A lion of the Senate held the floor this afternoon.

After a procedural vote cleared the way for more debate over a swirl of would-be replacement health-care plans – and amid a distracting sideline play over the rough relationship between a president and his attorney general – Sen. John McCain (R) of Arizona gave an address in which he cited the “necessity of compromise” and mutual trust. He decried tribalism.

“Our deliberations can still be important and useful,” he said, “but I think we can all agree that they haven't been overburdened by greatness lately."

He also hailed the institution in which he has worked for three decades, saying that “the problem-solving our system does make possible, the fitful progress it produces, and the liberty and justice it preserves, is a magnificent achievement.”

While Senator McCain has taken his share of hard lines, he is well loved by colleagues on both sides of the aisle. That has been reflected in the bipartisan outpouring since it was announced that he had been diagnosed with cancer.

He can be gruff. “But that is loved, too,” says Francine Kiefer, who covers Capitol Hill for the Monitor. “McCain once told me I had asked him the stupidest question he had ever heard,” Francine says. “I felt like I had arrived.”

The former POW is a renowned hawk, “not afraid to hold President Trump’s feet to the fire on Russia, or Syria,” Francine points out. He put out a strong statement on Syria just last week when he learned that Mr. Trump aimed to cut CIA funding for the rebels there.

Mostly, there’s been a tough artistry to his dealmaking. And McCain is for many a reminder of the place that professionalism, and focused passion, have in statecraft.