The vicious language that has been used as Democrats and Republicans have moved farther apart is well-cataloged the airwaves and the internet are filled with endless examples of political opponents demonizing and dehumanizing each other. For over three decades, the nation has watched as politicians have lowered and lowered the bar for what they are willing to say publicly about each other.įew members of Congress were totally prepared for the moment when South Carolina Republican Joe Wilson shouted out “You Lie!” to President Barack Obama as he spoke to a joint session of Congress about his health care proposals in 2009. That’s why they call him ‘Songbird John.’”Ĭertainly, the coarsening of our political discourse cannot be pinned on Donald Trump. Thomas McInerney, said: “The fact is, is John McCain – it worked on John. In another unseemly – jaw-dropping, even – slam at McCain over his opposition to torture, on Thursday a military commentator on Fox Business Network, retired Air Force Lt. Indeed, this kind of rhetoric may well have been the reason that the senator seemed to take particular delight in making a late-hours appearance for the vote last July on the administration’s failed legislation to repeal Obamacare … and to give it a dramatic (and literal) thumbs down.Īnd the race to the bottom has accelerated quickly. “I like people that weren’t captured,” Trump said. During the 2016 campaign, Trump criticized McCain for having been captured during the Vietnam War. McCain have always had a tense relationship. Sanders confirms Kelly Sadler still has a job John McCain, who is struggling against cancer, doesn’t want the President to attend his funeral, and after news broke that the senator opposed the administration’s pick for CIA director, White House aide Kelly Sadler joked to colleagues in an internal White House meeting: “he’s dying anyway.” There was no political commentary that was the basis of Sadler’s remark and it sounded malicious. With some jarring events in recent days the nation got another taste of the kind of bitter rhetoric that has become normalized during Donald Trump’s presidency, even between members of the same party. The past 24 hours have made it clear that Wolf really wasn’t the problem. Bush, said that Wolf’s jokes about Sanders were “uncalled for. Ari Fleischer, former press secretary to President George W. The jokes, the critics said, were too harsh and further eroded “civility” in Washington. And we all must do better by calling out wrong when we see it and practicing forgiveness toward ourselves and each other.A few weeks ago, several political officials, and numerous journalists, j umped down the throat of comedian Michelle Wolf for making pointed remarks about the Trump administration at the White House Correspondents Dinner. He could have done better by never having used that racist term and apologizing more quickly. McCain and I both have travelled long roads since he was imprisoned and I was bullied. And I hesitate to forgive myself for not doing more than complain to friends and family at the time of McCain’s remark. I hesitate at forgiving the failure of Asian American advocacy groups to make the media pay more attention to the story. I hesitate to forgive the media for not reporting on the story with a fraction of the energy and focus devoted to the daily reporting of the current President’s troubling statements on race – or, in the case of Roseanne Barr’s racist tweet, his failure to condemn them. I’m not at peace with the fact that so little was done to hold accountable a public figure’s use of a racist term. So, I think I’ve made peace with that little boy version of me now. I became an amateur boxer to force myself to fight back, and my career as a prosecutor may be seen as a way of fighting for victims unable to defend themselves. In hindsight, I see that it took some work to forgive myself. Importantly, I realize that the pain and shame the word raised within me was due to my own failure to forgive my young self for being unable to fight back. Such actions as McCain’s stand against torture, his efforts with Senator John Kerry to revive diplomatic relationships with Vietnam, his bravery as a young prisoner of war and his bravery now as he faces a terminal disease better represent the measure of his life. I find it easy now to forgive McCain’s hurtful use of that racist word when balanced against the greater weight of his good deeds and bravery. What it tells us that John McCain drank vodka with Hillary Clinton (Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images) Eric Thayer/Getty Images North America/Getty Images According to polls, the four-term incumbent Republican is enjoying a significant lead over his opponent J.D. John McCain (R-AZ) speaks during a visit to a campaign office one day before Arizona's primary election Augin Phoenix, Arizona.

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