Osler's Razor

John McCain died yesterday, after a lifetime of public service.

A lot of what I know about John McCain comes through my friend IPLawGuy, who worked for McCain in the Senate for several years. That's them pictured above in... well, let's just say the mid-80's.  [Note that for some reason, IPLG seems to be presenting McCain with a copy of Alex Haley's groundbreaking book Roots]. IPLawGuy guest-blogged about McCain during the 2008 election-- you can see that here. It's fair to say, I think, that McCain was an important mentor to IPLG, and the best kind of mentor as well.

Though I voted for Obama, I thought that 2008 offered the best pair of candidates in my lifetime (I wrote about that here), and that McCain had some remarkable high points during that campaign. In the Senate, he had moments of remarkable principle, and he seemed to be genuinely respected among his peers.

In the end, though, the sacrifice that thrust him into the spotlight might be what is most memorable. He was from a Navy family; his father was a famous naval officer. In Vietnam, McCain was a prisoner of war in terrible conditions, after his plane was shot down. The North Vietnamese, in deference to his father's position, offered to release him. He refused, unless they agreed to release the other POW's. 

That's a singular and remarkable sacrifice. We have not seen many like him in politics, and we likely never will.