Remembrances for McCain from Across the Aisle

The famous news media faces were gone. The swarm of reporters who followed U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., had scattered, and only a few of us remained.

John McCain was an essential element of the nation’s political conversation for half a century, an ever-present figure eager to challenge friend and foe through his singular temperament — sometimes angry, often funny, always ardent.