News of Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) brain cancer elicited expressions of sympathy across the government, even from fellow senators and public officials who have been the targets of his famous temper.
One of the most heartfelt expressions of sympathy on Wednesday night, when news broke of his diagnosis of brain cancer, came from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
Cruz has been one of McCain’s chief antagonists in recent years. McCain famously called Cruz a “wacko bird” in March of 2013 and clashed fiercely with him over Cruz’s demand that a government funding bill be blocked to stop the implementation of ObamaCare.
McCain scolded Cruz on the Senate floor for comparing Republicans who were unwilling to risk a government shutdown to former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who appeased Adolf Hitler at the 1938 Munich Conference in an effort to avert war.
McCain thundered on the Senate floor at the time that Cruz’s comparison did “a great disservice” to Americans who stood up against Hitler because he implied U.S. politicians lack backbone.
Two years ago, McCain mocked Cruz for claiming that he pressed McCain, who had recently become chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, on the issue of allowing people to carry concealed firearms on military bases.
McCain insisted that nothing of the sort happened.
“Maybe it was through some medium that I’m not familiar with,” McCain joked. “Maybe bouncing it off the ozone layer, for all I know.”
Yet Cruz praised McCain after the Texas senator stepped out of a healthcare meeting Wednesday night at which lawmakers first learned of his diagnosis.
“Our prayers tonight are very much with John McCain. He is a friend, he is a patriot, he is a man who fought and bled and served our nation,” Cruz said.
Cruz reminded reporters that McCain had a chance to win early release from captivity while serving as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam because his father served at the time as commander of U.S. naval forces in the Pacific. McCain refused to leap ahead of his fellow American prisoners.
“It’s an extraordinary privilege for 99 of us to serve with an American hero like John McCain,” Cruz said.
McCain is known to lash out at both colleagues and reporters in moments of frustration.
In 2007, during the immigration reform debate, McCain butted heads with Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) after the latter criticized McCain for parachuting into the negotiation while he was also campaigning for president ahead of the 2008 election.
“F--- you! I know more about this than anyone else in the room,” McCain shouted at Cornyn, according to a Washington Post report at the time.
Yet Cornyn was one of the first to express his affection Wednesday evening, tweeting, “John McCain has been a fighter all his life and this is just his latest challenge. We are praying for his speedy recovery.”
Despite his frequent dust-ups, McCain remains one of the most loved and respected members of the Senate.
"I worked on immigration reform with him for months,” Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) said. “One day he would explode like Mount Vesuvius and the next day smother you with kindness. So it's just typical John, and once you get used to that style, he's great to work with."
Colleagues and even former adversaries appreciate McCain’s dedication to public service, as well as his willingness to stand against his own party and public opinion.
They also admire a work ethic that has remained consistent after 30 years in the upper chamber.
“He’s earned the right to be contrary, and he’s only contrary when he really believes in something. Sometimes he gets very excited about his causes and he engages and sometimes he says things that he wishes he hadn’t said,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), McCain’s closest friend in the Senate.
“People understand that the motivation of Sen. McCain is to do what’s best for the country as he sees it and it’s hard to hold a grudge against a guy you think is really trying his best,” Graham added.
Colleagues also appreciate his keen sense of humor, often deployed at his own expense.
The 80-year-old senator frequently jokes about his age, calling himself “older than dirt.” He is known to joke about his friendship with Graham, sometimes dubbing him his “illegitimate son.”
One of McCain’s favorite gallows-humor quips is to proclaim during moments of intense political strife: “Remember the words of Chairman Mao: It’s always darkest before it’s totally black.”
McCain’s fondness for the joke persists even though there’s no evidence that Mao Zedong, the founder of modern-day China, ever uttered those words.
McCain’s home-state colleague, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), said McCain has served as a “kind” partner and “mentor” since Flake was first elected to the upper chamber in 2012.
Flake knew when he served in the House from 2001 to the end of 2012 that McCain occasionally clashed with other members of the Arizona delegation. He was careful to stay out of the senator’s line of fire.
