It just is somebody that was so unique. I dont know what really shaped him. I dont know if it was his father, i dont know if it was the time. You didnt want to spend a lot of time talking about being in the hanoi hilton. He didnt want to talk too much about that. He just had a very quiet pride and a great humility and great sense of humor. A great determination. And great strength. You may have read all of the statements coming from former president s. But if thats any indication ive person that Wwas Boabove P statements from the clones, statements from barack obama as well as every george w. Bush all of these folks not necessarily in the history of his relationships with them were always good necessarily. Well, look the thing youve got to realize, this is something that is missing in todays politics. Being willing to stand up and take a principled position you know that was rational, something that made sense, it earns Great Respect. Even among people that dont agree with you. The ability to be able to stand at all which is what john did all the time, the ability to clart your own course, not on any sort of personal advantage when people can see, when they can see that you are truly a person of conviction and courage, it doesnt matter what party or politics you are because were all au searching, all of us as human beings. We try to find meaning in life. And i think all these accolades to him were nothing more than everybody trying to say john, we may not have always agreed with you but we love you and we know what you stood for. Youre and i spir ration not just to us but really to our young generation. That is exactly if you had to
paraphrase it governor, despite whatever happened, we love you, thats been pretty consistent with everybody weve spoken with tonight. Governor of ohio, john kasich. Thank you for being on our broadcast today. That does it for me on our rolling breaking News Coverage of the passing of john mccain. At the age of 81. Andrea mitchell picks it up from here. Thank you so much. And good evening as we look at the pictures of the hearse, the procession having left that ranch in sedona where john mccain has been since december. Battling this illness. Im andrea mitch in washington. Were following the sad news from arizona tonight. Senator john mccain has passed away at the age of 81. He would have turned 82 this coming wednesday. He was diagnosed with brain cancer last summer. Senator mccains Office Released a statement earlier tonight saying senator John Sidney Mccain iii died at 4 28 p. M. West coast time on august 25th, 2018. About the senator when he passed were his wife cindy and their family. At his death had he served the United States of america faithfully for 60 years. Senator mccains wife sin dil wrote on twitter tonight my heart is broken. I am so lucky to have lived the adventure of loving this incredible man for 38 years. He passed the way he lived on his own terms surrounded by people he loved in the place he loved best. His daughter megan tweeted i love you forever, my beloved father, senator john mccain. Lets bring in Nbcs Kelly Odonnell in Sedona Arizona who covered john mccain for years on the hill and in his political campaigns. Kelly, i know this is a difficult moment for everyone who covered him because we all felt that we knew him so well. He was so transparent. So authentic, so real. Reporter and he gave you that sense as you were covering him. You did, i did, others following all of there of that character of being compelling and a celebrity and can tankrous, all those Different Things wrapped into the public life of john mccain. Over the years, my relationship with him, he was always someone who could be accessible, who could be at times combative and yet he was a trusted voice on issues as we were covering important events over the decades. Im struck tonight as his family leaves sa doanna, senator mccain has loved that ranch in this area. He has as you pointed out been convalescing will for a period of months. Thats unusual in the life of this man who always seemed to be in a hurry because of his political life. He was always going back and forth between phoenix and washington, d. C. Traveling the world, visiting afghanistan and iraq so many times. He had not been in one place for
a period of months liking there since he spent five and a half years as a p. O. W. During the vietnam war. This quiet time in the twilight of his life put him in a place he has loved for so many years. I am told this procession were watching is headed to phoenix. Where the mccains also have a home there and a home base and a political life that has inspired him from his time in the house and now six terms in the senate. There will be a series of events over the next days, part of that first farewell formally will be for the people of arizona. One of the things that has always struck me about covering john mccain, we see him as a National Figure a place he earned. But when i would talk to him, he always talked about the people of arizona, their issues, their concerns, the way they have known him. In this state, we will feel it personally. Hes been a controversial figure here in the party. He never shied away every that. In fact, he often embraced it said he enjoyed the fight. He sum coupled after business bat willing. Nine years to the day his good friend john mccain passed on this same day nine years apart. Mccain once said there was a time when he and ted kennedy were at different ends of the political spec frum on the political issue. There was a gallery full of tourists visiting the senate. Of the rafters were filled with people who came to see the senate in action. He walked over 0 senator kennedy and said, lets give them a show. Each man went to his deck and argued in great theater of public life. And they had fun doing it. So there are many memories of john mccain as the warrior, as the politician, as the public bent. And certainly as someone who would make you laugh. Andrea . Kelly, that he so captures it. Joining us president ial historian, jon meacham. Ive been reading, rereading restless wave, the last book
