Sen. John McCain told CNN he hopes history comes to remember him as someone who “served his county” in a heartfelt Sunday morning interview where he openly reflected on his mortality in the wake of his recent brain-cancer diagnosis.
The longtime Arizona senator added to network anchor Jake Tapper, “and I hope, I could add, honorably.”
McCain, who’s served in the senate for 30 years, earning the nickname “the Maverick,” was diagnosed earlier this year but has already returned to his congressional duties. The 81-year-old former war hero went on to deem his condition as just another obstacle he’s had to face over the course of his long and distinguished lifetime.
“I’m facing a challenge, but I’ve faced other challenges,” McCain said.
“And I’m very confident about getting through this one as well.”
McCain shared he has already begun chemotherapy treatments and thus far things have gone well. But he conceded few things in life are guaranteed.
“Every life has to end one way or another,” McCain said.
“I think it was a playwright, he said, ‘I always knew that no one could live forever, but I thought there might be one exception.’”
A two-time former Republican presidential candidate, McCain said he considered his 2000 run against Barack Obama as one of his greatest highlights.
McCain was recently in rare “maverick” form when he cast the deciding vote in rejecting President Donald Trump’s never-ending attempts to overthrow Obamacare.
“I’ve stated time and time again that one of the major failures of Obamacare was that it was rammed through Congress by Democrats on a strict party-line basis without a single Republican vote,” he said in a statement explaining his vote. “We should not make the mistakes of the past.”
McCain later added he did not feel the healthcare plan being proposed by his fellow republicans stood to make things better for everyday Americans.
“While the amendment would have repealed some of Obamacare’s most burdensome regulations, it offered no replacement to actually reform our health care system and deliver affordable, quality health care to our citizens,” he said in a statement.
“We must now return to the correct way of legislating and send the bill back to committee, hold hearings, receive input from both sides of aisle, heed the recommendations of nation’s governors, and produce a bill that finally delivers affordable health care for the American People.”
[Featured Image by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]
