Respects paid
Members of public as well as officials line up to pay their respects
Members of public line up as McCain lies in state at the U.S. Capitol.
Sen. John McCain lay in state Friday in the Capitol whose halls he prowled for decades, hailed as a war hero, a principled lawmaker and a restless fighter for his beliefs — and honored with a ceremony reserved for the country’s most revered figures.
On a day when President Donald Trump was conspicuously absent — by McCain’s own design — the senator rested in an American flag-draped coffin under the Capitol dome, as the vice president, congressional leaders and prominent lawmakers past and present from both parties, military and Cabinet officials and members of the public took turns participating in a bipartisan show of respect.
The remembrances of McCain, whose death has underscored the demise of his particular brand of pragmatic and civil politics, served as a counterpoint to the discourse surrounding the sitting president and a reminder of the Arizona senator’s place in U.S. history.
“Half a world away, wearing our nation’s uniform, John McCain stood up for every value that this Capitol building represents,” said Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the majority leader. “Then he brought that same patriotism inside its walls, to advocate for our service members, our veterans and our moral leadership in the world. So it is only right that today, near the end of his long journey, John lies here.”
The day’s solemn events marked the beginning of an elaborate celebration of McCain’s life by official Washington, which will culminate Saturday with a memorial service at the National Cathedral, where he will be eulogized by the two presidents who denied his own quests for the
White House — Barack Obama and George W. Bush — in an event that is expected to draw a remarkable, bipartisan cast of characters. McCain meticulously planned the events with an eye toward drawing an implicit contrast with Trump.
McCain was the 31st person and the 13th senator to lie in state at the Capitol, his coffin atop the black crêpe-draped catafalque that was constructed for Abraham Lincoln in 1865. In their remarks about the six-term senator, who won the Republican nomination for president in 2008, his former colleagues reflected on the significance of his life and what he meant to Americans.
“Though the highest office eluded him,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, “he attained what is far more enduring: the abiding affection of his fellow citizens, and an example for future generations.”
The proceedings began on a somber note. As McCain’s coffin was removed from a black hearse by uniformed military pallbearers,
a steady downpour began, soaking the Capitol steps as the senator was carried, slowly and silently, into the Rotunda with his family looking on. But the day was not all pomp and ceremony; thousands of people clogged the streets bordering the Capitol and formed lines snaking into the visitor’s center, as members of the public waited for their chance to enter and pay respects to McCain.
Trump, who remained at the White House during the ceremony, was nonetheless present as a constant metaphor.
“The president asked me to be here on behalf of a grateful nation, to pay a debt of honor and respect to a man who served his country throughout his life,” said Vice President Mike Pence, who had the awkward assignment of eulogizing a man whom the president openly mocked during life and has studiously avoided praising after his death.
With McCain’s grief-stricken daughter Meghan McCain looking on with an icy gaze, Pence
mustered one positive quote from the commander in chief, referencing a remark Trump made Thursday during an interview with Bloomberg. “As President Trump said yesterday,” he offered, “we respect his service to the country.”
For his own part, Pence praised McCain for his “iron will” and called him a “patriot,” while alluding to the fact that they had many differences.
“In my years in Congress and as vice president, we didn’t always agree either, and he almost always noticed,” Pence said. “But his support for limited government, for tax reform and support for our armed forces surely made our nation more prosperous and more secure, and he will be missed.”
As they reflected on McCain’s long years of service, his work ethic and his passion for public service, his former colleagues also uniformly recalled with rueful smiles his hot temper, counting dressings-down by the late senator as badges of honor.