WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) – Republican Senator John McCain’s widow spoke at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday on behalf of presidential candidate Joe Biden, a reminder of her late husband’s bitter relationship with President Donald Trump.
PHOTO PHOTO: Cindy McCain, Chair of the Board of The McCain Institute for International Leadership, Speaks on Stage at the Women In The World Summit in New York, USA, April 12, 2019. REUTERS / Brendan McDermid
The pre-recorded segment added to a parade of Republicans invited to talk about Biden’s life and career at the four-night political convention and outlines an implicit contrast with Republican Trump.
Biden and McCain became friends after meeting in the 1970s, when the young Democratic senator went on a business trip with the former Navy captain and Vietnam War prisoner.
The relationship lasted through the Republicans’ own career in the House of Representatives and when the two competed on competing White House cards when McCain, as the Republican presidential nominee in 2008, ran against Barack Obama, who won the election. with Biden as running mate.
“They would just sit and joke,” Cindy McCain said in a video clip of the Biden-McCain relationship that was played at the convention. “It was like a comedy show sometimes to watch the two of them.”
In contrast, McCain and Trump regularly have a conflict, with the senator challenging the president’s health care and immigration policies. Trump disparaged McCain’s military service and volunteered months after McCain’s death to make him “never a fan” of the late senator. “And I never will be,” Trump added.
The bitterness was so deep that McCain, who helped plan his own funeral in 2018, made it clear to family that he wanted to speak to Biden and that Trump was not welcome.
“My husband and Vice President Biden enjoyed a friendship 30 years ago,” Cindy McCain posted on Twitter. Although not expected to explicitly support Biden, she wrote: “I was honored to accept the invitation of the Biden campaign to participate in a video to celebrate their relationship.”
Some Democrats have brustled over the widespread participation of Republicans in their party’s convention, which was scaled back because of the coronavirus.
Speakers at the convention on Tuesday also included former Republican Secretary of State Colin Powell, following remarks on Monday by Republicans including John Kasich, a former Ohio governor and frequent Trump critic.
Report by Trevor Hunnicutt; Edited by Howard Goller
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