John McCain's close friend Lindsey Graham has mixed laughter and tears on the US Senate floor as he remembered "Operation Maverick", which he described as lessons in choosing "what's right at your own expense".
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"He taught me that honour and imperfection are always in competition," Senator Graham said on Tuesday, reading from a handwritten outline next to McCain's empty desk, now topped with roses.
"I do not cry for a perfect man. I cry for a man who had honour and always was willing to admit to his imperfection."
Graham's tears were the rawest point in a day in which members were still coming to grips with a Senate now permanently without McCain's wily, white-haired presence, something that had been a constant feature of the institution for more than 30 years.
At one point, Joe Manchin stepped behind the desk, crossed himself, kissed his fingers and touched the black draping.
McCain died on Saturday at home in Arizona after 13 months battling brain cancer. He had not been back to Washington since December because of his illness.
As the Senate churned though business on Tuesday, McCain's death sat very much at the centre of proceedings and at the front of his colleagues' minds.
Only four of them know a Senate without McCain, who was elected in 1986 and had become a mentor and moral compass to newcomers.
"No one is more worthy of the word 'hero' than John McCain," Orrin Hatch, the most senior Republican in the Senate, said in his own speech.
Graham's eyes and nose were red when he entered the chamber. "I have been thinking about this. I have been dreading this. And now I'm going to do this" eulogy, Graham said, identifying himself as McCain's "political wingman, code name Little Jerk".
He said his speech would resemble an "after action report" and be titled, "Operation Maverick" for McCain's unconventional path and his rebellious streak.
He said McCain's ultimate lesson is forgiveness and love. Graham also said he hopes people remember one thing "when it comes to the life of John McCain: that it's okay to say, 'I screwed up. I got this wrong,"' - as McCain did after the Keating Five savings and loan scandal, after the presidential race and even after cursing too much.
"Honour is, in my view, doing the right thing at your own expense. And he did that time and time again," Graham said.
McCain's funeral procession will begin on Wednesday in Phoenix, where he'll lie in state at the state Capitol. Services will be held on Thursday. He arrives back in Washington on Friday to lie in state under the Rotunda for public viewing and a formal ceremony.
His casket will then pass the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and be moved to Washington National Cathedral for a service expected to include remarks by former presidents Barack Obama and President George W. Bush.
An illustrious group will be his pallbearers including actor Warren Beatty, billionaire Michael Bloomberg and former vice-president Joe Biden.
Australian Associated Press
