Sen. John McCain returned to the Senate today for the first time following news that doctors found a brain tumor while performing surgery to remove a blood clot from his eye.
McCain received good wishes from across the political spectrum, including tweets from Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. And on Tuesday, when he returned to the Senate floor, he was met with a rousing ovation from his colleagues before voting yes on a motion to proceed with debate on the Senate health care bill, a motion that passed thanks to a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Mike Pence.
Sen. John McCain receives rousing ovation as he returns to Senate following announcement last week he has brain cancer. pic.twitter.com/7LwhCIJ30W
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) July 25, 2017
#breaking Sen John McCain: I stand here today looking a little worse for wear..my service here is the most important job I've had in my life https://t.co/CVtBQH1N3a
— David Muir (@DavidMuir) July 25, 2017
McCain’s return was expected, as was his vote to move to proceed with the BCRA, which inspired David Corn of Mother Jones to tweet Monday night:
Will cancer-stricken @SenJohnMcCain help a draft-dodger who called him a loser take health care from millions? Then this will be his legacy.
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) July 25, 2017
Oh well, there goes McCain’s status as war hero. There were quite a few begrudgingly supportive tweets out there, like this one from the New York Times Nicholas Kristof, which pretty much set the template for those trying to appear objective:
I GREATLY admire John McCain. But I'm disappointed that as he benefits from first-rate health care, he votes to deprive others of insurance.
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) July 25, 2017
Of course, not everyone felt compelled as Kristof did to add that first bit about admiring McCain.
Fuck John McCain, and fuck everyone who ever went on and on about how honorable and decent a person he supposedly is.
— Arthur Gies (@aegies) July 25, 2017
Fuck John McCain.
— Jesse Berney (@jesseberney) July 25, 2017
Fuck John McCain. And fuck everyone who applauded him. https://t.co/WsvEGtxxmr
— Stacey Gotsulias (@StaceGots) July 25, 2017
Fuck John McCain tbh and fuck a standing ovation for him eagerly voting to take away insurance from millions. ??
— Kevin Allred (@KevinAllred) July 25, 2017
John McCain deserves his legacy to be denying the same health care that is keeping him alive to tens of millions of Americans. #shame
— Stephen Miles (@SPMiles42) July 25, 2017
In the movies, John McCain hauls himself from his sickbed, delivers the big speech, then votes No. This ain’t the movies.
— David Frum (@davidfrum) July 25, 2017
John McCain is a bad person.
— Sarah Seltzer (@sarahmseltzer) July 25, 2017
John McCain hates children and families.
— Sarah Seltzer (@sarahmseltzer) July 25, 2017
John McCain is not "pro-life."
— Sarah Seltzer (@sarahmseltzer) July 25, 2017
john mccain is a terrible american.
— marisa kabas (@MarisaKabas) July 25, 2017
Someone tell me more about what a decent man full of integrity John McCain is. I never tire of hearing that fucking fairy tale.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) July 25, 2017
i would hope that everyone’s learned to stop fetishizing john mccain but of course no one has https://t.co/fPfvntdtJT
— Ashley Feinberg (@ashleyfeinberg) July 25, 2017
John McCain voting to take healthcare away from MILLIONS. That cancels out any "redeeming" qualities. GTFO of here with venerating him.
— Matt Saccaro (@MattSaccaro) July 25, 2017
John McCain voted in favor of killing Obamacare, fuck that "hero." I hope he dies right now.
— Joshua Albert (@jpegjoshua) July 25, 2017
John McCain should've died when he had the chance.
— Lev Novak (@LevNovak) July 25, 2017
John McCain gets a standing-O for voting to take away millions of people's healthcare. Senate Republicans are moral cowards.
— CA Democratic Party (@CA_Dem) July 25, 2017
John McCain is a fucking coward, and history will remember him as a fucking coward. one of the most vile, selfish acts in modern US history.
— david ehrlich (@davidehrlich) July 25, 2017
John McCain can—and should—go fuck himself.
— Imani Gandy (@AngryBlackLady) July 25, 2017
I no longer care about John McCain's health. Just as he doesn't about ours.
— Chrissa Hardy ⚔️ (@chrissahardy) July 25, 2017
Fuck the GOP. i "pray" (LOL) that John McCain's brain tumor act swiftly & relentlessly.
— David Russell ❄️ (@17days) July 25, 2017
Cancer-stricken John McCain is such a maverick, working to bring death to more people by voting to take away the healthcare of millions.
— Jay Jaffe (@jay_jaffe) July 25, 2017
John McCain's true bravery is not in fighting wars, but in valiantly taking healthcare away from sick children.
— Matt Saccaro (@MattSaccaro) July 25, 2017
The world just lost all respect for John McCain. Make that true. Make him know it. Shame on him.
— Sara Goldrick-Rab (@saragoldrickrab) July 25, 2017
Now that we know the account of the spokesperson for the entire world, posts will likely be a lot shorter.
John McCain doesn't deserve a standing ovation. His legacy is over. #SaveACA
— Sowmya Krishnamurthy (@SowmyaK) July 25, 2017
If John McCain has to die, he'a gonna take countless poor and sick people with him. That's what a hero does.
— Adam Feldman (@FeldmanAdam) July 25, 2017
John McCain has cemented his post-POW legacy. Profound bravery has become profound contempt for everyone else
— Dan Gillmor (@dangillmor) July 25, 2017
I'm truly surprised that a warmonger like John McCain voted to not care about other people's lives
— Carli Velocci (@velocciraptor) July 25, 2017
John McCain was on his death bed a week ago and is now pushing for millions of Americans to be on their's…
He's evil. Sick and evil.
— CiCi Adams (@CiCiAdams_) July 25, 2017
Honestly, not even Lex Luthor would crawl his ass out of his cancer bed to pull the shit John McCain did. This is pure evil at its finest
— rachel leishman (@RachelLeishman) July 25, 2017
John McCain crawled out of his death bed to sentence 22 million Americans to death.
— Mike Monteiro (@monteiro) July 25, 2017
Well, at least someone knows exactly how many people will die if Obamacare is repealed and replaced with something else. Reality check, please?
John McCain literally just voted to allow debate to happen on a bill. The left acts like he murdered 22 million people.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) July 25, 2017
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Update:
Here’s a short video clip to prove that McCain didn’t have to log on to social media to see the lack of class that his return inspired.
WATCH: "Are you going to die and leave us with this legacy?" woman yells at Sen. McCain after his return to Senate for key procedural vote. pic.twitter.com/MQ3GPyrGJF
— NBC Nightly News (@NBCNightlyNews) July 25, 2017
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Related:
‘Chance of DEATH now 100%’: Jon Gabriel mocks Daily Kos over melo-freaking-dramatic #AHCA headlinehttps://t.co/wiYKJwYTHM
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) May 4, 2017