Page 42 - Mark Salter News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> much mitandrea mitchell, as we'll be watching you today on "andrea mitchell reports". we want to ask you what will you be working on today? >> we'll be talk a lot about john mccain. his co-author, close friend will join us. mark over the weekend said john mccain was a romantic about his causes, a cynic about the world. recollect what it was like to go myanmar and meet three leased prisoners who were tortured and abused and john mccain met with them in 2011 and the way he related to people around the world, who were victims, human rights victims, such a part of that legacy, something we don'...

>> i sure will, joe. >> thank you so much. let's bring in chris matthews now with "hardball" and mike barnacle, why don't you take the first question. >> yeah, joe, you know, listening to mark salter talking about a public man who was so drenched in humanity and character and honesty and compassion and humor, it stops you in your tracks to think what we're surrounded with today and chris matthews, you've seen a lot in your lifetime and you've interviewed a lot of people in your lifetime. and today many of us are worried about the resilience of the public given the fact that john mccain has pas...

During his campaign. that made a difference. mark salter played a role in helping john mccain craft remarks that were all john mccain's comments. they weren't someone suggesting he should make changes to what he wanted to say. he did it. he was a healer. president bush recognized that. he was a healer in that relationship. i give credit to both of them. i'm thrilled that president bush, number 43, is going to be eulogizing john mccain, and president barack obama. it is a great tribute to john mccain. >> george w. bush saying some lives are so vivid, it is difficult to imagine them ended. some ...

>> he is not -- >> no, ma'am, no, ma'am. no, ma'am, no, ma'am. he's a decent family man citizen that i just happened to have disagreements with on fundamental issues. >> kelly, we often talk about john mccain, how he defended his rival when we saw what that woman had to say about barack obama. but as you mentioned, less often, he also did it very kindly, very respectfully. he was not out to embarrass that woman. he was out to set the record straight. it struck me this morning that mark salter, who of course was his sort of co-writer, his longtime speechwriter who knew him so well over the deca...

You know, he was never good with a script. you could never -- we used to laugh about message discipline with him. it was pointless. to try to encourage him. but he did want to do big things. he had ambition. you know he got pretty far in life for a guy always stood fifth from the bottom of the class at the naval academy. you know, when i wrote about his romantic sensibility, he wanted just that. he wanted to help people enjoy the rights he had. he couldn't stand bullies. he loved fighting them. and we're going to miss that about him. >> so, mark, so many people are, have been going back to tha...