How John McCain reached across the aisle and promoted bipartisanship

In today’s incredibly fraught political atmosphere, bipartisanship feels more like a term in the history books than a possibility in Congress.

But John McCain was never afraid to reach across the aisle, so unafraid of straying from the party line that he earned the infamous Maverick nickname in the Senate. 

From voting against the Bush tax cuts in the 1980s to helping save Obamacare last year, McCain made it clear that his beliefs would always trump party loyalty. 

It was a beloved Democrat congressman who would help teach McCain the benefits of working together.

From voting against the Bush tax cuts in the 1980s to helping save Obamacare last year, John McCain made it clear that his beliefs would always trump party loyalty

McCain was a newcomer to Arizona when he won an open seat for the state in the House of Representatives. 

But his green status didn’t stop veteran Arizona congressman Mo Udall from reaching out, often inviting him to state events and becoming his mentor.  

‘Mo reached out to me in 50 different ways,’ McCain told Slate in 2008. 

‘Right from the start he’d say: “I’m going to hold a press conference out in Phoenix. Why don’t you join me?” 

It was beloved Democrat congressman Mo Udall who would help teach McCain the benefits of working with the opposing party

It was beloved Democrat congressman Mo Udall who would help teach McCain the benefits of working with the opposing party

‘All these journalists would show up to hear what Mo had to say. In the middle of it all, Mo would point to me and say, “I’d like to hear John’s views.” Well, hell, I didn’t have any views. But I got up and learned and was introduced to the state.’ 

When McCain won a seat in the Senate four years later, it was Udall’s influence that he credited. 

‘There’s no way Mo could have been more wonderful,’ he said. ‘And there was no reason for him to be that way.’ 

When Udall was struck down with Parkinson’s disease, relegated to a hospital bed in Washington, it was McCain who visited him every few weeks. 

The senator would always come with a stack of newspaper clips to read to his mentor, specifically selected to match Udall’s favorite subjects. 

McCain also struck up a friendship in the Senate with John Kerry, an anti-war protester who at first sight would seem like a surprising accomplice to the former POW. 

But together they worked on helping to restore America’s relations with Vietnam.

Kerry revealed that a connection formed between the pair thanks to one conversation on a long flight. 

McCain also struck up a friendship in the Senate with John Kerry, an anti-war protester who at first sight would seem like a surprising accomplice to the former POW

McCain also struck up a friendship in the Senate with John Kerry, an anti-war protester who at first sight would seem like a surprising accomplice to the former POW

‘We traveled together to Vietnam and we found common ground in the improbable place,’ Kerry said on Saturday following McCain’s death. 

‘I stood with John, the two of us alone, in the very cell in the Hanoi Hilton where years of his life were lived out in pain but always in honor.’ 

Their friendship endured and Kerry revealed McCain always believed that one day America would come together as well. 

‘John McCain showed all of us how to bridge the divide between a protester and a POW, and how to find common ground even when it was improbable. 

‘I will be grateful for that lesson every day of my life.’ 

Even when he was accepting the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, McCain wanted to make it clear that he did not see Barack Obama as his enemy. 

Even when he was accepting the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, McCain said of Obama: 'Much more unites us than divides us' 

Even when he was accepting the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, McCain said of Obama: ‘Much more unites us than divides us’ 

‘You have my respect and admiration,’ he said in a direct address to Obama at the Republican National Convention. 

‘Despite our differences, much more unites us than divides us. We are fellow Americans, and that’s an association that means more to me than any other.’ 

And even when a Republican went on to take the presidency in 2016, McCain – unlike many of his fellow congressman – did not bow to party loyalty. 

The Maverick made it clear from 2015, when Trump called Mexicans ‘rapists’, that he did not agree with the bombastic businessman’s statements.  

And while McCain refrained from ever responding – or matching – the president’s vicious personal attacks, he made it clear in his last speech that he did not agree with the direction Trump was taking America.  

As Congress becomes increasingly partisan, McCain serves as a symbol of the enduring Maverick. Pictured are flags flying half-staff in honor of McCain at the Capital on Sunday 

As Congress becomes increasingly partisan, McCain serves as a symbol of the enduring Maverick. Pictured are flags flying half-staff in honor of McCain at the Capital on Sunday 

‘To fear the world we have organized and led for three-quarters of a century, to abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe, to refuse the obligations of international leadership and our duty to remain “the last best hope of Earth” for the sake of some half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems, is as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma of the past that Americans consigned to the ash heap of history,’ he said last year in Philadelphia. 

The bad blood between the two men was so thick that it was made known, even before McCain’s passing, that Trump would not be invited to his funeral.

But in one last display of bipartisanship, McCain selected both Obama and George W Bush to read eulogies at his service.

Still reaching across the aisle and bringing two parties together, even from the afterlife. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk