John McCain, Arizona senator and Vietnam war hero, dies at 81

Bloomberg

John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee and Vietnam War hero who was a senior voice on defense and foreign policy in the US Senate, has died. He was 81.
McCain died at 4:28 pm on August 25, his office said in an emailed statement. His wife Cindy and his family were with the senator when he passed away at his home in Arizona. In July 2017, McCain was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. One year of treatment failed to prevent his condition from worsening and on August 24 his family announced that he had chosen to discontinue medical care.
The onetime Navy pilot was North Vietnam’s most prominent prisoner of war. After returning from 5 1/2 years of captivity, McCain began a congressional career of more than three decades that made him a force in national politics. He ran for president in 2000 and 2008, winning the Republican nomination in his second campaign but losing to Democrat Barack Obama.
Tributes immediately flowed for McCain, with President Donald Trump tweeting: “My deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John McCain. Our hearts and prayers are with you!”
Barack and Michelle Obama said in a statement: “Few of us have been tested the way John once was, or required to show the kind of courage that he did. But all of us can aspire to the courage to put the greater good above our own. At John’s best, he showed us what that means. And for that, we are all in his debt.”
The Arizona Republican served as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and was frequently a sharp critic of President Trump. A defense hawk who sought increased military spending and joined fellow Republicans in opposing abortion, McCain infuriated many in his party by violating GOP orthodoxy on other issues. In July 2017, he joined two other Republicans in voting with Democrats to kill a GOP-only effort to repeal Obama’s health-care law, the Affordable Care Act.

‘Bombastic Loudmouths’
“Stop listening to the bombastic loudmouths on the radio, television and internet,” the senator said during his speech. “To hell with them. They don’t want anything done for the public good.”In December 2017, he joined fellow Senate Republicans in an initial vote for a massive tax-cut plan that also would repeal Obamacare’s requirement that most people have health insurance or pay a penalty.
McCain also broke with most Republicans earlier by opposing President George W. Bush’s tax cuts.