Cindy McCain said in an interview broadcast Wednesday that when she listens to the political discourse of the hour she hears no “voice of reason.”
McCain talked about the political legacy of her husband, the late Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain, in an interview with ABC News. McCain died Aug. 25, 2018 of a brain tumor. He was the GOP’s presidential nominee in 2008.
Cindy McCain, wife of the late U.S. Senator John McCain stands on the sidelines before the game between the Arizona Cardinals and the Washington Redskins at State Farm Stadium on Sept. 9, 2018 in Glendale, Arizona. Norm Hall/Getty Images
Describing today’s Republicans as “not the party of Abraham Lincoln … nor the party of Ronald Reagan,” McCain said the political characteristic that most defined her husband — bipartisanship — is virtually absent from the American political dynamic today. (RELATED: John McCain Says Obama Was Better World Leader Than Trump)
“That was a tough torch to carry and, as John said, there were many lonely days because he always said what was on his mind,” she told ABC. McCain insisted the late senator “never did anything deliberately to be hurtful or anything. … I don’t see anybody carrying that mantle at all, I don’t see anyone carrying the voice — the voice of reason.”
McCain did not suggest that Sen. McCain’s closest political ally and friend, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, is an exception to that observation. Graham, who visibly opposed candidate Donald Trump during the 2016 primary season, has become a steady political backup for the president.
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) (R), then-chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, talks to Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) (L) before the committee heard testimony from U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter (not pictured) in Washington Dec. 9, 2015. REUTERS/Gary Cameron.
“Lindsey has his own political career to worry about and his own political life,” McCain said. “I would just hope that in the long run, everyone would begin to move in the right direction, including Lindsey or anybody else.”
“Lindsey’s a part of my family,” McCain told ABC. “He’s a good friend and I cannot, [and] will not, be critical of Lindsey.”
Even though she presented a pessimistic appraisal of the Republican Party and its leadership, McCain avoided any specific criticism of President Donald Trump, who has continued to indicate his dislike of the senator. It is an animosity that was perhaps born when Trump suggested in July 2015 that McCain should not be assessed as a war hero when he was captured by the enemy during the Vietnam War and sent to a prisoner of war camp. (RELATED: Trump Says John McCain Put Him In ‘Jeopardy’ When He Gave Dossier To FBI)
Trump blamed McCain for the failure to repeal Obamacare in a Senate vote that saw the Arizona senator and two other Republican senators join the Democrats in defeating the legislation.
