‘As a Democrat in Arizona, I Voted for McCain’

In the election of 1982, I was proud to vote the first time. That was also John McCain’s first bid to be a U.S. Congressman representing Arizona, my home state. A registered Democrat then and now, I went on to vote for Mr. McCain that day and in every senatorial election I could before relocating to New York. As it turned out, I moved back to Arizona in time to vote for him for in 2016, in what would turn out to be my last opportunity to do so. I cried like a baby when Mr. McCain left the state for the last time last Thursday, fully aware there will never be another person we Arizonans--of both parties--will be as proud to send to Washington as John McCain. A great man and a great loss to us all.

I too was a democrat who might have voted for McCain to be president. Of course the chance if Sarah being president made that impossible. McCain , like George Will was too conservative in most respects but he was a principled honest unbiased great Senator , like George Will, GW and GHW and many other republicans he recognized how ignorant, bigoted, destructive and just plain nasty Trump is.

I am a democrat from NY NJ retired to Arizona. I always admired McCain, mostly for his service to America in the war and in politics. But given my one chance to vote for him In his last campaign for Senate, I could not. He was too conservative for me and I believe we should have term limits. I am grateful to him for his vote helping to keep the ACA alive, but he did not do it because he believed in its principles, but because of the way in which they were trying to get rid of it. He was an honorable man, true to his beliefs.

I just don't believe he was as great as every one is making him out to be politically. What he should have done when Trump was elected was change parties, caucus with the Democrats and promise to switch back when Trump was out somehow. He whould have really been a "Maverick" by saying he couldn't be a member of the party if Trump was the best they could give the American people as president. Then he would have been a true "political" hero.

Mr. McCain was a rare politician who used his brain to effect common sense legislation and positions. That said, his only stain was listening to his campaign advisers who suggested Sarah Palin would be an appropriate choice for VP. Unfortunately he will be saddled with that one for posterity.

nothing wrong to vote for the right cause - democrat, republican or independent. country would have been better today if all presidential candidates competing with Mr. Trump could take right actions after being demeaned or degarded by the President. or the candidate. wording matters and a president who cannot articulate or take criticism is not worth to be president. For them, it is still time. Brave senator McCain asking his relatives not to invite a sitting president sends a strong message to Mr. Trump. we will all die one day - eventual truth. I wonder who will attend such event of the last day for the current sitting president - not obama, not biden, not bush but may be mr. pence.

It speaks volumes that so many on both sides mourn his loss & praise him for his sacrifice & service to our country. RIP John S. McCain

McCain's life was a celebration in democracy, duty to country.

I supported John both times that he ran for president and I'm an independent. He was a republican, but at least someone that when push came to shove he put the country over party. Also having been in the navy during the time he served I felt good about backing someone who served in the same branch as I did.

Reading the comments ( few published thus far), I can honestly be reminded about what likely ails us most as a nation right now. Perhaps many of the readers are simply too young to reflect on the fullness of time. Both of the life of Senator McCain and the politics of the last 60 years. For the record I am 67. I have heard all the remarks about how the Naval Aviator McCain crashed 4 planes, graduated from Annapolis 5th from the anchor man in the Class of '58 and made mistakes in some political calculus. I would ask each of those people; How many A-4 Skyhawks did you pilot? Did you attend USNA ( I did). Most of all, were you ever in the arena of our nation's highest lawmaking body and be faced with crucial life and death decisions? Could you not take the measure of a man like Senator McCain and sincerely acknowledgement that not for people like him, ever fewer would step up and do their DUTY? Would that not lead to fewer voices for ALL sides of political debate? ( I am a registered Democrat). Do you not see that coarsening of our society comes from more retreat to your own tribal corners? In thanking the NY Times for this opportunity to express my sentiments for Honorable John S. McCain. I simply wish him fair winds and following seas.

I could never figure out who the real John McCain was. Respecting him as a human being wasn't a big problem. Admiring him was sometimes easy. Agreeing with him long term was almost impossible. He had little real consistency as a politician. His military service was interesting, a family duty in his case. He wasn't a particularly good student at Annapolis (to put it kindly), but his behavior as a PoW seems admirable. He certainly learned from the experience. He was a real Reagan Republican, and as such was destructive to the nation. He participated in the S&L scandal. During the 2000 primary fight against GW Bush he often seemed to come close to expressing his real thoughts on many issues - abortion and civil rights for instance - and then pulled back so as to seem more conservative. This is not a leader I could have followed. He was incisive but often not insightful on foreign policy. His support of the military workfare program was excessive. His performance during the 2008 election was mostly execrable, with one standout exception defending Obama from an idiot madwoman in an atmosphere of division he allowed to develop. His legislative record was generally negative: he was a party man. Yes he criticized Trump, but that requires only a modicum of intellect and honor. I will miss McCain, but I am not sorry he failed to gain higher office. It is because he was the final voice of truth on the current administration to whom some in his party might have listened.

