“If you had told me two years ago that John McCain would end his active national political life perceived by many as the candidate of the special interests tied to lobbyists; that many people considered his campaign dishonorable and focused on small things; that he wasn’t seen as presidential and the right person to have in a crisis; and that the broad center in American politics had turned against him, I would have laughed in your face,” said John Weaver, his longtime friend who resigned from the campaign in a power struggle last year.

“That’s not who he is,” Weaver said. “But that’s the campaign that he chose.”