WASHINGTON—Shortly before noon on Wednesday, Senator John McCain, who was not elected president in 2008 and has not yet made peace with that fact—or with much of anything else, truth be told—rose in the Senate chamber to explain yet again what a terrible mistake the republic has made in not begging him to lead it. The topic at hand was the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to be an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, and McCain planned to address that.

But first, he felt compelled to remind the Senate that the person who was elected in 2008, and who was not John McCain, was not as bold and courageous a world-historical actor as…say…John McCain:

It was in 2013 that the then-Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and director of the CIA recommended to the president that we arm the Free Syrian Army and bring Bashad Assad's barbarity to a halt. The president of the United States rejected that…There's one thing worse than doing nothing. It's saying you're going to do something and then not doing it…I can assure my colleagues that, if we don't respond to this, then there will be more use of these chemical weapons and weapons of mass destruction, and there will be more innocent people who will die. Eight years of Obama's failure is what led to the events that have horrified us all.

Scholars one day will make a study of how many Americans may have died in how many places if John McCain had been elected in 2008. Until then, campers, on to the business at hand!

I've been privileged several times to be part of a group of senators…

My work in these groups often referred to as "gangs" has won me both praise and condemnation and has often put me at odds with some in my own party…

In 2005, I joined a 13 of my colleagues in an agreement…

I fought hard to convince my colleagues of the damage…

I'm telling you, the man was suffering out there. Sadly, of course, Senator McCain found himself forced by circumstance and by his ungrateful nation to do exactly what Mitch McConnell wanted him to do.

I'm left with no choice. I will vote to change the rules to allow Judge Gorsuch to be confirmed by a simple majority. I do so with great reluctance.

The name "Merrick Garland," of course, did not pass his lips. God, this debate is going to be awful.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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