Joe Klein reminisces about John McCain's friendship and relationship with David Ifshin, "a vehement anti-Vietnam radical [who] ...had even gone to Hanoi at the height at the war and given a speech denouncing the American pilots dropping bombs on North Vietnamese civilians as 'war criminals.'"
They did charitable work together in Vietnam and elsewhere. When Bill Clinton went to the Vietnam Memorial for Memorial Day 1993, both Ifshin and McCain were there, too. And when McCain saw a sign in the crowd—“Clinton: Tell Us About Ifshin”—McCain went to the floor of the Senate the next day and said, “Let me tell you about David Ifshin…David is a friend of mine.” And when David was diagnosed with cancer, John McCain was there for him. And when David died, McCain gave one of the eulogies at his funeral. His voice broke when he said, “David taught me a lot about the meaning of courage.”
That's the sort of leadership and courage that McCain needs to show his party, not robo-calls insinuating that Obama is a terrorist. This election we've seen a man go from leader and maverick to follower and mouthpiece of the extreme far right.