From PERRspectives:
It’s with good reason that his 2008 rival Barack Obama repeatedly called him an “American hero.” It’s no wonder Democrats and Republicans alike, from Joe Biden (D-DE) and Gary Hart (D-CO) to William Cohen (R-ME) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called him “my friend.” And it’s no surprise that his former captors in Hanoi paid their respects to the man who once languished in agony in their prison only to later help lead the painful process of reconciliation between Vietnam and the United States.
But for many in the press, wistful for the glory days of the “Straight Talk Express” and perhaps nostalgic for a more decent era in American politics, the tributes have often verged on hagiography. (Perhaps that’s no surprise given the 2008 assessment of MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, “The press loves McCain. We’re his base.”) “With tears on my cheeks,” Dana Milbank wrote in May that “John McCain is the single greatest political leader of our time.” For its part, USA Today compiled “six memorable moments when John McCain earned a reputation as a ‘maverick.'”
I would add a seventh such “Maverick Moment,” because it would later come to reveal more about John McCain the man than anyone realized at the time.