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  • Sometimes a nickname just

  • sticks.

  • The maverick maverick maverick

  • maverick everyone knows is a maverick.

  • Here comes the maverick.

  • Despite being a lifelong conservative

  • Arizona Senator John McCain was

  • never afraid to go against the grain.

  • But he said he never considered

  • himself a maverick.

  • This is not a not a label he

  • really embraced all the time

  • not being a maverick.

  • But I liked standing up for what

  • I believe.

  • This is how a war hero

  • and a career politician learned to

  • march to the beat of his own drum.

  • Much to the chagrin of his own party

  • John McCain had a reputation

  • as a bit of a bad boy

  • and he wasn't always the best student when

  • he was in the U.S.

  • Naval Academy in Annapolis

  • LOreal SEO covered McCain mostly

  • in the 80s.

  • McCain crashed a few planes

  • and he graduated fifth from the bottom

  • of his class.

  • 1967 was a very tough

  • year for McCain.

  • Within one month of active duty in the Navy

  • he suffered injuries from a massive fire

  • onboard the USS Forrestal in the

  • Gulf of Tonkin.

  • 134 sailors died

  • in the tragedy

  • and John only 30 at the time

  • narrowly averted Death himself.

  • Only three months later McCain was

  • shot down over North Vietnam

  • and taken prisoner in Hanoi where

  • he was held in solitary tortured

  • and beaten repeatedly for years.

  • McCain's time as a prisoner of war left

  • him permanently disabled unable

  • to lift his arms above his head.

  • McCain returned to the U.S. a war

  • hero

  • and he decided to get involved in politics.

  • He ran for the U.S.

  • House in 1982

  • and won.

  • In 1986 he ran for the U.S.

  • Senate and won that seat as well.

  • But McCain's first term became embroiled

  • in what came to be known as the Keating Five

  • scandal where he

  • and four the lawmakers were accused of improperly

  • intervening in a probe by federal regulators

  • to help. Charles Keating CEO

  • of Lincoln Savings

  • and Loan Association.

  • After a slap on the wrist

  • and a slightly tarnished reputation

  • McCain bounced back by reaching across

  • the aisle on campaign finance reform

  • with Democrat Russ Feingold.

  • He successfully sponsored a major

  • overhaul of the campaign finance system.

  • Despite the objections of Republican

  • leaders

  • after serving over 10 years in Congress

  • McCain decided to run for the top job

  • himself.

  • During the 2000 Republican presidential

  • primaries McCain took some

  • unorthodox stances saying

  • some things that Republicans are really never

  • supposed to say such as.

  • I'm deeply concerned about a kind

  • of class warfare that's going on right now.

  • It's unfortunate.

  • There's a growing gap between the haves

  • and have nots in America

  • and I'm not sure we need to give

  • two thirds of that tax

  • cut of that money to the

  • wealthiest 10 percent of America

  • McCain's defeat in the primaries didn't stop

  • him from resisting Bush's platform.

  • During his presidency

  • Senator McCain infuriated

  • many fellow Republicans by opposing

  • President George W.

  • Bush's tax cuts

  • and also by cosponsoring

  • legislation that would provide

  • a path to citizenship for undocumented

  • immigrants.

  • He was also alone in his party

  • to speak out against so-called enhanced

  • interrogation techniques after 9/11.

  • McCain's captors in Vietnam coerced

  • a false confession from him so he

  • believed perhaps more strongly than anyone

  • that torture did not work.

  • By 2008 his reputation

  • of a maverick became a full fledged brand

  • something he embraced wholeheartedly for

  • his second presidential bid.

  • I'm a maverick.

  • I've been called a maverick.

  • He's the original maverick.

  • I think I'm going to have to cast

  • my vote for the maverick.

  • Now we're called a team of mavericks.

  • But it quickly became clear that Sarah Palin

  • was a different kind of maverick

  • the one that probably didn't help

  • his campaign.

  • One of his biggest regrets he says

  • in his new book was choosing Sarah

  • Palin as his running mate over

  • one of his best friends in the Senate Joe

  • Lieberman.

  • But there was another way McCain's maverick

  • ways defied his own interests during

  • his failed bid for the White House.

  • We're scared of an Obama presidency.

  • He resisted demagoguery

  • and insisted that his supporters

  • respect Barack Obama.

  • I have to tell you he is

  • a decent person

  • and a person that you do

  • not have to be scared

  • as a United States now.

  • Change has come to America.

  • Unfortunately John McCain

  • couldn't make it recently

  • claimed that he had never identified himself

  • as a maverick.

  • And we all know what happens in Arizona

  • when you don't have ID.

  • McCain was a tough critic of Obama's administration.

  • But along the way he insisted on open

  • debate and decorum

  • and he reached across the aisle on issues

  • like immigration reform

  • then Trump happened.

  • That is some group of people thousands.

  • Suffice it to say their intra party

  • relations left something to be desired.

  • Despite this McCain did insist

  • on supporting Trump as the Republican nominee.

  • The best thing to do is put it

  • behind us

  • and move forward until

  • THIS at which point

  • McCain withdrew his support

  • for Donald Trump's presidency.

  • McCain's resistance to Trump continued

  • right into the presidency.

  • Senator McCain has stood out

  • by his willingness to oppose

  • President Trump.

  • Other Republicans have been much more

  • willing to march in lockstep

  • with President

  • Then one fateful summer night on the

  • Senate floor.

  • After just being diagnosed

  • with brain cancer Sen.

  • John McCain made an appearance

  • to cast the deciding vote against

  • the Republican effort to repeal

  • Obamacare.

  • But it was a stunning vote in a very

  • dramatic night in the Senate chamber.

  • Except for one senator

  • who came into a room at three o'clock

  • in the morning and went like that we

  • would have had health care too.

  • While he continues to fight his brain cancer

  • McCain has been preparing for his eventual

  • passing

  • but jabs from the White House have

  • not relented.

  • A top White House communications aide

  • mocks Senator John McCain's brain

  • cancer diagnosis.

  • The White House still refusing to apologize

  • for that crass comment about Sen.

  • John McCain ill

  • will between Trump

  • and McCain has gotten to such a pitch that

  • McCain has let it be

  • known through a news report that he would

  • rather Trump not attend his funeral.

  • Let that sink in for a second.

  • A lifelong Senator uninviting

  • the sitting president of the United States

  • of the same party to his own

  • funeral.

  • Now if that is not a maverick

  • nothing is.

Sometimes a nickname just

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