Cindy McCain believes her late husband Sen. John McCain would be “terribly frustrated and terribly distraught” by the current state of political discourse. She shared her feelings with “CBS This Morning” co-host John Dickerson in her first interview since the senator’s death in August.
The military hero and longtime lawmaker was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, in July 2017. But he remained an outspoken member of Congress even as he fought the disease.
“He was the one that was kind of the conscience of the Senate, I believe, and his ability to at least bring people together and talk about it in whatever way he could was very important, and we’ve lost his voice,” McCain said.
She believes her husband would want current leaders in Washington to take a step back and learn from past relationships her husband shared with members of the opposite party, like Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy, who died in 2009.
That message of unity was on display as McCain’s family mourned his death. His daughter, Meghan McCain, paid tribute to her father at a memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral, and gave a sharp rebuke of President Trump’s motto, “Make America Great Again.”
“The America of John McCain has no need to be made great again because America was always great,” Meghan McCain said.
The remark, which was met with applause, was a surprise to Cindy McCain, who said she did not know what her daughter was going to say.
“I will say that our children obviously took this very hard. All of them did, especially Meghan. And Meghan is certainly entitled to and speaks her mind just like her father did,” McCain said. “And I respect her for that, and I had not read her speech. I did not know what she was going to say but I was very proud of her, very proud of her that day. It was hard to give.”
Watch John Dickerson’s full interview with Cindy McCain Friday, Nov. 16, 2018 on “CBS This Morning,” which airs 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. ET/PT.
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