Article snippet: Former Vice President Biden (D) paid tribute to his longtime friend and international travel companion, the late Sen. MORE (R-Ariz.), at an emotional memorial service in Arizona on Thursday. Biden spoke with passion and urgency as he recounted a brotherly friendship with McCain that spanned decades and withstood the pressures of the country's increasingly fractured political system. The former Delaware senator, wiping away tears intermittently, said the country is wounded by McCain's death because he "made it easier for them to have confidence and faith in America." "His faith in the core values of this nation made them somehow feel it more genuinely themselves," Biden said. "His conviction, that we as a country would never walk away from the sacrifices generations of Americans have made to defend liberty and freedom and human dignity around the world ... it made average Americans proud of themselves and their country." "His belief, and it was deep, that Americans can do anything, withstand anything, achieve anything, was both unflagging and ultimately reassuring," added Biden, who addressed many of his remarks directly to McCain's family members, expressing pained solidarity over the tragedy of cancer and death. Biden's son, Beau, died three years ago from the same cancer that afflicted McCain in the last year of his life. Biden said he understands that McCain's absence feels "all-consuming" now, like a "black hole." "I know something else, unfortunately, from ... Link to the full article to read more