Washington pays tribute to John McCain

Updated: 12 p.m.

Friends, family members and former political rivals will pay tribute to the late Sen. John McCain, in a ceremony Saturday at the Washington National Cathedral, the culmination of a week of public memorials for the Arizona lawmaker, who died Aug. 25 at age 81. McCain is to be buried Sunday in a private ceremony at the U.S. Naval Academy Cemetery.

Former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush — who both competed against McCain in battles for the White House — were among those offering tributes.

“What better way to get a last laugh than to make George and I say nice things about him to a national audience,” Obama joked, adding it was a symbol of McCain’s large spirit that while he relished political combat, he could also find common ground with former rivals.

McCain understood “some principles transcend politics. That some values transcend party,” Obama said. “We never doubted that we were on the same team.”

Bush also recalled tangling with McCain, who had been tortured as a POW in Vietnam and fiercely opposed harsh interrogation tactics employed in the years following 9/11.

“Back in the day, he could frustrate me. and I know he’d say the same thing about me. But he also made me better,” Bush said. “To the face of those in authority, John would insist, we are better than this. America is better than this. ”

At the U.S. Capitol on Friday, Vice President Pence remembered McCain as a champion of America’s armed forces.

“I never traveled with a colleague who was better to our enlisted or harder on our generals,” said Pence, whose son is a Marine. “John McCain loved the men and women who served in the uniform of the United States.”

The motorcade carrying McCain’s flag-draped casket paused on its way from the Capitol to the cathedral Saturday at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. His widow, Cindy McCain, placed a ceremonial wreath there. McCain, a naval aviator, was shot down during the Vietnam War and spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war.

McCain’s daughter Meghan delivered a tribute that was both affectionate and defiant.

“We gather here to mourn the passing of American greatness — the real thing, not cheap rhetoric from men who will never come near the sacrifice he gave so willingly,” she said. “The America of John McCain has no need to be made great again because America was always great.”

For all of John McCain’s exalted titles — war hero, Senator, presidential candidate — Meghan McCain said she loved him best as a father.

“Imagine the dashing aviator,” she said, “kissing the hurt when I fell and skinned my knee.”

McCain’s daughter Sidney and his son Jimmy will also speak during the service Saturday, along with his longtime Senate allies Lindsey Graham, Joe Lieberman, and Kelly Ayotte. Opera singer Renée Fleming will perform “Danny Boy” as part of the carefully choreographed service, which will include both religious hymns and patriotic anthems.

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