[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Page 9815]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              JOHN McCAIN

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, let me take a minute to say something 
because of my friend, John McCain. Every day I come and open the 
Senate, we give the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. We do that 
because of the country and what that flag stands for. But I was struck 
today having John McCain in the Chamber. Really, he is representative 
of what that flag is all about--someone who not only comes from a 
lineage of people who have served our country, but this good man has 
served our country in so many different ways.
  We came to Washington together in 1982. We came to the Senate 
together in 1986. I can remember while I was still in the House of 
Representatives I attended a prayer breakfast, and Senator McCain was 
the presenter. I cannot do justice and I will not even try to describe 
the presentation he made about a Christmas celebration they had when he 
was a prisoner of war. He spent so much time in solitary confinement. 
He could have left the prison much earlier. He would not do that 
because his comrades were still there.
  We take a lot of things for granted. Even though John McCain and I 
have disagreed on occasion on things political, one thing that will 
always be in my mind and my heart is people such as John McCain who 
represent what our country is all about.

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