BIDEN: W.H. HITS ‘ROCK BOTTOM’
Former VP decries aide’s ‘dying anyway’ quip
Joe Biden blasted the Trump administration for a lack of decency he says hit “rock bottom” when an aide joked about a cancer-stricken John McCain in a callous attack others are also condemning.
“People have wondered when decency would hit rock bottom with this administration,” Biden said in a statement yesterday. “It happened yesterday.”
Biden, often named as a potential 2020 presidential candidate, lashed out at White House press aide Kelly Sadler, who slimed McCain’s opposition to CIA nominee Gina Haspel, calling it irrelevant because “he’s dying anyway.”
The fallout dominated yesterday’s White House press briefing and had some veterans and a U.S. Naval Academy graduate steaming.
“John McCain deserves much more respect than he’s receiving. He has served all his life and he has served the country well,” said Gordon Gerson, president of McCain’s Naval Academy class of 1958.
Gerson said Biden stood in honorably for McCain in March, when the academy named the Arizona senator one of its distinguished graduates. McCain, too sick to attend, sent his friend from across the political aisle to stand in for him.
“It’s not a surprise, but Biden gave a wonderful talk,” Gerson, who lives in Virginia, told the Herald last night.
“The White House right now is absolutely absurd,” he added. “I
have a tremendous amount of respect for John McCain. He won us all over back in the early days when he was just a congressman.
“To say he’s not a hero because he was a prisoner of war is stupid,” Gerson added, alluding to President Trump’s knock on McCain during the presidential campaign.
John MacDonald of Lowell, a member of Veterans Assisting Veterans, said it’s time to let McCain ease out of politics with dignity.
“I feel people are taking advantage of a guy who is an American hero,” said MacDonald, who served during Desert Storm. “The man is practically on his death bed from brain cancer.”
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said yesterday that Sadler still works for the White House. She refused all further comment.
McCain’s wife, Cindy, and daughter Meghan both quickly condemned the comments.
The White House put out a statement saying: “We respect Senator McCain’s service to our nation and he and his family are in our prayers during this difficult time.”
But Biden let them have it yesterday.
“Given this White House’s trail of disrespect toward John and others, this staffer is not the exception to the rule; she is the epitome of it,” Biden said in his statement. “Our children learn from our example. The lingering question is whose example will it be. I am certain it will be John’s.”
The former vice president called McCain, the 2008 Republican nominee for president, a “genuine hero” who “deserves better” as he struggles with cancer.
McCain, held captive by the North Vietnamese for more than five years, has remained in the news as he reflects on his political career.
McCain told Biden to not “walk away” from politics, according to The New York Times. McCain, 81, also said he wished he had chosen Connecticut U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman as his running mate in 2008 instead of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
McCain was diagnosed in July with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer. He left Washington in December and few expect him to return.