McCain Set High Bar for Civility That Trump Lacks, Says Beto O'Rourke of President’s Ongoing Barbs

CONWAY, N.H. - With only a handful of Republicans calling out President Donald Trump for continuing his attacks on the late John McCain, Democrat Beto O'Rourke lauded the war hero turned senator for setting the bar for civility in American politics.The Texan, asked about Trump's latest eruption against McCain, who died of brain cancer last year, recalled an incident during the 2008 presidential campaign.McCain was stumping in Minnesota about a month before Election Day. A woman told him she was afraid of the Democratic nominee and future president, Barack Obama, because he's an Arab. McCain quickly took the microphone away from her."No ma'am," he said."He confronted that person and set the record straight," O'Rourke told reporters during a campaign stop at a brewery in Conway, N.H. "That kind of dignity and civility and mutual respect, in our politics is missing, obviously, right now, and the bar was really set by, by Sen. McCain so I just hope that we go back to his example."O'Rourke declined to chide the majority of Republican officeholders who so far have refrained from taking Trump to task over his attacks on McCain.On Tuesday, Trump reiterated complaints about McCain's vote against repealing Obamacare."I think that's a disgrace, plus there are other things," the president said in the Oval Office. "I was never a fan of John McCain, and I never will be."At a tank factory in Lima, Ohio, on Wednesday, Trump continued the volley."I endorsed him at his request and I gave him the kind of funeral he wanted, which as president I had to approve," he asserted - though presidents have no say in Congress' decision for McCain to lie in state at the Capitol.Trump did approve military transportation of McCain's remains from Arizona to Washington, and military pallbearers and band."I didn't get a thank you. That's okay. We sent him on the way. But I wasn't a fan of John McCain," Trump said Wednesday.McCain, a Navy pilot, was shot down and captured during the Vietnam War. He was tortured during his 5-1/2 years as a POW and is widely regarded as a war hero.Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia, who chairs the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, was one of the few Senate Republicans to speak out about Trump's ongoing berating of McCain."Its deplorable what he said," Isakson said Wednesday on Georgia Public Broadcasting. "There aren't Democratic casualties or Republican casualties on the battlefield."  Continue reading...