'Maverick' McCain dies, age 81

Trump, Obama join tributes to senator admired by both sides

WASHINGTON - US Senator John McCain, a two-time contender for the US presidency, died at his home in the state of Arizona on Saturday, his office said in a statement. He was 81.

McCain had suffered from a malignant brain tumor and had been treated with radiation and chemotherapy since its discovery in 2017.

"My deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John McCain. Our hearts and prayers are with you!" US President Donald Trump tweeted on Saturday night.

McCain was elected to the House of Representatives in 1982 before entering the Senate in 1987. He won reelection five times, with the last one in 2016. He became chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee in 2015.

In 2000, McCain entered the race of the GOP nomination for the presidency but lost to George W. Bush, then governor of Texas who later won the general election and became the country's 43rd president.

Eight years later, McCain secured his party's nomination for the presidency but was defeated by then Democratic Party nominee Barack Obama.

The son and grandson of Navy admirals, McCain was born in 1936 in Panama and entered the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, in the state of Maryland, and became a fighter pilot after graduation.

In 1967, his aircraft was shot down during a bombing mission over Vietnam, where he was held as a prisoner of war for five and a half years.

Paying tribute to his onetime election opponent, former president Obama described McCain as an idealist and said there was "something noble" about their political battles.

"We saw our political battles, even, as a privilege, something noble, an opportunity to serve as stewards of those high ideals at home, and to advance them around the world," Obama wrote.

McCain had frequently sparred with Trump and told his family he did not want Trump to attend his funeral, CNN reported, citing family friends.

Vice-President Mike Pence was expected to represent the current administration, the family said.

"My heart is broken. I am so lucky to have lived the adventure of loving this incredible man for 38 years," Cindy McCain wrote on Twitter. "He passed the way he lived, on his own terms, surrounded by the people he loved, in the place he loved best."

Nation before self

Defense Secretary James Mattis saluted McCain as a figure who "always put service to the nation before self", and "represented what he believed, that 'a shared purpose does not claim our identity - on the contrary - it enlarges your sense of self'".

McCain, a foreign policy hawk with a traditional Republican view of world affairs, was admired in both parties for championing civility and compromise during an era of acrid partisanship in US politics. But he also had a famous temper and rarely shied away from a fight. He had several with Trump.

He prided himself on his reputation as a maverick and had a history of working across party lines on immigration, climate change and campaign finance reform.

McCain wrote in a 2002 memoir: "I'm an independent-minded, well-informed public servant to some. And to others, I'm a self-styled, self-righteous maverick pain in the butt."

Xinhua - Reuters

(China Daily 08/27/2018 page11)