My love for america will be weighed favorably against them. I lived and died a proud american. We are citizens of the worlds greatest republic, a nation of ideals, not blood and soil. We are blessed and are a blessing to humanity when we uphad those ideas at home and in the world. We helped lift more people from tyranny and poverty than anywhere in the world. We weaken this when we hide behind walls rather than tear them down. When we doubt the power of our ideals rather than trust them to be the great force for change theyve always been. We have always had so much more in common with each other in disagreement. If only we remember that, and give each other the benefit of the presumption that we all love our country. We will get through these challenging times. We will come through them stronger than before. We always do. Do not despair of our present difficulties, but believe always in the promise and greatness of america, because nothing is inevitable here. Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history. Fair well, fellow americans. God bless you, and god bless america. David ignatius, what a wonderful, what a strong, what a timely message from a man who has dominated american political life for 30, 40 years and will surely influence americans and those who seek to serve in the public for many more years to come. Joe, john mccains final statement, which you just read very movingly, is a soldiers statement to his country. Its striking, the belief he had to his very last day that the country could solve its problems if only it could escape this bitter partisanship that through john mccains last several decades became more and more of a problem. I was always struck with mccain in every encounter i had with him and listening to you now just read that last statement how much john mccain believed that American Values were our greatest source of strength. Thats not just a line in a speech. He really believed it. He thought that when we were americans, when we represented these values of freedom, the whole world caught fire and moved in our direction. Hed watched the cold war, wed watched our successes, and i think it was just a bitter disappointment to him to see a person who we thought had really low moral value, not a strong character, as leader. Not just because of the bitter fights that he had with donald trump but because he thought that quality, that lack of moral character weakened the country. Its interesting how, joe, thats how he chose to say goodbye to us. To remind us of the importance of character. It is really is. Mike barnicle. I was struck when we heard the newss senator mccains passing, just, the despair that i saw on mikas face and the despair she felt the rest of the day, and here was obviously a democrat, a lifelong democrat, who never voted for republicans. Certainly didnt vote for john mccain. They clashed from time to time, as senator mccain clashed with me and clashed with quite a few people, because he was a tough fighter. God bless him for that. But the one thing that i think mika noticed even as a liberal democrat was the greatness of the man. The greatness of the leadership. She saw something in him that she saw in her father that she saw in other president s and diplomats that she had crossed in her life and mika just knew that somebody great had left our presence, and, my god, anyone that feels a sense of despair only need to read john mccains final words to understand not only why he was so great but why americas greatest days really could lie ahead if we only get out of our way. Our own way. Well, joe, john mccain would be the last person who would want anyone to despair today, and i think maybe what mika saw and what she thought whenever she saw or heard john mccain was quite simple. She saw america, and she saw an american, and she saw someone whose life story symbolizes, in a sense, what this country is all about. His history is our history. We dont teach our history very well to our children or to one another, but his history is fairly familiar now. Given his passing. In his history, it is one of continued survival in the face of unbelievable obstacles. Five and a half years. Ive stood in the cell where he spent most of those five and a half years in hanoi, and its not a comfortable feeling, all the years later when i stood in it, and its abhorrent to think of any human being being treated the way he was treated. I think i mentioned yesterday he once told me when i asked him that he once went three months without seeing the sun, because he was held in solitary confinement and he once went nearly five months without seeing the moon. Think about that, and think about his resilience. Thats the United States of america. Our resilience as a republic in over coming all sorts of historical obstacles. Thats john mccain. Well, and unfortunately, the man that drew so much attention yesterday and actually only elevated john mccains standing was a man who as the Washington Post wrote some time ago, was a man who had five deferments from vietnam. You said john mccain wasnt a war hero, he said, and while john mccain was living there in those horrid conditions being beaten up, being tortured, having bruises that would stay with him the rest of his life, donald trump was living the high life in manhattan. Once told howard stern that avoiding std was his his own vietnam, and that man, President Trump who has said he wants an elaborate, multimillion dollar parade down pennsylvania avenue to honor the military, he spent much of monday resisting all calls to simply lower the white house flag, in honor of a prisoner of war and Public Servant senator john mccain. As 18 Senior Administration officials independently paid tribute to john mccains heroism and sacrifice, the president refused to budge. According to the in tnew york times ignored