Thread by @MollyMcKew

#DearJohnMcCain

Thank you, @SenJohnMcCain. You always fought for the ideas and values I believed were important. You fought for the people who fought for those values in far away places, even when it wasn't popular to do so. /1

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It mattered deeply to all of us -- whether we be roving Americans or Georgians, Moldovans, Ukrainians, people from Baltics to the Balkans -- that you were on our side as a moral, outspoken voice for human freedom and representative government. /2

These places were never simple to understand, but you never got lost in the BS and instead focused on the need to embrace those who wanted to be a part of our system of laws, values, rights, and mutual defense. You called leaders out when they failed... /3

... and you encouraged and aided and cajoled and browbeat them when you knew it could be the difference between progress and decline.

You were never on the sidelines when history was being written. You still aren't. You spoke out on behalf of the people of many nations... /4

And they all know how important this was.

In this time when everything seems to be moving sideways, your steadfast morals, courage, and downright stubbornness have continued not just to uphold the bar, but raise it for your colleagues
In Washington.

/5

You inspire when so many others only seek to tear down and burn. You constantly reflect and reevaluate. You share your doubt and inner turmoil, your clarity and certainty with us, so that we may also be more certain of the moral choice. /6

When you ask people to make hard choices, your words were never hollow. You never asked anyone to work harder than you yourself did -- a pace which other senators joked on CODELs was a special kind of death march. This tireless spirit reminded us that there is more to be done. /7

I never worked for you, but I was proud to work beside you and beside the many dedicated and driven staffers that you cultivated and empowered on behalf of our national defense and foreign policy. You did this better than anyone I know.../8

...and you have left generations of capable men and women in your wake, across many agencies and institutions and outlets, most of whom have been driven every day by the example you set and your relentlessness in your service to this nation. /8

You never let anyone off the hook. Your energy has been a bulwark against the rising tide of lesser men.

So while many say you are the last of a generation -- from our side of the line, we see you as the first of many more. /10

More people than you know will take up your legacy -- and as you have seen, many already have. We are proud to do so. We aren't just American. Never forget how many people you inspired with your example. I see them everyday, and they all wish you well. /11

You always had my vote when I could give it, because you had earned it through word and deed on the issues that drive me. We shared success and failure, up close and from afar ... /12

... and I was honored to share a place with you on the list of people the Kremlin finds most irritating. I promise to try to move up the list, because there is a lot of work left to be done in exposing and challenging the threats from the Kremlin... /13

...and in reminding the Russian people they deserve better, and that that brighter future is waiting for them. /14

The same is true for us Americans. So thank you, @SenJohnMcCain, for reminding us of that, too, as loudly now as at the very beginning.

No matter what, we fight on.

-M

#DearJohnMcCain

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