The son and grandson of U.S. Navy admirals survived torture from both the Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam War and debating Texas Gov. George W. Bush in the 2000 GOP presidential primaries.
Although known for being more than mild-tempered, the Arizona senator never lost his cool or his message of expressing to the United States his straight talk.
John McCain defied odds.
After speaking at more than 100 town hall meetings in New Hampshire - which helped him to take the state by 17 points - then winning Michigan’s and Arizona’s Republican primaries in February by pulling a large mass of swing voters and Republicans alike, he created a new political person, a McCain Republican - or in his words, “McCainiacs.”
Free of the conservative right and not willing to acknowledge the title of a liberal, McCain Republicans, many of whom are new and younger independents, have started voting in droves in a time political analysts suggest will harvest the lowest turnout in the country’s history.
On stage, I listened to the Arizona senator address MSU students who filled the lower section of the Auditorium on Thursday on the MSNBC news program “Hardball with Chris Matthews.” Among red and white lights, noise echoing from speakers and hundreds of students, Matthews wanted to know if the system is broke.
“I think our party has lost its way and I want to bring it back,” McCain said.
And he’s right. As Matthews asked the audience about who should be allowed into the presidential debates, many agreed that the two-party debates were unhealthy for the American voter - and they’re right.
It’s time for a politician to step forward and radically ratify Washington as we know it. McCain may be that politician.
Between applause calls from a determined stage manager and Bill Clinton jokes during commercial interruptions unfolded a story of a man, who despite surviving a war, divorce, cancer, an unsuper Tuesday and GOP criticism, has remained strong - even being thrown hardballs from Matthews.
McCain, also known as a Republican rebel, drives his personal agenda of battling special interests - often times without support, rather with criticism from his own party - on the floor of the U.S. Senate.
It’s more than a game.
Nicknamed “The Sheriff,” he’s been on a one-man crusade against larger government, wasteful Washington spending and unnecessary campaign expenditures. He totes a political philosophy of cutting wasteful spending to lower the tax burden on American families as well as plans to eliminate both the inheritance tax and the costly marriage penalty and recently a strong push to end the spending of soft money.
Although federal laws allow for an individual to contribute a donation that does not exceed $1,000 to a federal candidate, or more than $20,000 per year to a political party. Soft money has found a loophole in these rules and has been corrupting Washington for years. Corporate donations and unions have been contributing as large as $100,000, $250,000 or even $1 million to the political parties.
McCain and Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold, challenged Bush and Vice President Al Gore in September to forego all soft money in their campaigns.
He has made a greater impact on young voters than both Bush and Gore. McCain begs the system to rethink its ways of big business, Washington lobbying and campaign finances.
I can appreciate his reform of American politics. That’s my straight talk.
Kevin Hardy, State News opinion editor, can be reached at hardykev@msu.edu.
