i mean, it didn t change john mccain and the inner fortitude that he had and you think about that ford fortitude to get to the awful experience of being a prisoner of war and that courage it took and he showed that throughout his life. kelly ayotte, thank you for calling in and we share the nation s grief with you. but for you it is deeply personal and thank you very much for taking this time. thank you. andrea, i want to say, for cindy and john s family and incredible people and i m just so sad for them. and for all of us tonight. a real loss for the nation. well, we all feel that same sense that this is an extraordinary moment, extraordinary family and they have shown such strength but the
without the massive campaign operation, john mccain the maverick, john mccain on a ring and a prayer came back and he won that nomination. and i think that really it really epitomized the type of person he is. he was when you walk into his senate office, it wasn t cold or corporate. it wasn t like a lot of senate offices that you walk into. there was just a bustle of activity. and any time you went into to see the senator, you weaved through a thousand different desks and stacks of paper everywhere and people people roaming here and there. it was not the most organized office in the world. he was a constant he was just constantly in motion and constantly moving. i think the one time that i wanted i went into his office through the years where there
because all of the talk then was about what was happening in iraq and afghanistan and it wasn t what was happening in the economy and the crash came after the economic the economic crash came after the republican convention. i think the tickets on both parties might have been very different if the economic problems had been exposed before the conventions took place. but they didn t. that is a story in history. but this is a time to reflect on john mccain s remarkable contributions to this country and the world. and he really has been a champion for democracy all around the world. through his work at the international republican institute under the partnership of the national endowment for democracy which i m part of it and i respect the work that they do. but john mccain was a champion for democracy in america. but more significantly, he was a champion for democracy around the world and he actually did the work. he traveled with his colleagues from the republican party to do it with
does that memory ever fade for you? is it there constantly or can you park it somewhere? it doesn t fade. but i have parked it. tom, in life we have to go on. and put it behind us and be grateful and every once in a while something reminds me of it or i hear from an old friend who calls up and asked me why i voted wrong and they never call me and tell me i voted right. so think about it. but what i really think about is the people that i had the honor of serving with. some of the gutsiest, most patriotic, most wonderful people i ve ever known in my life. they re my dearest and best friends. and with us now is colonel jack jake cobbs, retire colonel and analyst and medal of honor recipient. hearing john mccain talk about
senate. but bob dole living every day of his life with the real pain and just disability and still operating on such a high level. the highest level of american politics. absolutely. we all know the inspiring, sad at times story, of bob dole s recovery best told by the great author, the late richard ben kramer and the two men you mentioned dole and mccain both had to put their lives back together. and that tarted with putting their bodies back together. the story of mccain s injuries starting with his ejection, and starting with the fact that he wasn t supposed to survive that day or that shoot-down. no one shooting at him that day in hanoi was trying to wound him. they were trying to blow him out of the sky. surviving that fall, that