the battle hymn of the republic. to, to, really, to make the point, and it is true, the very values that defined john mccain s life and american heroes lives for over 240 years, some trump supporters actually took as an insult. as a slight to a man who does not share the values that the overwhelmingly majority of people in that room shared. his name wasn t mentioned but beginning with senator s daughter meghan mccain a rebuke of president trump and david ig nis ignatius, it s extraordinary that the sitting president was not in the room in what amounted really to a state funeral and you had two former presidents, one republican, one democrat, both of whom vanquished john mccain and prevented him from becoming president and george w. bush in 2000 and barack obama in
finally, i was really overwhelmed when the naval academy choir sang the battle hymn of the republic that was incredibly moving. i had another favorite musical moment? i did. america the beautiful because it was one of those i have to remember every second of this moments for me. i was sitting in that beautiful, awesome cathedral, a few rows back, but know that also in the cathedral were three former presidents, former vice presidents, members of congress, and they were all singing together america the beautiful. you know, i just thought as so many americans do, of my own family, my own family history. my grandparents escaped nazi germany, came here and loved this country. this country saved their lives.
cathedral today, but to everyone, including, i think, the president. i think his message was, we are better as a country if we strive to achieve the great things that are jut lined in our constitution and in our declaration of independence, and our grand and glorious history and we must do that as a country if we want to keep this great experiment of democracy alive. bret: karl, thank you. there were emotional moments throughout this service. the singing by renee fleming of danny boy , a hat tip to john mccain s scotts-irish roots, really, had everyone, i think, pretty teared up, including cindy mccain who has been stoic throughout this particular service. as you look now, the funeral home, they re getting ready to arrive. the motorcade making its way there. and then, martha. thank you, sir, you bet. bret: the battle hymn of the
and that is that it s a salve, yes, but it also is a touchstone, a reminder of this man, what he represented, and his times. i think the statement you can make about robert kennedy is objective. you can look at the people along the train tracks from new york where he was carried from st. patrick s cathedral from his funeral down to washington to join his brother at arlington cemetery. the people along those tracks are his greatest testament, a couple of million people. african-americans in philly, 30th street station which you know so well, 20,000 people singing together spontaneously the battle hymn of the republic. and all those poor whites along the tracks between the big cities. this kind of affectionate patriotism, a couple cops you ll see in this picture saluting him, these working class guys having their kids join them, a whole family doing that. that affectionate patriotism across ethnic lines, if you will. i don t like the word race. we re all the same race.
communities, and the values for which we stand. if we do that, those who are taken from us prematurely will be able to look down and know that their lives had meaning. and they will know that we truly do remember. on behalf of the soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and coast guardsmen that are still in uniform, thank you once again for being here and thank you for remembering. [ applause ] ladies and gentlemen, now as the united states navy band perform, the battle hymn of the republic.