I was a Democrat who voted for him in 2000 too.

Why does it take a Canadian citizen from Quebec, to put aside partisian attitudes and honor the memory of John McCain? The Americans making comments sound like liberal versions of Donald Trump, small minded and whining because someone is recognized that didn't follow their philosophy or "party line." John McCain was not a perfect man but he was a cut above any other politican alive today, Republican or Democrat.

thank you for sharing your thoughts with us about an honorable american hero!

I've voted for dems in every presidential election since 1976 except for one. Yes, John McCain. I have also searched to find another one, any one, on the federal level to make number two.

As a Republican Conservative, I'm disappointed to say I had to vote Democratic in two of the last three elections. McCain I felt was much too hawkish and also too old. Romney I did vote for. Trump due to erratic and unacceptable behavior I also could not vote for. Looking for the Republican Party to nominate a candidate that I can vote for in the next election.

I also am a democrat. First and foremost John McCain was a war hero! He like millions before him and after him answered the call to service. You may not have liked the war in Vietnam but that was the fault of the administration not the men and woman who fought it. He was duped, by the administration then in power, just like the rest of us in going into Iraq as was Secretary of State Powell. He was a republican and never said he wasn’t, but he unlike current Congressman had honor and used it to do the right thing, remember the thumb down in the late hour of the night on health care. He called out his party on getting things done several times recently. He worked across the isle with Democrats to bring legislation that would benefit all Americans. Yes, these were all a response to president trump but at least he had the courage to stand up and say no. I haven’t seen his colleagues do the same! The republican party has power and they don’t want to lose it so they cast aside their honor, morality and spines to play along with a despot. But, at some point this will all come back to haunt them, especially if we as Americans rise up, say no more and vote in greater numbers. Then maybe when the lunacy in Washington simmers down OUR legislators will finally realize they work for us, the American people. I think John McCain always knew that, too bad no one else does.

I want to make it very clear that I a a Democrat, a yellow-dog Democrat. But even I weaken sometimes. One of those times came as I watched the Supreme Court confirmation of Robert Bork, a man of immense iintellect, with whose views I happened strongly to disagree with. On the other side was the senator from Pennsylvania, Arlen Spector. He matched Bork point for point and raised the hearing to a civic and intellectual feast. I was proud of my senator and I voted for him, a Republican, in the 1990 election. Then came Anita Hill. Every inch of integrity instantly changed into vulgarity and shame. I felt stabbed in the back. I wouldn't make the mistake of voting for a Republican again. Were I a citizen of Arizona, I might have written this differently. Yes, there were many things I disagreed with him, but he always allowed his opponents the right and dignity to disagree with him. Looking back on it, I might have voted for John McCain. And he would never have stabbed me in the back.

I am a registered Democrat but I vote for the Candidate who I believe has the best character. The only exception, unfortunately for our country, is that I did not vote for Sen. McCain for President in 2008 -- but that was only because I couldn't sleep thinking Sarah Palin would be a heartbeat away from being the Commander-in-Chief, regardless of how close she lived to Russia.

When I first heard news that he'd died , it was hard for me to reconcile his support of deplorable right wing policies with his evident decency and inspiring life, but then I read Russ Feingold's Op-Ed a few days back and I decided if one of my heroes says McCain was a good man, then I believe that he was. Still, I would never have voted for him. After all, would he have cast a vote for Feingold, a man he considered a friend? I doubt it. But maybe it's that tension that at least partly explains why he was so compelling.

I too am a registered Democrat and voted for McCain for the Senate many times. I met him once at a fundraiser ( my husband is a registered Republican) and we walked to our cars together after the event. I shook his hand and thanked him for reaching across the aisle and voting for the Family Medical Leave Act. He responded, “How could I not vote for it? More than half my staff are women and all of my staff has families!’

So sorry for his family. John McCain will be missed by so many, and will be honored by so many, too. Watching people honor him in the Arizona rotunda today helped all of us pay respect. Thanks for these comments.

When someone has passed, it is customary to honor their legacy and not denigrate individual choices they have made in life – that is called a grudge. As an Arizona democrat, I surely disagreed with several of his decisions, but now is not the time to nitpick an overall legacy of integrity and grace. He is no longer here to defend himself, so give him the remembrance he deserves. I think the best way to honor him would be to vote in all future elections to ensure our democracy remains intact, the way he would want it to be. Fight for injustices big and small. Stand up for yourself and others.

