and i knew that senator mccain would be the one person who be fearless and sure enough he s proven that. he proved that in his final years. just like he proved that in vietnam. just like he proved that throughout his entire congressional career. he has been fearless in war, fearless in and i can t think of another political figure, another public figure, gosh, since bobby kennedy, 50 years ago, with his passing, that dominated the american political landscape more that wasn t president of the united states. his his legacy is extraordinary. joe scarborough talking tonight, and from morning joe, talking about the legacy of john mccain and how the tributes that are pouring out for him are are because of the unique place
pain must be truly unbearable tonight. thank you very much. and with me now is andy card, former white house chief of staff under president george w. bush. and andy, as you think back on that 2000 campaign and how tough that was, and then over the years how president bush and john mccain and you in the middle worked together on some very big policies. well i didn t play much of a role. it was truly john mccain and george w. bush recognizing that the greater good is worth the effort to put into making a way to find it find the greater good. and john mccain look he was a tough negotiator and he had sharp elbows and could be pretty angry at times. but he would find a way to find common ground. and he would work at it. he would invite people to stand
so they could succeed. and you traveled with and we re look at pictures in the senate of you in the senate briefing room with john mccain, with lindsey graham. that friendship may have been strained in recent months or years because of the effect of donald trump, but they really they and joe lieberman and the others were such close friends. such close friends. i mean, first of all, lindsey graham and joe lieberman and john mccain, the original three amigos of the three of them, incredibly close and believe in the exceptional role of america and american leadership and standing up for human rights around the world. and john was the leader of that. whenever he traveled, any person that was was a threat he would stand up to them and he stood up for our values and his
he held in history as a legislator and senator and war hero, prisoner of war, twice candidate for president, once the nominee for president, and yet still having such a large impact on our public life, despite the fact he was not elected to the presidency. historian john meachum joins us again. john, john mccain carved out such a unique role in public life. having never won the office of the presidency, the office he always wanted, he still looms so large in human rights, in fighting for the against what was happening to the prisoners in guantanamo and what was happening to prisoners in black prisons around the world.
andrea mitchell, just joined the conversation as well and, andrea, over the years that you ve covered washington, d.c. and certainly john mccain, senator john mccain and his family, as chuck was just reminding us, the very energy and force that he represents of doing good work, that will remain. absolutely and you were just saying especially at this time in history, not just the campaigns but his standing up on things and ran up against the cia, he was honest with senator dianne feinstein, the leading democrat of course to go up against the intelligence directions. i think at this time there s such a contrast between the honor of john mccain and the short supply of honor in american politics right now. in particular you can go back to his days in vietnam. refusing to go home early when he was offered that opportunity to standby his extraordinaries troops all the way up to challenging the woman who approached him at a rally and said that barack obama was an arab and wasn t of this c