak his mind.

From CNN:

“This is my last term. If I hadn’t admitted that to myself before this summer, a stage 4 cancer diagnosis acts as ungentle persuasion,” he wrote in his book, “The Restless Wave,” according to the excerpt published on Apple News on Monday. “I’m freer than colleagues who will face the voters again. I can speak my mind without fearing the consequences much. And I can vote my conscience without worry.”

CNN cropped out an important part. When I saw that McCain wrote he feels like he can vote his “conscience without worry” I fumed. After all, Congress works for us. They represent us. It’s not about what the representatives or Senators want; it’s about what we want.

I browsed through other experts and found this at AZCentral.com:

“I can speak my mind without fearing the consequences much. And I can vote my conscience without worry. I don’t think I’m free to disregard my constituents’ wishes, far from it. I don’t feel excused from keeping pledges I made. Nor do I wish to harm my party’s prospects. But I do feel a pressing responsibility to give Americans my best judgment.”

McCain had some harsh words for President Donald Trump. He wrote that the president “has declined to distinguish the actions of our government from the crimes of despotic ones” while making “[T]he appearance of toughness, or a reality show facsimile of toughness” matter more than America’s values.

Which leads me to the next portion because it’s part of the reason why we ended up with Trump. McCain noted the “decline in civility” in politics and America in general mainly due to partisanship. From NPR:

“We are secluding ourselves in ideological ghettos,” McCain writes. “We have our own news sources. We exchange ideas mostly or exclusively with people who agree with us, and troll those who don’t. Increasingly, we have our own facts to reinforce our convictions and any empirical evidence that disputes them is branded as ‘fake.’ That’s a social trend that is going to be very hard to turn around.”

“Paradoxically,” McCain writes, “voters who detest Washington, because all we do is argue and never get anything done frequently vote for candidates who are the most adamant in their assurances that they will never ever compromise with those bastards in the other party.”

The senator encouraged those who are sick of the political climate to become more active and “[P]lay as big a role in the mundane activities of politics as the zealots do.”

More importantly, McCain reminded people that those in “other parties can be good people.” NPR continued:

“We need to recover some perspective about how much someone’s politics is a testament to their character. When did politics become the principal or only attribute we use to judge people? Republicans and Democrats can be good neighbors, loving parents, loyal Americans, decent human beings. I don’t remember another time in my life when so many Americans considered someone’s partisan affiliation a test of whether that person was entitled to their respect.”

It disgusts me that so many people base friendships and relationships on politics. As a libertarian, if I did this, I’d have maybe two friends. But I also noticed that after I converted from socialist to libertarian, a lot of my friends left me. I had conservative and Republican friends before I converted and my insane leftist views didn’t bother them too much.

McCain won his sixth Senate term in 2016, which means his term will end in 2022.

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Comments

Like when he gave Comey the dossier????

I think it will end before that.

While I have sympathy for McCain the person and wouldn’t wish his fate on anyone, I have nothing but contempt for him as a politician. This from someone who was an ardent admirer long ago.

buckeyeminuteman | May 1, 2018 at 3:49 pm

But will he have the grace and fortitude to retire and let someone else represent Arizona who actually represents Arizona? With stage 4 cancer and death not far off, the people of Arizona would be better served by someone else who can you know, actually show up, debate and vote on bills. Thank you for your service to our country as a Naval Captain and 6-year POW. Yes, Trump put his foot in his mouth when talking about McCain during the primaries. Trump’s remarks really crossed the line. But please Sen. McCain, retire while you’re ahead.

He is probably looking for one last chance to stick his thumb in the eye of the GOP, and the country. Ending the possibility of repealing the ACA just wasn’t enough.

Halcyon Daze | May 1, 2018 at 4:09 pm

Is there a chapter in that book entitled Campaign Standdown: I Gifted Obama?

I am not sad to hear this is his last term, I am sad to think he might not live to the completion of his term. I am sad to think of a life ending, a life that could have had so much more meaning and less vindictiveness and vile hatred driving his “maverick” ways.

The most difficult vote I ever cast was for him for President. I was glad, for a change, to live in NY which would never have voted in the majority for him. He is a petty soul, and when he is gone he will leave behind a legacy of poor leadership, and self aggrandizement. He fell in love with doing things against his own party so the media would love him. If rumors are true about the things he did while a captive, which he had sealed or more appropriately, concealed, then his actions and deeds as a Senator were right in line with his past behavior.

I feel for him as a person suffering with brain cancer. I hold him in low regard for not stepping down now, allowing him to spend the time left with his family, and allowing someone else to fill in the spot, and actually do the job. A selfless man would do that, knowing he wasn’t serving the people he claims to be doing. He is not present for most votes or decisions and actions, but instead of stepping aside and allowing someone in who would represent his constituents, he holds on to power for his own sake.

In earlier days he presented himself much differently, and could be respected. He has outlived those days and become a small person who only cared for himself in his actions and deeds. Even with this book, it is looking to bolster himself while tearing down others. I don’t respect that. I don’t respect him, other than the office he holds.

    AmandaFitz in reply to oldgoat36. | May 1, 2018 at 10:44 pm

    I agree with you. McCain is all about himself, not about the people of Arizona, the Republican party or the country.

great unknown | May 1, 2018 at 4:42 pm

So basically he is saying, “Until now I had to lie, and so I did.”

Perhaps someone hacked his account and posting things to embarrass him.

So much for going out with style and gravitas… more like embittered. To us the glass may be half full … I wonder if he saw the glass as totally empty at the end.

I can speak my mind without fearing the consequences much. And I can vote my conscience without worry.

It sure doesn’t sound like this memoir is going to be another Profiles in Courage.

    RITaxpayer in reply to tom_swift. | May 1, 2018 at 6:08 pm

    “I can speak my mind without fearing the consequences much. And I can vote my conscience without worry.”

    Is there a better reason for term limits for ALL elected officials than that statement?

      tom_swift in reply to RITaxpayer. | May 1, 2018 at 6:22 pm

      Unfortunately, the sentiment McCain espouses here has nothing to do with term limits. In his formulation, an elected official should be a weasely suckup until his last term—whenever that is—and after that he can be a total whackbird. I see no way to make that sound principled, courageous, or effective.

      If anything, term limits would give us more of this schizo rubbish—as is, a Senator doesn’t generally know which of his terms will be his last, so he never gets the go-ahead to be a terminal weirdo. With term limits, he’ll have a definite schedule telling him when to enter his second childhood.

      brightlights in reply to RITaxpayer. | May 1, 2018 at 9:05 pm

      That McVain is staying on isn’t fair to the state of Arizona. Odds are likely that his health will deteriorate so he will miss more and more time in the senate. Is that really representing the state or just another of appearance of his MASSIVE ego?

        sdharms in reply to brightlights. | May 2, 2018 at 6:22 am

        Yes, isn’t Fair to AZ. but during his entire “term” he has worked to KILL THE BENCH so there is little spirit left in AZ. He is not the only long serving congressman who works to do that . THis is how small he is, instead of resigning early and promoting someone he had mentored, he will die in office so rich wife can get his pension.

McCain was a war hero up until the time he became a GOPe rat.

From that time on, that’s all he’s been – other than a useful idiot of the democrat media.

His absence from the Senate – and there now being room for a conservative who won’t sell us out – will be greatly appreciated.

So, the man who has acted like a liberal/Progressive wienie and supported Democrat positions far more than he ever supported those of the Republican Party, who met with the leader of ISIS, and several other Islamic terrorists in Syria and who secured funding for Al Qaeda all in an attempt to depose Bashir al-Assad, who is, by Middle Eastern standards, a moderate leader, is now free to tell the rest of the American people how to live.

Thank the Lord there is someone of impeccable credentials to guide us all.

Did anyone ever see Weekend with Bernie? I question if he even wrote the darn thing. This just keeps getting wilder and wilder.

G. de La Hoya | May 1, 2018 at 7:05 pm

I’ll be feverishly awaiting the book release. 😉
I’m sure there would be more enlightenment from the writings of Alfred E. 🙂

I’m pulling for the damn tumor.

“frequently vote for candidates who are the most adamant in their assurances that they will never ever compromise with those bastards in the other party”

McCain has done nothing but “compromise with those bastards in the other party”, so he stands for nothing but “doing whatever gets me the best press from the progressive media”. That’s why I despise him so.

doesnt have to fear the consequences? Oh, he has no idea of the consequences that await him.

Ghost Rider | May 2, 2018 at 7:35 am

The “Fireball of the Forrestal” leaves a lot to be desired as a politician. He only seems to have convictions when he is bucking his own party or the President. I’m sorry for his health situation, but he has been no friend to conservatives for of his Senate career. At this point in his life, he should do the country a favor and keep his opinions to himself.

“This is my last term. If I hadn’t admitted that to myself before this summer, a stage 4 cancer diagnosis acts as ungentle persuasion,” he wrote in his book, “The Restless Wave,” according to the excerpt published on Apple News on Monday. “I’m freer than colleagues who will face the voters again. I can speak my mind without fearing the consequences much. And I can vote my conscience without worry.”

That tells us his whole career was about John McCain and not the people he was allegedly representing.

John McCain is an excellent example of why we should return to the original plan of Senators being selected by the State Legislatures.

Alan McIntire | May 2, 2018 at 10:52 am

I certainly hope his book is a worst seller. Just what is his target market? Certainly not Republicans. Does he expect Democrats to buy his book?

judgeroybean | May 2, 2018 at 11:09 am

Too bad McKainnedy was not elected president so he’d find out what it’s like to rely heavily on your allies only to have allies knife him in the back.

McCain got caught taking bribes, that is why we have the anti free speech McCain Feingold bill.

“freer? You mean full-blown left-wing ahole. McCain has always been a poser and a fraud to the people of Arizona and conservatives everywhere.