McCain honored at funeral by Bush and Obama

Former President Barack Obama lauded John McCain’s efforts to push the nation to rise above “mean and petty” politics in his tribute Saturday to the Arizona Republican, who served for more than three decades in the Senate.

Mr Obama spoke after former president George W Bush, another McCain opponent. “Not the cheap rhetoric from men who will never come near the sacrifice he gave so willingly, nor the opportunistic appropriation of those who lived lives of comfort and privilege”.

Often fighting through tears, McCain called her father a “great warrior” but said she admired him most as a “great father”.

McCain’s funeral puts him back in the spotlight a few miles from Trump’s doorstep, in the city where the senator, who died last Saturday at 81, worked and collected friends and enemies, some in both camps at different times. America does not boast because she has no need to. Picture: Getty Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, former Vice President Dick Cheney and Lynne Cheney. “I gotta say, there were a number of moments that were awkward, I’m sure for them, sitting there”. John McCain’s funeral, and while some people, including the president, were bothered by it, Senators Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham have chose to come to her defense.

An invitation-only national memorial service celebrating the senator’s life will begin at 10 a.m.at Washington National Cathedral. Joining them were family and friends as well as members of McCain’s Class of 1958, military leaders and academy midshipmen.

But contemporary President Trump led Republican party stances on human rights, women and LGBTQ equality and fiscal irresponsibility as well as mounting scandals citing corruption and Russian interference, puts Bush’s presidency and the man himself in a new light for some former critics.

McCain met thousands of people through his life, including presidents, prime ministers and potentates.

People gather to watch the passing of John McCain’s motorcade on his way to be laid to rest at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

The memorial service at Washington National Cathedral was intended as a cap to public commemorations that began Wednesday in Phoenix, in his adopted home state of Arizona.

Obama recalled McCain calling earlier this year, asking the former president to speak at the event after his death. So I am totally OK with everything, ‘ the man added.

Standing near McCain’s flag-draped casket and with Trump’s daughter in the audience, Meghan McCain delivered a broadside against the uninvited president without mentioning his name. John McCain, R-Ariz., at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Saturday, Sept. 1, 2018. McCain, a naval aviator, was shot down during the Vietnam War and spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war.

McCain’s internment. At the time, Trump issued a statement, saying “despite our differences on policy and politics, I respect Senator John McCain’s service to our country”.

The benediction was delivered by Rear Admiral Barry Black, the Senate chaplain who referred to McCain as a drum major: “May the life of this American patriot inspire us to see you more clearly, to love you more dearly, and to follow you more almost each day”.