The Circus Has Left Town, But the Stink Remains

By Rich Kozlovich

On September 3, 2018 DH Butler posted the article, Is It Over Yet?, saying:

There’s a huge difference between the solemn, sorrowful citizens who lined the streets to say good-bye to Ronald Reagan, John Kennedy, and FDR and the rubberneckers hoping to catch a glimpse of celebrity politicians putting in a public appearance for the late Senator McCain’s multiple memorials............ John McCain may have been dear to a few people, but for the rest of us (and most likely 99% of the people invited to be part of his ostentatious Display of the Dead), he remains a clear and present exemplar of a petty plutocracy and blatant self-service...............Others, disgusted by the “political theatrics and cheap shots” recognized her father’s signature spitefulness -- nasty to the end and beyond......... An insatiably vindictive man, his equally malicious family, and all those eager to participate in a six-minute trash-talk tribute have radically transformed one of the last public opportunities to share our humanity..............

When it was announced McCain had an incurable cancer I posted some comments about it, but decided not to say much about him when he finally died, in spite of my personal distaste for the man, and I'm willing to bet most of those who've spoken out now felt the same.  Attacking a dying man lacks grace and dignity.

 But McCain just couldn't go out gracefully.

He made nasty remarks about people right up to the end. When people retorted they were eviscerated for daring to say anything back against a dying hero who was unbelievably disrespectful of others.

What kind of person does that at the end of their life? Is all this vindictiveness a sign of a guilty conscience, much like Ted Kennedy? 

Most dying people wish to spend their last days as peacefully as possible. Not McCain! His spiteful vicious character was evident until the end. We’re told he planned his funeral, so it must be obvious this was a deliberate effort to turn this it into a political circus with the help of his family and political cronies as an attack on Trump. Cronies who are the same kind of swamp creatures as was John McCain.

Now there are all sorts of claims about how badly Trump handled the funeral, and it’s claimed Melania is embarrassed by her husband's response to all of this, all claimed by "insiders". Now there are claims he wasn’t banned from the funeral. Really?  Then why didn’t McCain’s family come out days in advance and say those media reports were wrong and he and his family were more than welcome.  But it all makes sense when you hear Obama saying at the funeral “When all was said and done, we were on the same team.” Well, most Americans get that!

This whole funeral circus was a national embarrassment, and Trump handled this as gracefully as anyone could have under these circumstances.

Fortunately for John McCain I’m not the President of the United States. Because I would have forced the full release of John McCain's military records, which McCain refused to do and made a matter of law to seal them forever.
 
What was released before didn’t not make McCain look like a hero, and the same can be said about his father. As one writer said: "John McCain is one of the best cases against military ‘nepotism’ in American history".

As for his POW records:

“Critics say his anti-disclosure campaign, in close cooperation with the Pentagon and the intelligence community, has been successful. Literally thousands of documents that would otherwise have been declassified long ago have been legislated into secrecy. For example, all the Pentagon debriefings of the prisoners who returned from Vietnam are now classified and closed to the public under a statute enacted in the 1990s with McCain’s backing. He says this is to protect the privacy of former POWs and gives it as his reason for not making public his own debriefing.”

This also prevented information being released about POW's who may have been left behind.  All this from the "Straight Talk Express" candidate.  I've said in the past I'm willing to accept his hero status as a POW because arm chair critics can't begin to fathom what a POW goes through, and his unwillingness to be released early as a propaganda ploy by the Communists is heroism

However, I have to believe that declassifying these records fall under the President's purview, irrespective of any legislation to the contrary. One thing for sure though. The President of the United States has access to any and all classified or secured documents, and could view them himself.  

If I were Trump I would make a point of reviewing those records, and,  I would let it be known I’d done so.  And then sit quietly back.