A. He picked up the habit from his dad.

"Consciously or not, the son was fast in the process of acquiring some of his father's favorite speech patterns and devices, such as Jack McCain's tendency, in conversing with someone, to use the phrase "my friend" at the end of a sharp or stern point that he thought was deserving of emphasis."

<link>

So it's not really a "friendly" way of speaking, but rather a sarcastic one? I.e., "Time for you to clean your room, my friend, or no Six Flags for you" or "Stop building nuclear devices, my friend, or we will bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran"?

That, as the graduate students say, problematizes McCain's use of the threatening phrase in non-threatening contexts.

Great link..

Looks like the 3 McCain generations were/are not too bright but gave each other a leg up the military ladder.Determination succeeding where brains faltered.
A