Of all the talks during the funerals this week, I found that of Meghan McCain the most moving. We have a granddaughter Meghan and noted several weeks ago that I am related to Meghan Markle, but it is the eulogy today by Meghan McCain that I found so moving. When I was young, my mother had a copy of the poems of Robert Service when she read to me and my brothers. I have that book and have read "The Cremation of the Sam McGee to our children and several of our great-grandchildren who live with us. To hear it quoted today brought tears to my eyes.

I noted in an earlier post how I had a photograph taken with John McCain back in 2004 but the eulogy brought me even closer to John McCain.

Meghan said her father learned that poem as a POW in Nam from a fellow prisoner in a bunker next to his who recited it daily through the walls for him so he could learn it.

When he met his future wife Cindy he tried it out on her. He figured if she could tolerate that then maybe she could go the distance with him.

:)

Yes, but McCain obviously thought the poem worth learning. BTW, Robert Service was once indicated by Bill Clinton to a poet he especially liked.

"...who recited it daily through the walls for him so he could learn it."

I think Meghan said that it was tapped out in code through the walls. Prisoners were not allowed to speak, if I recall correctly.

Ms. McCain is cut from the same cloth as her Dad. Her talk, as well of those of former Presidents Bush and Obama, were a tribute to what America is about, and should be. McCain never said that he was always right. He did what he thought was right and backed it up.

We are often made from the same cloth as our parents. As I think of the poetry of Service I am also reminded of some poets I know in my family history. I am a Greenleaf descendant and related to John Greenleaf Whittier and also related to Longfellow.

That would be awesome.

Yes it would. Spit-fire like her dad

That would be interesting.

I am not a big supporter of many McCain (father and daughter) views, but her politics seem pretty close to those of the man whom Arizonans elected for this term.

AZ has changed a lot in the last few years, but the senate is constitutionally supposed to reflect longer-term judgments than the house. So a good case could be made for sticking Megan in the office for the rest of her father's official tenure.

Arizona governor Doug Ducey, who will appoint the person to serve out McCain's term, will attempt to make the current President happy. He is also up for re-election and does not want to anger the supporters of the current President. I imagine that Ducey wants the Senate seat for himself in the future, also. For those reasons I am pretty sure that he will not appoint a member of the McCain family. As an Arizonan, I wish he would. But I learned long ago not to expect sanity in Arizona politics. My guess is that he will appoint someone who will agree not to run for the seat when their term is up.

...played golf. Guess there wasn't anything worthwhile on TV.

I wonder whether the elephant claims to have broken par, or double-bogeyed.

I hear he does his best thinking while golfing.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/02/2018 01:48PM by Lot's Wife.

My Dad died a long time ago, but I can still hear him reciting:

--"A bunch of boys were whooping it up, in the Malamute Saloon"--

Thank you for the memories, rhgc.

I remember when flying on Alaska airlines a while back that all their in flight announcements were delivered in Robert Service style verse.

Don't know if they still do that but I thought it was rather clever.

I thought the letter he left to all of us was - something we sure needed right now.

I thought her eulogy was angry and defensive, mixed in with the pain of a daughter who’s lost the father that she deeply loved.

There are a lot of people who had no fondness for John McCain. I felt she was a bit over-the-top with her resentment in his behalf. But again, she’s experiencing strong grief.

I was wondering if I was the ONLY ONE who thought she semed angry, defensive and resentful, but I’ve read several comments from others observing her eulogy the same way.

Conflicted Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was wondering if I was the ONLY ONE who thought
> she semed angry, defensive and resentful, but
> I’ve read several comments from others observing
> her eulogy the same way.

Ignore for a second McCain's politics, or whether or not you had any fondness for him.

This was a daughter who loved her father, and who was loved by him. As he was slowly dying of inevitable cancer, he was personally and publicly attacked and called names -- basically for no good reason.

In that context, isn't some anger, defensiveness, and resentment understandable?

I'm not a McCain fan either. But I do understand a daughter's love and devotion to her father. And vice-versa.

There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/02/2018 12:03PM by thedesertrat1.

Well I think she would serve her country quite well as our Arizona senator.

She might not even be missed on the View now that Ms Huntsman has joined the cast.

To quote the commander in chief..... "we'll see".

God does move in most mysterious ways that sly old fokker.

"We'll see in a very short period of time."

With a double family tragedy in my mind the one touching comment that stays with me is something Joe Biden said in his eulogy. Touching on tragic losses in his own family he promised the grieving McCains that healing would come and that they would know it when they thought of their loved one "and a smile comes to your lips before a tear comes to your eye." A beautiful sentiment.

kentish Wrote:
------------------------------------------------------- ...
> A beautiful sentiment.

I thought so too, kentish.

I hope it is true for you after your loss.

Thank you, Nightingale. My only nephew's two sons tragically both dead in a 9 month time period. A tragedy enlarged by the distance of miles between us and the rest of the family though there are no words that can provide meaningful comfort.

What qualifications does she have that would make her an appropriate candidate for senator? Personally I’m not into inherited positions. I prefer merit and democracy.

That said, she gave a good speech and I didn’t think it sounded defensive or angry.

I profoundly disagree with his and her political positions and find them cruel and insensitive to poor people.

But he was really noble when he refused to go home without his compatriots when he was prisoner at the Hanoi Hilton.