Brewer: Few have affected Arizona, America and the world like McCain

PHOENIX — One thing that stood out to former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer about the late Sen. John McCain was his uncanny ability to remember names.

Whether in Arizona or across the country, his ability to recall a name astounded her.

“I don’t know how he did it,” Brewer said on KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Mac & Gaydos. “I asked him one time, I said how do you remember their names? He said, ‘Well they told me!'”

At a private ceremony held Wednesday morning at the Arizona State Capitol Museum rotunda to honor McCain, Brewer said her goodbyes and reflected on the veteran’s legacy.

“It just, it makes you realize that there’s more about this world than yourself, there are people in it that impact you and at the time you don’t even realize it until you look back over your shoulder,” Brewer said. “John McCain has taught a lesson to everyone, he should have anyway, that we all can do better.”

Wednesday was a reflection of McCain’s ability to bring people together. With Republicans and Democrats honoring him together, Brewer said the ceremony was “truly McCain style.”

Family, friends and others gathered to pay respects and send off the senator.

Brewer described McCain’s wife, Cindy, as “very composed” as she approached the casket and put her cheek against the flag. His daughter, Meghan, was “distraught.”

“It was heartbreaking. We all know, the world knows how close she and her dad were,” Brewer said. “I remember the day she was born, and from that day forward, there was a bond between those two.”

The former governor approached the casket.

“I said in my mind, ‘I love you, John McCain. You’re one of the greatest men I have ever known and I appreciate you, and may you rest in peace,’ and then I put my hand on the casket.”

Her voice broke as she described her good-bye.

“So many years of experiences shared, between people, that your mind just gets like a roaring river with so many memories and they kind of just flood through, there but you remember them. You remember them,” she said.

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— Jan Brewer (@GovBrewer) August 29, 2018

With a proposal to rename the Russell Senate Office Building after McCain, the senator could get a national tribute.

But in Arizona, Brewer wondered aloud with Mac and Gaydos, what could be meaningful enough for someone of his stature? The radio hosts presented Brewer with the idea of renaming the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport after McCain.

Brewer approved of the idea — “Like the Ronald Reagan Airport, it would be the John McCain Airport” — and said there have been very few Arizonans of McCain’s impact.

Tomorrow, that will be apparent as figures including vice president Joe Biden and Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald deliver eulogies to the senator at North Phoenix Baptist Church.

“I know that the eulogies and the things that will be said will just remind us all just who John McCain was and how he affected Arizona and America and the world,” Brewer said. “There’s very few people in my lifetime that I know that have done all three.

“Arizona, America, and the world will always remember John McCain.”

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