Whatever he may feel personally about McCain, lots of the folks who he needs to support him politically respected the man as one of the party's, and the nation's, most important and influential leaders over the past 50 years.
Oh, bullshit. The vast majority of folks did not respect McCain politically or individually. They used him--but hated him. No one except liberals and rabid NTs (sorry for being redundant) will hold this against the President. Hell, even the liberals understand and I bet they're silently high-fiving the President's brass.
And I'm not kidding. I was working with a Republican lobbying firm in 2008. One of our missions was to collect contributions and arrange fundraisers with wealthy individuals known for their Republican persuasion. You know ... the faithful millionaires. Holy Mary, Mother of God the reaction was stunning. Hang-ups usually after a tirade of 'not one dime for: that "bastard", "m-effer", "crazy SOB" were the norm. At one meeting with Republican donors a suggestion that he should've been left at the Hilton received sustained applause. (Nothing left to do after that display but reconvene at the bar)
It took a lot of hand holding and begging to reach 3/4 of our goal --- even though the 100% goal was low balled to begin with. I had one "patron" tell me shortly after Obama's election: "This is going to be bad. Real, real bad. But we still dodged a bullet."
So claiming McCain was "politically respected as one of the party's, and the nation's, most important and influential leaders over the past 50 years" is pure fantasy. In fact if you stop for a second and listen carefully you can hear the whistling of "Ding Dong the Bastard's Dead" wafting through the streets of Washington.
