[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 35 (Monday, March 27, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S1740]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     JOHN McCAIN, AN AMERICAN HERO

 Mr. CLELAND. Mr. President, I want to take this opportunity to 
salute my dear friend and colleague, the distinguished Senator from 
Arizona, John McCain. Although he has suspended his campaign for 
President, he should nonetheless know that he has scored a great 
victory in American electoral politics. More so than any other 
candidate in recent memory, Senator McCain has beaten two of the 
greatest enemies facing our political system in the twenty-first 
century--apathy and cynicism. We should all be grateful to him for 
reminding Americans that ``politics'' is not a dirty word, that 
campaigns can be about more than 30 second sound bites, and that heroes 
still exist. We in the Senate should all feel proud to call him one of 
our own.
  I think I and the four other Vietnam veterans in the Senate feel a 
particular kinship with Senator McCain, for obvious reasons. You do not 
go through an experience like combat without being profoundly affected. 
You recognize a change in yourself when you come home, and you 
recognize it in others when you meet them for the first time. You are 
brothers. We are brothers. But why did the rest of America respond to 
Senator McCain so strongly? Why did the ``Straight Talk Express'' 
appear every night on the evening news? Why did so many people want to 
see Luke Skywalker emerge out of the Death Star?
  I believe it is because John McCain reacts to challenges the way we 
wish we would ourselves, but fear we might not. He remained in the 
Hanoi Hilton for seven years with his fellow P.O.W.'s even when he 
could have left. He fights for campaign finance reform, for strong 
action to reduce youth smoking, and for curbs in pork barrel spending 
even when he knows it will make him unpopular with his party. He shoots 
from the hip. He tells reporters how he really feels. He loves his 
family.
  He is not perfect, but none of us are. He and I disagree on many 
issues, but we agree on this: that the purpose of politics is to 
generate hope, that serving our country--as a soldier or a sailor or a 
Senator--is the greatest honor of a person's life, and that, in the 
words of Babe Ruth, ``It's hard to beat a person who won't give up.''
  Speaking for myself, I am a loyal Democrat who strongly supports the 
candidacy of Al Gore. But as an American and as a fellow Vietnam 
veteran, I am proud of the work John has done, and will no doubt 
continue to do, in restoring the public's faith in their government and 
the political process.
  Mr. President, John McCain is an authentic American hero, and I am 
proud to serve along side him.




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