The New York Times has given John McCain (R-AZ) quite the sendoff - detailing a trip made by Joe Biden and his wife Jill to the dying senator's Arizona ranch last Sunday where the former Vice President "wanted to let him know how much I love him and how much he matters to me and how much I admire his integrity and his courage."
The NYT's longtime op-ed writer Frank Bruni, meanwhile, lauds McCain and trashes Trump in an article entitled Battling Donald Trump With His Dying Breaths.
As Bruni makes it quite clear, McCain may be near the end of the road, he's far from done making his mark.
Mr. McCain, 81, is still in the fight, struggling with the grim diagnosis he received last summer: He has been leading conference calls with his staff in a strained voice, grinding out three-hour physical therapy sessions and rewarding himself most days with a tall glass of Absolut Elyx on ice. -NYT
Inbetween tall glasses of iced vodka, "most days," McCain also filmed a nearly two-hour HBO documentary at his Hidden Valley Ranch, and is coming out with what he acknowledges will be his last book, "The Restless Wave," both set for release this month.
The film and the book, a copy of which The New York Times obtained independently of Mr. McCain, amount to the senator’s final say on his career and a concluding argument for a brand of pro-free trade and pro-immigration Republicanism that, along with his calls for preserving the American-led international order, have grown out of fashion under President Trump. -NYT
Some highlights from the New York Times coverage:
- McCain is suffering "debilitating side effects" from aggressive cancer treatment as he spends his final days in Arizona
- He has few regrets - though one is that he chose Sarah Palin as his 2008 running mate instead of tapping Democrat-turned-independent Joe Lieberman.
“It was sound advice that I could reason for myself...But my gut told me to ignore it and I wish I had.”
He calls the decision not to pick Mr. Lieberman “another mistake that I made” in his political career, a self-indictment that includes his involvement in the Keating Five savings and loan scandal and his reluctance to speak out during his 2000 presidential bid about the Confederate battle flag flying above the South Carolina Capitol.
- McCain doesn't want Trump at his funeral - instead insisting that Vice President Mike Pence attend the service in Washington's National Cathedral.
His intimates have informed the White House that their current plan for his funeral is for Vice President Mike Pence to attend the service to be held in Washington’s National Cathedral but not...