Plenty of what ifs. What if McCain had won the nod in the 2000 election and ran against al gore? What if he, not bush had won the election. It’s probably a good bet that Iraq might look very different than it does now. He would not have been cajoled by Rumsfeld and Chaney. That could have been his single greatest achievement. Keeping us out of a bad war. Or at least knowing its limitations as only a combat veteran can. He did cast his vote for it along with Hillary. Which in the end makes you wonder how much of a maverick was he really. To me the military is essential to our liberty and freedom. It is also part of the government. When I hear people talk of less big government, which part are they talking about?

A good way to honor John McCain would be to prevent Russian meddling in ‘western democracies.’

This is so depressing. No, he wouldn't have made a great President - why would he, when he didn't make a great Senator? Calling him a maverick is a polite way of saying he was a party of one. He was passionate about certain issues, but for the rest, he let the conservative wing of the party do his thinking for him. He could be bipartisan when he was spearheading the initiative, but didn't do nearly enough while his party was increasingly lurching rightward. He gave is Sarah Palin. He didn't endorse Hillary Clinton, and only backed out of endorsing Trump after the tape about pussy grabbing - i.e. Trump's shady business career, tax fraud, Trump U weren't deal breakers. He talked bipartisanship but sided with his party on important Obama initiatives such as the stimulus and the ACA. And what about Merrick Garland. Did he chastise his colleagues fore their endless fixation on Benghazi? Did he defend Hillary as a decent human being who used a private server for convenience? Democrats who were proud to vote for him, instead of urging their party to put up a strong opponent with an agenda in line with their values, maybe didn't feel they were casting a vote for Mitch McConnell and his agenda, but they did. He supported the outrageous tax cut for the wealthy, Trump's first big victory. If he really wanted to encourage bipartisanship, he should have demonstrated it more. His economic agenda was right wing.

Such a one-sided article and no mention of the legitimate criticisms regarding his past actions that included: staunch supporter of the Iraqi war, just ask the Iraqi population what they think of him not just the Vietnamese. Pushed for massive increase in defense spending at the peroil of social service programs. He towed the Republican line almost all of the time; to say he was a rebel, a maverick is a blatant lie. As for his POW time in Vietnamese prisons- ask his fellow POWS.

Senator McCain was a great man; he saved your country from the repelling attemp by the vicious Trump of your healthcare . As any other man he was not perfect but he deserved the admiration of the people. The GOP shall miss such a senator...or maybe they don't care anymore of the USA. Thank you Senator McCain for your years of living with your principles, you were a MAN, not a buffoon.

I cannot forgive Senator McCain for endangering the country by inviting Sarah Palin to run on his ticket. But... Surely the canyon between Senator McCain's achievements, discipline, patriotism, and courage (whether as a POW or defending Mr. Obama during that famous moment during the 2008 campaign) and Mr. Trump's cowardice, petulance and meanness must be obvious to even the most enamored of voters. Might Mr. Trump's insults to a man of genuine qualities be the action that finally breaks the spell of this evil sorcerer?

"Democrats" like you have cost us the presidency in 1968, 2000, possibly 2004, and definitely 2016. The damage resulting from the elections of Nixon, Bush, and Trump has been and continues to be incalculable. Yet the likes of you continue to waste your precious votes on Republicans, Libertarians, or random third party nominees such as Nader. Perhaps it's time to grow up and become a serious person.

I like Senator McCain from my state of AZ, but never voted for him. The simple reason is that in big issues he followed the party line and was a hawk. Remember "bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran". That was his line and I never quite understood why bombing someone was more important to him than talking with them. We are a very powerful nation but we have to use that power with restraint. Bombing someone does not necessarily bring them to the negotiation table and our guns and bombs have killed enough people in the world already. In the end John had to opportunity to die with his loved one close to him. We should give that same opportunity to everyone in the world. We should stop being the bully in the world. America is viewed very highly in the world. We should not turn that respect into hate. I do not hate John for what he said or did. He is a very respected Senator and no he would not have been a great President. Remember Sarah Palin, such errors at the highest office can be very catastrophic.

Although McCain carefully cultivated his image as a Maverick, he sided with trump and the republican majority in every issue, except the repeal of Obamacare, which elevated him to folk hero status in many people's minds. I respect and appreciate McCain as a decent, honorable man, whose integrity spoke volumes as to his family values, honed by his military service. However, he voted to ratify every one of trump's appointments to the cabinet, federal courts, including the supreme court, and the tax cut, despite harshly criticizing the bill. McCain was a true republican loyalist, and any democrat who voted for him cannot, should not call himself a democrat.