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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.
During the 2008 campaign, a woman said she couldn't trust Obama because “he’s an Arab.” John McCain shook his head.… https://t.co/TLwmd52mdk— POLITICO (@POLITICO)1535248215.0
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.
@politico BEST clip of @SenJohnMcCain ever— SoporificCRNA💕💙🌊 (@SoporificCRNA💕💙🌊)1535248272.0
@politico @CherylStockman This was the classiest example of dignity and truthfulness I have ever seen during a camp… https://t.co/u1iewWn2pK— Candace Sidebotham (@Candace Sidebotham)1535289694.0
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.
@politico Arabs can be decent family men... Why does the media keep uncritically bringing up this moment?— Petty Is Praxis (@Petty Is Praxis)1535248344.0
@rtyson82 @politico They don't want to bring up the fact #JohnMcCain failed (or purposely didn't) equate being an A… https://t.co/4tlws17AMW— Juan Moya (@Juan Moya)1535248969.0
STOP w/ the story about how #JohnMcCain shut down a racist at a rally by saying @BarackObama wasn’t Arab but “a dec… https://t.co/tL5erjjCbp— Jordan Landry (@Jordan Landry)1535273971.0
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".
@rtyson82 @politico Someone else mentioned this- him saying “he’s a decent family man” was in response to her sayin… https://t.co/rsr5aUtoUx— K (@K)1535254440.0
@laura_hudson I took McCain’s “No”to mean “No, he’s not an Arab AND he’s a decent family man...” Etc. I never had t… https://t.co/nbTwpDHnvt— Stephen King (@Stephen King)1535249693.0
And many Arab people are actually defending McCain's comment.
@heyadiana I’m an Arab and even I understand that McCain did not mean that Arabs were not citizens or decent famil… https://t.co/D7OQ36jen6— Save Sheikh Jarrah (@Save Sheikh Jarrah)1535416965.0
I’m Arab-American with no tolerance for racism. I don’t understand why people are freaking out about this. It seems… https://t.co/jYYQW4iV8s— Sulome (@Sulome)1535303894.0
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."