A lot of conservatives are aghast that many liberals, Democrats, and critics of John McCain are praising him today. Some are even accusing liberals of using his death to attack Donald Trump, thus using his death themselves to attack liberals. Hypocrisy and irony in one grand stroke and they don’t get it.

But, being able to praise someone you disagree with, and even fight is part of the legacy of John McCain. There was a time that being political opponents didn’t make us enemies. This wasn’t a change with Donald Trump but one that he embraced and enhanced. Now, even being a Republican opposed to Trump makes you an enemy and one who commits treason as far as Trump Republicans are concerned.

People have spent today accusing others of being hypocrites and liars for expressing condolences to McCain after years of criticism. It’s like George H.W. Bush never used the phrase “Voodoo Economics” before accepting Reagan’s offer of being his running mate, or Hillary Clinton never debated and battled Barack Obama before becoming his Secretary of State. You can respect and admire someone you disagree with it. Trust me. It used to be much more common.

I always liked John McCain. I used to consider myself more conservative and in 2000, I voted for John McCain in the Republican primary. Eight years later, I voted against when I voted for Barack Obama. While being critical of him, I never disliked him or felt an attack was personal, even when I made fun of him.

I found a lot to be critical of McCain while also admiring him personally. What I most liked about John McCain was that he was probably the only politician in Washington, even before Trump, who would dare challenge his party. McCain had enemies on both sides of the aisle. There was something to admire, or at least be amused, by a senator interrupting another in a committee hearing with “blah blah blah.”

I shared this cartoon on Facebook hours earlier on social media. Usually, I only share links as that is what helps me get paid, but I wanted to share the photo today because those get a lot more shares and I wanted a larger audience to gauge reactions. Plus, there aren’t usually a lot of hits on the website on Sundays.

Most of my readers and followers on social media were fine with the cartoon, which isn’t a surprise (because, hey…they follow me for a reason). A few of them weren’t OK with the cartoon, but most of the people with a negative response were strangers to me. Some said it was too soon and some others said it never should have been done at all. I’m fine with that.

This is the kind of opinion where no one is right or wrong, except for those who demanded that it be removed. Demanding that something not be published because you disagree with it has never worked for me.

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Email Clay Jones at [email protected]