Sen. John McCain warned against the US turning toward ‘half-baked, spurious nationalism’ and jabbed at unnamed pushers of isolationist politics while at an event honoring the war hero’s contributions.
The six-term Republican senator from Arizona made the remarks at his National Constitution Center Liberty Medal ceremony in Philadelphia after receiving the award for a lifetime of service and sacrifice to the country.
In addition to recalling his more than two decades of Navy service and his imprisonment in a Vietnam prisoner of war camp, McCain took a moment to go a step further than the night’s other speakers, who lamented what many described as a fractured political climate.
Sen. John McCain (above) warned against the US turning toward ‘half-baked, spurious nationalism’ and jabbed at unnamed pushers of isolationist politics while at an event honoring the war hero’s contributions
The six-term Republican senator from Arizona made the remarks at his National Constitution Center Liberty Medal ceremony in Philadelphia after receiving the award for a lifetime of service and sacrifice to the country. Above he shakes hands with Joe Biden (left)
McCain (right) took a moment to go a step further than the night’s other speakers, who lamented what many described as a fractured political climate
‘To abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe, to refuse the obligations of international leadership 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.
He added: ‘We live in a land made of ideals, not blood and soil.
‘We are the custodians of those ideals at home, and their champion abroad. We have done great good in the world.
‘That leadership has had its costs, but we have become incomparably powerful and wealthy as we did. We have a moral obligation to continue in our just cause, and we would bring more than shame on ourselves if we don’t.
‘We will not thrive in a world where our leadership and ideals are absent. We wouldn’t deserve to.’
McCain did not name President Donald Trump (above on Tuesday) during his speech on Monday
McCain received the Liberty Medal from the chair of the National Constitution Center’s Board of Trustees, former Vice President Joe Biden in Philadelphia on Monday
None of the speakers, who included former Vice President Joe Biden, mentioned any current or former government officials during their remarks.
But many referenced a time when bipartisanship – namely, the friendship between McCain and the Democrat Biden – wasn’t out of the ordinary.
‘We often argued – sometimes passionately,’ McCain said of himself and the former vice president.
The honor is given annually to an individual who displays courage and conviction while striving to secure liberty for people worldwide
‘But we believed in each other’s patriotism and the sincerity of each other’s convictions. We believed in the institution we were privileged to serve in.’
McCain joined the Navy in 1958 and rose to the rank of captain during his 22 years of service.
In 1967, his plane was shot down over Hanoi, Vietnam, during a bombing mission, and he spent years in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp.
He recently revealed that he’s fighting brain cancer.