That ended after Flake won election to the Senate, when they split for the first time over a vote — a disagreement that McCain did not let pass without comment.
“He was really letting me have it on the Senate floor and the other senators were sitting there and nodding and saying, ‘Now you’ve gotten it over with,’” Flake recalled.
For many newly elected Republican senators, earning McCain’s fury serves as a sort of hazing or baptism by fire.
But it makes them feel closer to McCain in the end.
“I’m proud to be Arizona’s other senator,” Flake said.
Former conservative Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), who fought frequently with McCain over social policy while serving in the chamber, said he recently had one of his warmest interactions with McCain after running into him on the Hill.
“That’s a beautiful thing because John and I have not gotten along well over the years, in many respects,” he said. “I give John credit. He was always able to look past those things.
“In spite of the tough moments we had, we had the best conversation we ever had,” Santorum recalled. “He just came up and we were talking about healthcare — he knew I was working on it. He engaged me on it and asked a lot of questions and thanked me for being engaged.”
Santorum said a bystander would have never known they didn’t have “the best history” and once had “several disagreements on Armed Services that got heated.”
The camaraderie McCain has developed even with his bitterest rivals makes him a unique figure in Washington.
On Thursday, former President George W. Bush, McCain’s rival in the 2000 Republican presidential primary, also showed his affection for the senator.
The 2000 race left a bitter taste with McCain after Bush won South Carolina thanks in part to a push poll that spread the false rumor that McCain had fathered an illegitimate black child.
McCain emerged as one of Bush’s chief Republican antagonists after the election. He was one of only two GOP senators who voted against Bush’s signature 2001 tax cut, and one of only three Republicans who voted against Bush’s follow-up 2003 tax package.
His relationship with the president grew to be so adversarial that former Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) asked McCain to serve as his running mate after he won the Democratic nomination to challenge Bush’s reelection.
Yet even Bush feels a strong bond to McCain years later.
He wasted no time in calling his former rival to express his sympathy and support.
He was surprised when McCain wound up encouraging the former president, who has kept out of the public eye since leaving office with a low approval rating.
“I was impressed by his spirit and determination,” Bush said after the call.
One of the most heartfelt expressions of sympathy on Wednesday night, when news broke of his diagnosis of brain cancer, came from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
Cruz has been one of McCain’s chief antagonists in recent years. McCain famously called Cruz a “wacko bird” in March of 2013 and clashed fiercely with him over Cruz’s demand that a government funding bill be blocked to stop the implementation of ObamaCare.
McCain scolded Cruz on the Senate floor for comparing Republicans who were unwilling to risk a government shutdown to former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who appeased Adolf Hitler at the 1938 Munich Conference in an effort to avert war.
McCain thundered on the Senate floor at the time that Cruz’s comparison did “a great disservice” to Americans who stood up against Hitler because he implied U.S. politicians lack backbone.
Two years ago, McCain mocked Cruz for claiming that he pressed McCain, who had recently become chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, on the issue of allowing people to carry concealed firearms on military bases.
McCain insisted that nothing of the sort happened.
“Maybe it was through some medium that I’m not familiar with,” McCain joked. “Maybe bouncing it off the ozone layer, for all I know.”
Yet Cruz praised McCain after the Texas senator stepped out of a healthcare meeting Wednesday night at which lawmakers first learned of his diagnosis.
“Our prayers tonight are very much with John McCain. He is a friend, he is a patriot, he is a man who fought and bled and served our nation,” Cruz said.
Cruz reminded reporters that McCain had a chance to win early release from captivity while serving as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam because his father served at the time as commander of U.S. naval forces in the Pacific. McCain refused to leap ahead of his fellow American prisoners.
“It’s an extraordinary privilege for 99 of us to serve with an American hero like John McCain,” Cruz said.
McCain is known to lash out at both colleagues and reporters in moments of frustration.
In 2007, during the immigration reform debate, McCain butted heads with Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) after the latter criticized McCain for parachuting into the negotiation while he was also campaigning for president ahead of the 2008 election.
“F--- you! I know more about this than anyone else in the room,” McCain shouted at Cornyn, according to a Washington Post report at the time.
