Obama, Bush eulogize former political foe John McCain
Speakers at the memorial for the Arizona senator, who died last week, took aim at Donald Trump
Former U.S. presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, once rivals of the late Senator John McCain, praised him in eulogies on Saturday and joined his daughter at a memorial service in subtle and not-so-subtle rebukes of President Donald Trump.
Obama and Bush, a Democrat and a Republican, were joined by a collection of former U.S. presidents, senators, Vietnam-era officials and others paying tribute to the statesman who died Aug. 25 of brain cancer, days shy of his 82nd birthday.
Trump himself was absent, but his presence was felt through the content of the tributes.
Meghan McCain condemned the president in remarks that at times drew applause and came after she said her dad told her to "show them how tough you are" with her eulogy.
"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, nor the opportunistic appropriation of those who live lives of comfort and privilege while he suffered and served," she said, speaking forcefully and, at times, through tears.
Watch as Meghan McCain tearfully recalls her father's legacy:
Taking aim at Trump's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again," she said McCain's America was always great.
Trump had engaged in a public feud with McCain, a fellow Republican, over the past three years. He mocked McCain's military service, continuing to knock him even after he grew ill.
McCain 'could not abide bigots and swaggering despots'
Trump spent Saturday tweeting on other subjects and went to one of his private golf clubs in Virginia.
By design. McCain had asked Obama and Bush to deliver eulogies, while the family made clear that Trump was not welcome.
Obama, who beat McCain in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, hailed the one-time prisoner of war for his commitment to truth and core democratic values — qualities that some critics see lacking in Trump, a former reality television star and New York City real estate mogul.
"So much of our politics, our public life, our public discourse can seem small and mean and petty, trafficking in bombast and insult, and phoney controversies, and manufactured outrage," Obama said.
"It's a politics that pretends to be brave and tough, but in fact is born in fear. John called on us to be bigger than that. He called on us to be better than that."
Watch as Barack Obama recalls getting a phone call from John McCain, asking him to deliver a eulogy:
Obama also noted McCain's support for a free press. Trump has repeatedly called the media the "enemy of the American people."
Bush, in his eulogy, described McCain as a man with a code.
"He loved freedom with a passion of a man who knew its absence. He respected the dignity inherent in every life, a dignity that does not stop at borders and cannot be erased by dictators," Bush said. "Perhaps above all, John detested the abuse of power. He could not abide bigots and swaggering despots."
Trump has sought to forge relationships with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Watch as George W. Bush remembers John McCain's honesty and virtues:
The former U.S. presidents joked about McCain's imperfections, while saying he made them better leaders. Their presence as eulogists was a clear signal from McCain of his desire for more civility and bipartisanship in Washington.
The senator's body, which had lain in state at the U.S. Capitol, arrived at the cathedral with a motorcade that first stopped at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. There his wife, Cindy McCain, laid a wreath to honour those who died in the war.
Uniformed members of the military slowly carried the coffin into the soaring cathedral and back out again after the 2-1/2-hour service.
Top members of Trump's administration, including his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, attended, as did White House chief of staff John Kelly and national security adviser John Bolton.
Other guests included former president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, comedian Jay Leno, and former senators Bob Dole and John Kerry.
A powerful pipe organ and Navy brass ensemble played during the service and renowned opera singer Renee Fleming sang a stirring rendition of Danny Boy, drawing tears from Cindy McCain and others in the audience.
Stoic after wartime suffering
John McCain was a leading voice for revamping the country's immigration, campaign finance and environmental laws. But it was his military service, punctuated by years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, that moulded his political life.
Rising to the rank of captain in the U.S. Navy, he was shot down over Hanoi while on a bombing mission in 1967. Held as a prisoner until 1973, he was tortured by his North Vietnamese captors in a jail that Americans dubbed the "Hanoi Hilton."
As a presidential candidate, Trump mocked McCain for getting captured in Vietnam. Trump himself received five deferments that got him out of serving in the military.
On Sunday McCain will be buried during a private service in Annapolis, Md., at the U.S. Naval Academy. McCain was a member of the Academy's Class of 1958.
'He put everybody first'
On Friday, while lying in state, McCain was commemorated by politicians of all stripes and by mourners who filed past his flag-draped coffin into the night.
On Thursday, people lined a street in Phoenix as the motorcade carrying McCain's coffin arrived at North Phoenix Baptist Church. Shane Doan, a Canadian who's retired from playing in the NHL for 21 years, served as a pallbearer. The former Arizona Coyotes captain was friends with McCain for about 10 years.
When asked by CBC News on Saturday how people should remember McCain, he said: "That he put everybody first, that he was all about service, that the parties and the politics and all the things that people remember about him, it really came down to him wanting to put the country and the people first."
"He enjoyed life almost more than anyone I know," said Doan. "Yet, he was a guy who was capable of discussing the constitutional democracy of Guam, and then the next second he'd be talking about two blackhawks he has nesting in the valley by his home."
With files from CBC News