On the recordAugust 28, 2018
when you walk by Senator McCain's desk and see the black drape and the bowl of white roses, it really underscores the loss. We lost a colleague. We lost a friend. The country lost a true public servant. We have heard the stories. After being shot down, spending all those years in the Hanoi Hilton, beaten nearly to death when he was fished out of the lake in downtown Hanoi, he continued to serve his country-- in the Navy, in Congress, in this Senate, and, of course, as the party's nominee for President. His call to serve and his sense of duty and honor is the legacy of John McCain. He is an example for all of us. He was a fighter, and he was funny too. Maybe it was the years in prison or the long line of military service or the sometimes tense humor of fighter pilots. Maybe it was that legacy of his family in the military, but he knew in his soul how special the United States was and what the United States could do for its people and for the world. Sometimes we forget the stories of the excruciating pain that Senator McCain went through as a POW. In 2000 David Foster Wallace, in Rolling Stone magazine, wrote an article. I want to give you some of the graphic details after he had been nearly beaten to death and his weight had gone down to 100 pounds. When they found out that his father was a four-star admiral and his grandfather was a four-star admiral, they decided they were going to offer him early release.…
