McCain And Trump: How 2 Divergent Leaders Collided Over And Over
Just under a month before Election Day 2008, a woman stood up at a rally and told Republican nominee John McCain a major concern she had about his White House opponent.
"I can't trust [Barack] Obama. I have read about him and he's not, he's ... he's an Arab," the woman said of the Democratic presidential nominee.
McCain started shaking his head before she even finished her question, taking the microphone and pushing back emphatically on her incorrect statement.
"No ma'am," McCain said. "He's a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and that's what this campaign is all about. He's not."
The response was classic McCain — his trademark "straight talk" he honed on the campaign trail for nearly four decades, along with his willingness to often take the high road, even if it wasn't politically popular.
His positive comments about his opponent were met with boos by some in the audience, and perhaps signaled a shift within the GOP that McCain would criticize for the remainder of his life. The Arizona senator died Saturday at 81 from brain cancer.
"Straight talk" vs. "birther" conspiracies
