GetOut Magazine

McCain’s book store appearance in Tempe draws fans, foes By BETTY WEBB
Get Out
Nov. 2, 2002

Sen. John McCain's discussion of his new book, Worth the Fighting For, Friday evening at Tempes Changing Hands book store was both entertaining and informative but what a zoo.

The madness began on the sidewalk at the corner of Guadalupe Road and McClintock Drive, where about 20 protesters had assembled to let the senator as well as everyone else who drove by know what they thought of him. Most dramatic were five Women in Black (as announced by their signs), women ranging from their early 20s to grandmotherly types, dressed as war widows, carrying stuffed dolls that represented dead children. Walking up and down behind them was a young man of college age (who wouldn't give his name) wearing a naval uniform with a pin of Lenin stuck on the lapel. His picket sign said, Dissent is patriotic.

Nearby was Mike Renzulli, of Mesa, who wore a T-shirt that said Gun Owners of America, propped up a sign that said End all wars vote Libertarian and carried another that said, Defend America, bring our troops home.

My objections to McCain are dual, Renzulli said. McCain took an oath to defend the Constitution, but violated it by voting to send troops to Iraq. That's a violation of our nation's separation of powers. I have real problems with his stand on gun shows, too.

Policemen, private security guards, and various media types roamed the parking lot and bookstore, where inside, more than 400 people had assembled to hear McCain talk.

"I've been a fan of Senator McCain's from the very first campaign he ran," said Dorothy Whittlesey, of Mesa, who had her arms full of books waiting to be signed. "He actually does things, instead of just sitting around being a presence. I admire him because he's honest, even when he's wrong. I guess if I could name my favorite Arizona politicians of all time in order I'd have to say Barry Goldwater, John Rhodes, and John McCain."

When Sen. McCain entered, he received a standing ovation that immediately turned to laughter when bookstore owner Penna Joseph announced over the loudspeaker that the senator was "the son and grandson of four-star generals." She joined the laughter (McCain himself looked like he was about to bust a gut) and corrected herself, saying, "Oh, you know I meant admirals!"

McCain joined the hilarity when he stepped to the podium and said, "I thought I would start out with a bunch of Barbra Streisand tunes," which brought even more laughter, Streisand being one of McCain's most vocal Hollywood critics.

Instead, McCain delivered a joke-peppered talk that covered his childhood heroes, his torture and imprisonment in Vietnam, his early years in the U.S. Senate, and his unsuccessful run for the U.S. presidency. He told the mostly adoring crowd that as a young boy going into his father's library to get a book to press a four-leaf clover he'd just found, he found himself holding Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls." Instead of pressing the clover, he read the book.

"Hemingway's hero Robert Jordan immediately became my hero," McCain said. "I was struck by Jordan's love, his courage, and the way that his cause was ennobled by his suffering. His tragic heroism became my ideal, and Hemingway became my author. That's why I named this book memoir with that book's final words: The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for.'"

At one point, he was interrupted by a heckler who yelled, "Quit lying about weapons inspections in Iraq!" but he just sighed as the man was hustled away amidst the audience's grumblings.

"I cherish everyone's right to disagree with their government and I cherish this debate," McCain responded, after the grumbling died down.

At the end of his talk, McCain addressed the crowd's questions and comments, and they were dandies, ranging from the 401k collapse, to proposed gun show legislation, to the high cost of prescription drugs, to illegal immigration, to campaign financing, to Iraq, to the massacres in Bosnia and Zimbabwe.

He became most impassioned and received his strongest applause when he said, "We need to address the problem of Saudi Arabia, which is funding the madrassas which take young kids off the streets and teach them hate. It's time we held the Saudis accountable for that."

Towards the end of the evening, when someone asked him why he wouldn't run for president as an Independent, he answered, "I'm a Republican. I love the party of Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. This is a wonderful country and a wonderful system when a young man who was fifth from the bottom of his class at the Naval Academy can grow up to run for president. Of course, being from Arizona, I didn't make it. None of Arizona's presidential candidates ever make it. In fact, Arizona may be the only state in the U.S. where mother's DON'T tell their children they can grow up to be president!"

McCain finished his talk with one of his favorite quips: "Next week go out and vote. And remember the words of Chicago's Mayor Daley, who said, Vote early and vote often!'"