All of those feel like twisted interpretations of the American dream at best. He also voted, on numerous occasions, against measures that would have provided financial relief to graduates from poor families struggling with their student loans, sometimes at the same time as voting not to tax the highest-income Americans. McCain, along with a lot of others in his party, voted not to prohibit the sale of assault weapons and not to limit firearm magazine capacity. What it means to be “a patriot”, especially in the Republican Party, is complicated. He consistently stood against Donald Trump’s anti-immigration, isolationist stance, memorably releasing a statement to the Pakistani American Khan family, whose son was killed in action in Iraq: “Thank you for immigrating to America. He conceded to Obama with a long speech that recognised the suffering of African Americans throughout US history and acknowledged the importance of his election for them. He came from a long military dynasty, but refused early release from a Vietnamese POW camp ahead of his other colleagues when his captors found out who he was. McCain was also responsible for a number of morally upstanding actions. (He once told one about a woman “raped repeatedly and left to die” by a murderous ape waking up and asking, “Where is that marvellous ape?”, a joke so astounding in its layers of misogyny that I find it borderline nonsensical.) There is real irony in the fact that he was given sole credit for the “deciding” vote that blocked the repeal of Obamacare in 2017, when in reality that accolade should belong to two Republican women, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.īut therein lies the rub. Nor was he prejudiced against women only when it concerned contraception or abortion: he also voted against a bill that would have made it illegal to discriminate against female employees with the same experience being paid less their male counterparts doing exactly the same job.ĭoes that mean that McCain was a misogynist? He definitely held sexist attitudes: anyone with access to his voting record or a list of some of his more choice jokes about women would be able to glean that. McCain also voted against the Protect Women’s Health from Corporate Interference Act in 2014: the bill was an effort to ensure women could access contraception and gynaecological services without being denied healthcare benefits by their providers because of those providers’ “beliefs”. We know that votes like these can lead to serious consequences: deaths from backstreet abortions, increased levels of poverty, the perpetuation of cycles of social and economic inequality. He voted to restrict abortion and, in 2015, to defund Planned Parenthood if it carried on providing abortions to women with unwanted pregnancies. Richard Trumka led the AFL-CIO for more than a decade before he died last year.īrigadier General Wilma Vaught broke barriers for women in the military, and was one of only seven women generals across the Armed Forces when she retired in 1985.Words are just words, but McCain’s voting record where women’s rights are concerned speaks for itself. senator for Wyoming, advocated for good governance and marriage equality. Megan Rapinoe Olympic soccer star Megan Rapinoe, the White House notes, has advocated for gender pay equality and LBGTQ+ rights.Īlan Simpson, a former U.S. He earned the respect of both Democrats and Republicans.ĭiane Nash organized key civil rights campaigns during segregation. as a congressman and senator for decades. Sandra Lindsay is a New York nurse who served on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.įormer Senator John McCain received a gold star for his service in Vietnam, and served the U.S. Khizr Khan is the Gold Star father who drew Donald Trump's criticism after speaking at the 2016 Democratic convention. Steve Jobs (Posthumous) Steve Jobs, who died in 2011, has transformed the way the world communicates, the White House notes.įather Alexander Karloutsos was formerly the Vicar General of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, and has provided counsel to multiple U.S. Fred Gray represented Rosa Parks, the NAACP, and Martin Luther King, and was considered a top lawyer for racial justice.
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