John McCain's 2008 Defense Of Obama After Woman Calls Him An 'Arab' Draws Criticism

After John McCain's passing on August 25th, many people have shared memories of the former Senator. But not all memories are sweet.

POLITICO recently shared a video from McCain's 2008 presidential campaign when he was running against Barack Obama.

In the video, a woman can be seen criticizing Obama. McCain appears to defend the now former president.

Watch the interaction below.

The woman can be heard saying,

"I can't trust Obama. I have read about him. He's a — he's an Arab."

Senator McCain proceeds to take the microphone out of her hand and say,

"No ma'am. He's a decent family man and citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues..."

Some people feel that this is one of McCain's best moments.

But others pointed out that McCain seemed to insinuate that Arabs are not "decent family men".

By countering the woman's statement about Obama being "an Arab" with points about Obama's character, he directly implied that Arabs are incapable of having good qualities.

Perhaps he was alluding to the fact that the woman's statement was tinged with disgust regarding Arab people, but many people do not think McCain's response reflected him in a positive light.

In fact, many people are wondering why Senator McCain failed to state that Arabs are just as good of people as anyone else.

But others have come to the late senator's defense, saying that his statement was more in regards to the woman's claim that she "can't trust him" and that it had nothing to do with her claim that Obama was "an Arab".

And many Arab people are actually defending McCain's comment.

Journalist, Jonathan M. Katz shared his comprehensive take on the interaction.

Whatever your stance is on his statement, McCain was aware of his mistakes. When speaking to Jake Tapper on how he wanted to be remembered he said,

"He served his country and not always right. Made a lot of mistakes. Made a lot of errors, but served his country. And I hope we could add honorably."

H/T: Twitter, HuffPost