John McCain is a Republican who ran for president of the United States in the 2008 United States presidential election and served as a naval officer during the Vietnam War.
Naval service and the Vietnam War
McCain entered flight school as a naval aviator in 1958 and graduated in 1960. After graduating, he had several accidents during his deployments, one causing a power outage in Spain. In 1967, he was deployed in North Vietnam and would later be captured on October 26th, 1967, and taken to the infamous Hỏa Lò Prison, and would not be released until Marth 14th, 1973.(Naval History and Heritage Command)
(Library of Congress (Man on back is McCain))
During his time as a prisoner of war, he suffered cracked ribs, smashed teeth, and new fractures to his right leg and left arm.(National Museum of American History, Blazich)
(NARA)
Donald Trump would later go on to claim that John McCain is only seen as a war hero because he was captured and that “I like people that weren’t captured.”
Repeal of the Affordable Care Act
He unexpectedly voted against the repeal for the Affordable Care Act in 2017 right before the legislation would be passed in the Senate. He is shown walking into the Senate chamber and giving a simple thumbs down, representing his “nay.”(YouTube, Associated Press [0:05])
John McCain’s office put out an official statement about why McCain decided to vote against the legislation, stating that be didn’t believe that it was an adequate solution to healthcare for Americans.
(NPR, Davis, Montanaro)
Quote
“From the beginning, I have believed that Obamacare should be repealed and replaced with a solution that increases competition, lowers costs, and improves care for the American people. The so-called ‘skinny repeal’ amendment the Senate voted on today would not accomplish those goals. While the amendment would have repealed some of Obamacare’s most burdensome regulations, it offered no replacement to actually reform our health care system and deliver affordable, quality health care to our citizens. The Speaker’s statement that the House would be ‘willing’ to go to conference does not ease my concern that this shell of a bill could be taken up and passed at any time.”(NPR, Davis, Montanaro|McCain’s Office)