OnTheIssues.org BOOK REVIEW:

This book was written in 1999 (when McCain first ran for president and lost the GOP primary to Bush) and then "re-issued" in 2007 (when McCain ran for president and got the GOP nomination). In other words, its purpose is a biography for a presidential candidate. And it's a favorable biography (not authorized, but definitely favorable), which means it's McCain's story framed the way McCain would like his story framed. If every reporter -- and the voting public -- had framed McCain's story this way in 2000 -- or in 2008 -- McCain likely would have won the presidency.

A bit about the history of this book. Robert Timberg first wrote it in 1995 as A Nightingale's Song, a description of five graduates of Annapolis, including McCain, who was then a Senator. In 1999, when McCain ran for President, Timberg excerpted out the McCain parts, added some new material, and created this semi-new book. In 2007, the re-issued version didn't add any new material except a new 11-page foreword. That new foreword is not nearly as favorable to McCain as the rest of the book. Timberg, evidently, deeply admired McCain in 1999, but not so much in 2007 (but enough to re-issue a positive book). Timberg was an Annapolis graduate himself -- hence the first book -- and then a reporter for the Baltimore Sun -- hence the admiration for McCain in 2000, as all reporters admired McCain then (even OnTheIssues' reporters!).

So, let's outline the pro-McCain framework that Timberg wrote when he admired McCain:

OnTheIssues expanded our excerpts of this book (and several other McCain books and others) in preparation for the 2016 presidential election. What role McCain plays in 2016 is an open question: perhaps elder statesman; perhaps behind-the-scene adviser; perhaps Sarah Palin's supporter. So we'll see.

-- Jesse Gordon, editor-in-chief, OnTheIssues.org, August 2014

OnTheIssues.org excerpts:  (click on issues for details)

Drugs     1994: Wife Cindy accused of prescription drug abuse.

Foreign Policy     1983: Called for rapid withdrawal of Marines from Lebanon.     1994: Led opposition to Haiti intervention.

Health Care     1997: Led fight for anti-tobacco legislation.

Principles & Values     As teenager, inherited obligation to attend Annapolis.     Admiral Slew McCain set John’s standard for grit & courage.     Born at a Naval Air Station in the Panama Canal Zone.     Relationship with father was one of respect, more than love.     1969: Wife Carol crippled in car crash while John was POW.     1974: First marriage ended in wake of return from POW camp.     1978: Married Cindy, 25 years younger, started over post-POW.     1982: Won House seat by personally knocking on 20,000 doors.     1983: Flew to Phoenix every weekend in 1st year in Congress.     1987: Association with Keating 5 worse than any culpability.     1991: Rebuked for "poor judgment" in Keating 5; & vindicated.     1999: Voted to convict Pres. Clinton of lying under oath.

War & Peace     Vietnam's greatest injustice: burden of service on the poor.     1999: Kosovo: We are in it; now we must win it.

Click for quotations from other sources by: John McCain