Just have to say this ...

[mcar]

13. WaPo columnist on this very issue

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2018/08/31/three-men-unfit-to-eulogize-mccain/?utm_term=.ba803c63eb0d

And then there were the three who spoke on Friday. You had to control your gag reflex watching Vice President Pence, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) extol McCain’s greatness as he was accorded the honor of lying in state...

McConnell acknowledged McCain as a “generational leader in the Senate.” McConnell said that McCain represented all the values the Capitol stands for. But what does McConnell stand for? He has accommodated Trump, ignoring or rationalizing his worst behavior. McConnell personally destroyed the comity in the Senate by denying Judge Merrick Garland a hearing and then extinguishing the filibuster for Supreme Court justices. He has refused to protect the rule of law by preventing a bill protecting the special counsel from reaching the floor. In short, he too is everything McCain is not, and has presided over the very changes in the Senate that McCain despised. McCain, with all his soul, cared for and fought for the Constitution, the dignity of all men and women and the basic values we hold dear. McConnell cares about power, ready to enable Trump at every turn. There is no principle for him beyond winning.

And then there was Ryan, come to pay his respects. When he repeated McCain’s admonition that “our identities and sense of worth were not circumscribed but enlarged by serving good causes bigger than ourselves,” you wondered whether Ryan is capable of self-reflection. He lauded McCain: “The sense of purpose that a battle joined can bring. The common humanity that burns in each of our hearts. . . . This is one of the bravest souls our nation has ever produced.” When exactly has Ryan exemplified those qualities? When has he demonstrated an ounce of courage to do what is right rather than expedient?