and killed or captured. but it was never going to happen to you. it would always happen to somebody else. and then when it did happen to you, there is this sharp intake of breath and a recognition that in fact this is real and it is happening to you. and when it did happen to him, he said he thought that this was he had to steel himself and prepare himself for the most difficult final exam he would have to take. when he was in as mike at beshlass reminded us, when he was in prison, his father john mccain father had just become the commander of all naval forces in the pacific and the north vietnamese thought there would be propaganda value in releasing him and e and he refused and continued to resist and take the take the impossible abuse visited on him
were little things like that with mccain that were really unusual as kind of personal decency and concern for others. bill crystal, that is so true. the little things, the little kindnesses for someone who could be testy and difficult and even describe himself, he was also very, very kind. thank you, bill. thanks for joining us. thank you. and with us for more comment on john mccain and the legacy, author and presidential historian michael beshlas. bill crystal was talking about the possibility of this bipartisan ticket with joe lieberman which who was his first choice to be his running mate. help me here. in american history, have we ever had a democratic and republican or two different parties on the ticket? not in modern times. franklin roosevelt for instance
abraham lincoln as a republican to the office of the presidency. as the general election heated up, barack obama built a fleed t lead in the polls. we always knew we has to take a risk we had to throw the ball in double kcoverage to get ahead in race where the head winds are against us what the idea was that john mccain was going to pick joe leiberman. i get a call from rick davis who is campaign manager for john mccain s presidential campaign in 2008. he said john would like to put you on the list of people to be vetted to be his vice preside presidential running mate. i said are you kidding me. he said no, i m not. it was a bold idea barack obama was beginning to walk on the mountain tops and we
he was a guy that was supposed to walk away with the nomination and the campaign just went terribly. and he was bleeding money. he was bleeding support in the fall of 2007. and everybody thought that john mccain was finished. but he wasn t comfortable as a front-runner. this guy was a maverick. and i remember in my late father telling me in late 2007 when everybody said that mccain was out of it, i remember my dad telling me, as i was leaving his house on a sunday afternoon to fly back to new york, that was the first year of morning joe, he pointed at me and he said, joey, don t forget mccain. he s coming back. and i remember laughing saying sure, dad, sure. and sure enough, john mccain without the massive campaign operation, john mccain the
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