The Death of Saint John

McCain's last words?

For reasons that escape me -- possibly just a slow news week -- the death of Arizona's Republican Senator John McCain five days ago is being handled by the media, and even by the citizenry, as a major blow to humanity. The front page of today's Wall Street Journal has a large color photo, shot from above, of the Widow McCain kissing her dead husband's flag-draped coffin. As a former newspaper Art Director I'd have to say it was a setup shot. Besides, who kisses a coffin?

All this hoopla, including which flags are flown at half staff where and for how many days, feels like a blatant insult to the many other famous people who died without a fraction of the coverage afforded McCain. Yes, I know he was captured by the Viet Cong during the war and spent five years blindfolded without food, or something like that. I also know that he was mean-spirited to the end, requesting that both President Trump and Sarah Palin, the attractive but ill-equipped Alaska governor plucked from obscurity by McCain to be his 2008 running mate and turned into a running gag on Saturday Night Live, stay away from his funeral, an elite event he envisioned as "by invitation only."

What I wish instead is that more of the newspaper column inches devoted to his passing would cover what kind of brain cancer killed him, how common it is among what demographic, how does one get it or prevent it, which treatments work or don't work, and other news we can use. Surely we can glean more from this man's death than the childish taunt, "See, he hated President Trump too. So there!"