obamacare. The political side of john mccain could be heroic and it could also be very, very tough. And we saw both those sides throughout his career. Even as he was battling this cancer, jon. John mccain is really our generations theyd door roosevelt. He was a plan in the arena. He was the dust of the battle got in his eyes. He thrived on the good fight. He could be wonderfully right and woefully wrong. Theres a fascinating passage in a book that they published in 2002 right after the 2000 campaign that i recommend to people who particularly in this era where humility is in such varnishing supply. Where mccain talks about the South Carolina primary that weve mentioned a lot tonight in 2000. And we remember it for hardball from the bush camp. The way mccain talks about the
episode at the most length in a book called worth the fighting for, actually the jordan line, is about his waffling and ill use the word senator mccain used, his lying, he said that about himself about how he truly felt about the Confederate Battle Flag in South Carolina. It was an issue then. Its one of the flash points that continues to shape us in our cultural wars. But he tried to have it both ways. He in fact, what you say you were probably there, he had a he goes on i think it was Face The Nation and he says that he thinks that the flag should come down because it is a symbol of racism and slavery. And the staff gets to him. And he suddenly is handed a Written Statement to say a much more nuanced more traditionally political thing about oh, its a complicated symbol and we should work on this and think about it. Mccain had precious little to be ashamed of. Indeed. Thats so noteworthy. Jon meacham, thank you so much. We want to bring in andy card, the former Chief Of Staff to george w. Bush, of course, and someone who understands very well the on again, off again relationship, the difficult relationship at times after that 2000 race. But how george w. Bush and john mccain worked together on surge, on iraq. Andy, your thoughts. Well, first of all, i first met john mccain in 1983 when he was a new member of congress and i went to washington, d. C. To work for reagan. I didnt start till august of 1983. He was sworn in to be a member of the house of representatives. Had a lot of the interaction with him over the years. Most significantly as a result of george w. Bush winning the presidency. When john mccain had campaigned against him. And mccain had a big victory in
new hampshire and it was South Carolina that made the difference for george w. Bush. It did strain the relationship but john mccain was someone who understood the importance of recognizing challenges and looking for opportunities to mend fences anton produce good. And so he did have the courage to take a step toward you rather than run away from you. Even after he had been in a fight. He wasnt coming toward you to fight. He was coming forward to say, is there a way we can find Common Ground and work together. Sometime he he was pretty an serb b serbic. Whether he it came to the war in iraq, he was frustrated by some of the tactics. He was frustrated by some of the strategy. He was frustrated by the secretary of defense. And we all knew that. But he was candid about speaking about it to us but he was constructive in his criticism. He would offer solutions or
think about this or look for other wayses. I had privilege of seeing him a handful of times where did he offer a very candid and pretty darn good advice. And president bush was a very good listener, surprisingly good. And really paid a lot of attention to what john mccain said. And when the need for the Summary Wsurge was recognized and george w. Bush had the foresight to say we need a surge, john mccain stepped up right away to say we need a change, the surge is right. I know he was a Big Fan Of General Petraeus and george w. Bush, president bush came to recognize petraeus for the leadership that he ended up giving which was remarkable and it did make a difference. That relationship was important. But you know, john mccain didnt go to washington to make friends. He went to do good things. And so sometimes he had a hard time making friends and even some of his good friends had
their relationships strained over the years. I remember chuck hagel, very, very close to john mccain. Then hel had a strained relationship and then they came back together again as friends. The same thing with Lindsey Graham and others in the senate. That was the way it was with george w. Bush. But president george w. Bush has Great Respect for the work that john mccain did and the leadership he gave. I know the whole bush clan and the entire bush political family really respects john mccain for weather did for this country. As a unable aviator, as a Prisoner Of War, as someone who defended democracy and worked Pore Democracy and served this country so well in the house and in the senate. But more than that, being a real conscience for the tough things that have to be considered when youre in government and he also had the courage to look for compromise. He was not a zero sum game