repeated requests from Vice President pence. Repeated requests from chief of staff john kelly, at three events in the morning, and early afternoon trump ignored requests for comments on the former p. O. W. And war hero. Mr. President thank you. Thank you. Sir thank you. Lets go. Mr. President thank you. Mr. President , do you have any thoughts on john mccain . Do you have any thoughts at all about john mccain . Mr. President do you believe john mccain was a hero, sir . Guys, lets go. Keep moving. Nothing at all about john mccain. Okay. Mr. President , the American Legions asked you to lower the flags to halfstaff. Any reaction to the American Legion . Any reaction lets go. Press, lets go. About john monccain. Why wont you say anything about john mccain . Gene, the smallness is, of course its, of course unrivaled. Yes. First of all. Secondly, the i dont know what word to use. Stupidity . I dont know that you use stupidity against a man that ran through a fields 16 republicans and then beat Hillary Clinton for president of the United States, derangement . Too many words attached to derangement. Too many meanings attached to derangement, but donald trump should have known what any other adult in Donald Trumps position there would have known. Uhhuh. Which is by doing what he did yesterday, he did nothing but elevate john mccain even more. Mccain was laughing at the gates of st. Peter all day yesterday, or if he decided to take a detour and raise a little hell, he had loose feucifer winking a saying, thats pretty good. You really set that sucker up. Mccain had another day where we all get an opportunity to look at the greatnesses of his character compared to this clown who wouldnt even lower the flag to halfmast. I think maybe the phrases you were looking for was inadequacy as a human being. There are certain things that you would see or understand that i might see and understand that he doesnt, because of his enormous and overwhelming, President Trump, because of his enormous and overwhelming narcissism. That first clip when he was asked yesterday, the way he sat there with his armed crossed was, was just you know you would expect better, really, of a 3yearold. Maybe not a 2yearold, but a 3yearold and some part of him stop growing at about 2 1 2. The sort of me, me, me part. You know . Hes at it again this morning tweeting away in his own defense, i guess not on the mccain matter but in general. You know, john mccain, whatever you thought of his politics. You could disagree with him. It was impossible not to find him funny and entertaining at just a, and just a delight to talk to and be around, and also, you know, he had his clashes with President Trump. He saw who trump was, but he did something about it. I mean, he spoke out. Right. He spoke out with his vote at a particularly crucial juncture in this countrys recent history. Right. About the Affordable Care act, and you wonder, is any of that sort of bravery left in the Republic Party . You do wonder. And after yesterday, it was again, where were the statements of support . Johnny isakson came out and said it but the entire Republican Party should have come out. The point is not that i am shocked by Donald Trumps behavior in that it shows him to be a cruel, callous bully. Weve known that a very long time. Im shocked how selfdefeating it seems, almost every action he takes is. How selfdefeating. How hes harming himself. How hes elevating his opponents, how he does it so often in a way that no other adult effect president ceo, church leader, football coach. You name it. So selfdefeating. So the president reportedly finally gave in after a stern Public Statement from the American Legion. The National Commander said his 2 million members would strongly urge you to make an appropriate president ial proclamation. The white house soon lowered the flag to halfstaff and the president signed a proclamation. Which begins, despite our differences on policy and politics, i respect senator john mccains service to our country. It goes on to ask the Vice President to speak at mccains ceremony with top advisers kelly, mattis and bolton to attend and at a dinner we evangelical leaders last night trump read a brief appreciation. Our hearts and prayers are going to the family of senator john mccain. Going to be a lot of activity over the next number of days, and we very much appreciate everything that senator mccain has done for our country. So thank you very much. [ applause ] noah, again, why take the man 12 hours, 14 hour while his staff is begging him to do the right thing . Why did it take him so long . Why cant he get out of his own way . If reporting is correct and as you said the president is not stupid. He knows who his supporters are and where his support comes from and when a significant Veterans Group like the American Legion puts pressure on you, a man who really believes that veterans are on his side and who has veterans on his side, who has budged, thats good. But i do believe that the damage was done. A lot of what we saw yesterday was described as petty. Its really small, but i dont think its especially petty. These two men were representatives of very significant fissure within the american politics, within the conservative politic. They were representatives of camps that believe in combat over some really fundamental issues. Like comportment, power of persuasion versus being churlish. The natures American Immigration policy. Whether culturalism, homogeneity is prefer oable heterogeneity. John mccain was in favor that the maintenance of world peace can fall only on the United States alone. Donald trump has a very different vision for american politics. The fact that this combat continues beyond the grave is indicative of how powerful these issues are and resonant in our politics. We shouldnt dismiss this as petty. It is