Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is in "good spirits" as he fights Stage 4 brain cancer, said Mark Salter, who is authoring McCain's book with him.
"He's working really hard to get strong . . . he was in good spirits, cracking jokes," Salter said Monday on "CBS This Morning." "His nurses, some of them are new, they don't really know him, so they don't understand that sarcasm is his form of affection."
Salter is the coauthor of McCain's book, "The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations," named after a Navy hymn, the report said.
The coauthor noted McCain wanted to use the book to show what America means to him.
"It's 60 years now of service to this country, in uniform and in public office," Salter told CBS. "That's a long, long time. And it means something very personal to him and he wanted to express gratitude and the joy he's had for being able to do that."
The book was already being worked on when McCain received his cancer diagnosis, Salter said.
"He said, 'Well, let's write a foreword and a conclusion that I can record while I'm still strong enough to do it,'" Salter said. "So, we did that, and those are probably the most personal parts of the book."
McCain focuses on getting lawmakers to work together, Salter said.
"He recognizes that so much more unites us than divides us, and that in this country the only way you can get things done is together, to make incremental progress in the problems of our time," Salter said.
The book goes on sale May 22.
McCain toasted his wife Cindy McCain for 37 years of marriage Thursday.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.