Yet Cornyn was one of the first to express his affection Wednesday evening, tweeting, “John McCain has been a fighter all his life and this is just his latest challenge. We are praying for his speedy recovery.”
Despite his frequent dust-ups, McCain remains one of the most loved and respected members of the Senate.
"I worked on immigration reform with him for months,” Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) said. “One day he would explode like Mount Vesuvius and the next day smother you with kindness. So it's just typical John, and once you get used to that style, he's great to work with."
Colleagues and even former adversaries appreciate McCain’s dedication to public service, as well as his willingness to stand against his own party and public opinion.
They also admire a work ethic that has remained consistent after 30 years in the upper chamber.
“He’s earned the right to be contrary, and he’s only contrary when he really believes in something. Sometimes he gets very excited about his causes and he engages and sometimes he says things that he wishes he hadn’t said,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), McCain’s closest friend in the Senate.
“People understand that the motivation of Sen. McCain is to do what’s best for the country as he sees it and it’s hard to hold a grudge against a guy you think is really trying his best,” Graham added.
Colleagues also appreciate his keen sense of humor, often deployed at his own expense.
The 80-year-old senator frequently jokes about his age, calling himself “older than dirt.” He is known to joke about his friendship with Graham, sometimes dubbing him his “illegitimate son.”
One of McCain’s favorite gallows-humor quips is to proclaim during moments of intense political strife: “Remember the words of Chairman Mao: It’s always darkest before it’s totally black.”
McCain’s fondness for the joke persists even though there’s no evidence that Mao Zedong, the founder of modern-day China, ever uttered those words.
McCain’s home-state colleague, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), said McCain has served as a “kind” partner and “mentor” since Flake was first elected to the upper chamber in 2012.
Flake knew when he served in the House from 2001 to the end of 2012 that McCain occasionally clashed with other members of the Arizona delegation. He was careful to stay out of the senator’s line of fire.
That ended after Flake won election to the Senate, when they split for the first time over a vote — a disagreement that McCain did not let pass without comment.
“He was really letting me have it on the Senate floor and the other senators were sitting there and nodding and saying, ‘Now you’ve gotten it over with,’” Flake recalled.
For many newly elected Republican senators, earning McCain’s fury serves as a sort of hazing or baptism by fire.
But it makes them feel closer to McCain in the end.
“I’m proud to be Arizona’s other senator,” Flake said.
Former conservative Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), who fought frequently with McCain over social policy while serving in the chamber, said he recently had one of his warmest interactions with McCain after running into him on the Hill.
“That’s a beautiful thing because John and I have not gotten along well over the years, in many respects,” he said. “I give John credit. He was always able to look past those things.
“In spite of the tough moments we had, we had the best conversation we ever had,” Santorum recalled. “He just came up and we were talking about healthcare — he knew I was working on it. He engaged me on it and asked a lot of questions and thanked me for being engaged.”
Santorum said a bystander would have never known they didn’t have “the best history” and once had “several disagreements on Armed Services that got heated.”
The camaraderie McCain has developed even with his bitterest rivals makes him a unique figure in Washington.
On Thursday, former President George W. Bush, McCain’s rival in the 2000 Republican presidential primary, also showed his affection for the senator.
The 2000 race left a bitter taste with McCain after Bush won South Carolina thanks in part to a push poll that spread the false rumor that McCain had fathered an illegitimate black child.
McCain emerged as one of Bush’s chief Republican antagonists after the election. He was one of only two GOP senators who voted against Bush’s signature 2001 tax cut, and one of only three Republicans who voted against Bush’s follow-up 2003 tax package.
His relationship with the president grew to be so adversarial that former Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) asked McCain to serve as his running mate after he won the Democratic nomination to challenge Bush’s reelection.
Yet even Bush feels a strong bond to McCain years later.
He wasted no time in calling his former rival to express his sympathy and support.
He was surprised when McCain wound up encouraging the former president, who has kept out of the public eye since leaving office with a low approval rating.
“I was impressed by his spirit and determination,” Bush said after the call.