part of an ongoing battle for the republic itself. Hold on a second. Sorry. Excuse me. Noah, you didnt bring up abortion. You didnt bring up many ideological issues. I would guess john mccain voted with the Republican Party 90 of the time. He voted for trump the tax cuts. He voted against the getting rid of the Affordable Care act, but this was tribal at best. People hated john mccain, people that i knew, hated in the Republican Party, hated and loathed john mccain through the years, because he had friendships with democrats. Because he said nice things about joe biden. Because he didnt call barack obama a muslim in a disparaging way. I mean, seems to me if this is truly a fissure in the Republican Party, its a fissure that takes the party down because a word you used that seems most appropriate here is churlish. They hated mccain for not being churlish, for not being small, for not being the type of person who would mock and ridicule a man when he was dieing of cancer. Yeah. And democrats might dismiss this but within the conservative ferment there is a debate whether civility is a shackle impose and republicans and republicans alone that hinders their ability to appeal to a broader demographic. A real debate. Its one i fall in the john mccain camp with but others say civility is impose and republicans alone and it is designed to keep them from making broader appeals, aggressive appeals to not only their base but to independent voters who want to see a fight. That is the camp that donald trump represents and for conservatives Donald Trumps very presidency representative of how civility has hindered republicans abilities to win national office. Again yoshs agree with this, but this is a real debate in the Republican Party and to dismiss it entirely is to see the field to Donald Trumps camp. We do need to engage to it on terms sympathetic to them so their arguments can be dismissed. Policy issues, i disagree with john mccain on policy issues. For example, his fix agency on money in politics was wrongheaded and the Campaign Finance law deemed unconstitutional. I believe that is not a philosophical issue. Its a policy issue. Big philosophical debates are what were talking about here. Thats what we should focus on. Well, but, mike, were also talking about basic human decency. There you go. I disagree i disagreed with john mccain on many things. I i think it was patrick grafini said i did not issuppor john mccain. I was more conservative than john mccain and didnt vote for him in two primary processes that he ran in. But at the same time, he was an american hero. Hmm. And at some point we put down our swords. At some point, as patrick rafeeney said in brazing john mccain, he said something along the line of, oh, oh for the luxury of of of assuming that a leader would be a good character, and being able to focus on ideology, as rafeeney suggested. Weve got ton a poiten to a poi cant make the assumption the people were voting for are good and decent people. Something is terribly lost. Joe, the interesting, at least to me, the truly interesting aspect of the discussion that you and noah were just having is its about interparty splits, interparty ideology, and ideology splits and differences between both parties, and yet when you take what happened with the president s, with President Trumps treatment of john mccains death and the whole thing about lowering the flag to halfstaff, thats separates itself from what we just talked about. Thats, katy i think thats beyond americans know what it takes to go to a wake, stand in line and pay their respects to the deceased. Thats not politics. Inevitably someone will take a poll to see the reaction of what mr. Trump has done over the past days with regard to mr. Mccain but this element is beyond politics that i expect truly resonates among people. Yes. And no one invokes the idea of civility and how americans feel shackled by civility. Thats where we get into the discussion of Political Correctness meaning they cant speak their minds, but it is, there is something as you suggest, mike, common in the Human Experience in the way that we face death. And you can overcome differences and show your humanity and rise to the occasion and put differences a side you at critical moments. Thats what it means to be an adult. Adults have that ability to think, i have huge differences with this person, but in this particular moment, thats not what matters. Just think of the rivalry between john mccain and barack obama. They had huge differences of policy between them. On the role of government, the size of government, on the issue of war and American Military intervention around the world. The two men were philosophically very divided but john mccain found a moment at the smith dinner, just before the election before he lost to barack obama to rise to the occasion and pay tribute to barack obama as a man. You can over come politics and be civil and are not shackled by Political Correctness. This is about humidity not politics. Also, heidi what a joke for republicans to suggest that theyve been forced to play by marcus of queensberry rules for the past 40 years but its just the big, bad democrats who have played tough. Im sure john mccains family looking back at how he was treated in the 2000 primary would think differently. I mean, the party of, you know you can just go back and look at whats happened in South Carolina politics. Seems year in, year out, in republican primaries. Republicans have not been shackled by being too kind and being too civil. In fact, its quite the opposite, and if you talk to democrats, they will tell you that theyre the ones who unfortunately played, play too politely. Its just its nonsense, from both sides. Ask mike dukakis how civil and kind they were with the Willie Horton ad on john mccain how civil or kind it was t