person. He would look for Common Ground and try to define it in such a way could you find a way to stand on it with him. That was important. That was so important that he worked across the aisle. Teddy kennedy, joe biden and others could disagree on policy but they could come together and try to legislate. Im also struck as i bring in robert costa, National Political reporter for the Washington Post and, of course, moderator for Washington Week on pbs, im struck, robert, by how important getting something done was. That was his last big speech on the senate floor. Back on july 25th, he had been diagnosed with there terrible brain cannes p brain cancer and it was three days before he did the thumbs down vote on the president s attempts toe repeal obamacare, account Affordable Care act. But he spoke on the senate floor beak excoriating his colleagues and himself for the fact that
they were listening to the bombast on television on cable, television on radio, on the internet and not trusting each other and not working across the aisle. Youre thoughts about john mccain, the legislator. The legislator is someone who will his lack of presence in washington will be missed. My thoughts go to his family. When you think about the project that he focused on as a lawmaker in the chamber, he so loved, the u. S. Senate, he stands in stark contrast to the Republican Party as it is today. He is someone who worried about the gop direction on taxes. Though he was a traditional republican at his core, on issues like immigration, a decade ago in 2007, he worked soy hard to try to get his party to move toward the center on immigration on foreign policy, he was such a hawk, someone who valued international alliances. And in the last few years, youve seen him struggle when ive been covering him in the senate, reporters that weve confided in each other how mccain seemed out of step with his own party. Defiant as ever, stubborn, committed to his own causes but his causes really drifted away from the Republican Party in a way that they were not drifting away under president reagan and president bush. Robert costa, moderator of Washington Week on pbs and the Washington Post correspondent. Thank you. Michael beschloss, nbc president ial historian, has known john mccain well and for long and michael, earlier you were pointing out how in September Of 2008, before the lamin crash before the meeting in Roosevelt Room where john mccain came and the white house was bringing in both obama and mccain and he didnt seem to
have policies for the economic crisis. That seemed to be whether he his campaign went took a downturn frankly. But you were pointing out before the lehman crash at the beginning of september in 2008, he was ahead of barack obama in the polls. Thats exactly right. And that would have been a very close race and i think john mccain later on said that his own reaction to the economic collapse of September Of 2008 was not his finest hour but in retrospect, i think you would probably agree, andrea, that there were very few republicanss who could have won presidency that year after the, the twin difficulties of timberwolf or one or two very unpopular wars, plus a very big economic collapse, plus a twoterm republican president , very lard as you know for any president nominee in history to win the presidency for one party three terms in a row. But the thing back john mccain
is that this is not someone who depended on being president to be a great figure of american history. And look at how much were talking about tonight that has nothing to do with the presidency but were talking about john mccain with the same degree of intensity and interest that i think we would almost if he had been president himself. And im also thinking about his role in trying to legislate and change the guidelines that the Bush White House were following through Vice President cheney, president bush, Donald Rumsfeld regarding detainees. Because he had been a Prisoner Of War was passionate about passing that legislation against what he said was torture. He never wanted to forget what he had been through. And although the preponderance of the Republican Party and the incumbent president and Vice President just as youre saying felt very strongly about those
policies and Zwjohn Mccain had made a big effort to try to get along with george w. Bush after the fierce fight you talked about in the primaries of 2000, that ended things like torture and what he saw as an american attempt to use he thought some of the things that had been used against him as a p. O. W. In north vietnam. Thank you so much. Michael beschloss. Joining us now su nicolle wallace, host of deadline white house. Was a Senior Adviser for john mccains president ial campaign in 2008. Nicolle, our condolences to you and all of the close advisers and aides who travelled with him, who fought for him and knew him so well and loved him so much. Yeah, i mean you and i started this conversation friday, andrea at 4 00 when we were talking about his brave decision to end treatment. And so i think what you think about on days liking this is even when you know its coming,
even when you have had in his case almost a year to grapple with the news that he had this horrible diagnosis, theres nothing that really prepares you for a World Without john mccain in it. And we talked to him friday about that, the clarity of his voice after the helsinki summit, the clarity of his convictions about what america is, when its at her best, about what the Republican Party has been whether he its been at its best. And about what the senate is when its at its best. If you look at sort of his body of public statements in the year since his diagnosis, they really touch all those these touchstones. And you think about his speech where i believe senator or Vice President biden introduced him where he talked about this ideology of America First will end up in the ash heap of history,