Update on McCain
His daughter says he’s doing “really well.”
Meghan McCain and Sen. Lindsey Graham both gave upbeat health assessments of U.S. Sen. John McCain’s condition, with McCain’s daughter saying he is “actually really well right now.”
The six-term senator’s journey with a deadly form of brain cancer drew a snide remark from White House aide Kelly Sadler on Thursday. The aide dismissed McCain’s opposition to President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, Gina Haspel, because in his view, her “refusal to acknowledge torture’s immorality is disqualifying.” The aide reportedly said McCain’s opinion did not matter because “he’s dying anyway.”
Meghan McCain, a political com- mentator and host of ABC’s “The View,” took on Sadler during Friday’s taping.
“The other thing that I want to say is that Kelly — here’s a little news flash and this may be a bit intense for 11 o’clock in the morning on a Friday, but we’re all dying,” she said.
“I’m dying. You’re dying. We’re all dying, and I want to say that since my dad has been diagnosed — it’s almost a year, July 19th — I really feel like I understand the meaning of life, and it is not how you die,” Meghan McCain said. “It is how you live.”
She continued: “The thing that surprises me most is … I don’t understand what kind of environment you’re working in when that would be acceptable, and then you could come to work the next day and still have a job. And that’s all I have to say about that.”
Meghan also offered a health update about her dad, whom she has been flying back and forth from New York to visit.
McCain has been in Arizona since Dec. 17 and is staying at his family retreat near Sedona.
“Don’t feel bad for me or my family,” she said. “We’re really strong, there’s so much more love and prayer and amazing energy being generated towards us than anything negative at all.
My dad’s actually doing really well right now and I believe in the power of prayer, and I think it’s helping.”
She thanked viewers for their positive thoughts. Graham, a South Carolina Republican and McCain’s best friend, told CNN Thursday that he had recently visited McCain in Arizona and that McCain had improved since their last one, shortly after McCain had surgery related to diverticulitis.
“When I got there, (he had) gained weight, (he was) eating good,” Graham told CNN. “We watched our favorite Western, ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.’ ”
Graham told CNN that McCain issued his own “Rrated” commentary on the movie as it played.
“It was fun,” Graham said.
The gravity of McCain’s condition is clear, Graham, said, but the senator and his family are talking about the future — not about planning funerals.
“We talked about what we could do this summer,” Graham told CNN. “Maybe doing some events, if he gets a little stronger, at the McCain Institute (For International Leadership at Arizona State University). We were talking about the future. We’re not at 2022 yet, but who knows?”
He added, “We’re not talking about funerals.” Graham said he would return to visit his pal. McCain has spent time with friends and family from all over the nation over the past several months. Former Vice President Joe Biden visited with him earlier this month, as have close campaign and office staffers and longtime Arizona friends.
Republic reporter Ronald J. Hansen contributed to this article.