McCain’s flag-draped casket was carried with full military honours from the Capitol, where more than 10,000 Arizonans visited Wednesday to pay their respects. With family, friends, scores of former aides and 1,000 average Arizonans in the audience, McCain was eulogised by figures of all political persuasions from former Vice President Joe Biden, to his former chief of staff and potential successor Grant Woods to Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald.
The service was filled with laughter and tears as his longtime friends, as many recalled the stories that made McCain the man he was.
“My name’s Joe Biden. I’m a Democrat. And I love John McCain,” Biden said during the nearly two-hour memorial service at North Phoenix Baptist Church.
Biden wiped away tears as he remembered their time together in the Senate. His tribute was filled with homages to McCain’s place in the world, his “ageless” value system, and his love of America.
Fitzgerald described his unlikely friendship with McCain, “While from very different worlds, we developed a meaningful friendship,” Fitzgerald said. “He didn’t judge individuals based on the colour of their skin, their gender, their backgrounds, their political affiliations or their bank accounts. He evaluated them on the merits of their character and the contents of their hearts.”
Biden also spoke, at times with evident anger, about the deterioration of political discourse and values today.
“It wasn’t about politics with John,” Biden said. “He could disagree on substance, but the underlying values that animated everything John did, everything he was, come to a different conclusion. He’d part company with you if you lacked the basic values of decency, respect, knowing this project is bigger than yourself.”
Biden became McCain’s opponent when he was nominated to be Barack Obama’s vice presidential nominee in 2008 when McCain was the Republican presidential nominee. But despite their political differences, the former vice president said he views McCain as a brother.
Biden ended with a line that brought many in the audience to tears: “To paraphrase Shakespeare: we shall not see his like again.”
