What does the last 'it' mean? But even the CIA's defenders are not denying that the CIA tortured lots of people in its attempt to defend Americans. And as Mr McCain argued in his speech, that is bad enough: “The truth is sometimes a hard pill to swallow. It sometimes causes us difficulties at home and abroad. It is sometimes used by our enemies in attempts to hurt us. But the American people are entitled to it, nonetheless.” Thank you.

What's the meaning of the second sentence? His foreign policy can be accused of being short- sighted and naïve. Un- American it was not. Thank you.

Could you explain the point or meaning of the anecdote below? Bush senior learned from his mother, Dorothy Bush, not to claim credit. At the National Press Club in 1988, he was asked, as a joke-question at the end of his appearance, why he was wearing a red tie. His son was sitting nearby: “I stage-whispered ‘Because I spilled gravy on my blue one.’ Dad grabbed the verbal lifeline, and the room erupted in laughter at the self-deprecating quip. Then he ruined the moment by blurting out, ‘That’s what you have a son for.’ . . . [He] was too humble to fake it.” Thank you.

What is 'net drain'? There is an ancient strain in the American political tradition that holds that an active foreign policy is a net drain on domestic priorities, that our allies are merely freeloaders, that we are bankrupting ourselves on military spending, that every U.S. intervention is destined to be a Vietnam-sized disaster, and that the rest of the world should sort itself out. Thank you.

I don't understand the second sentence. Could you rephrase that? Ours is still an American world, but it is presided over by a president who doesn't believe in American power. The best lack all conviction while the worst are filled with passionate intensity—and a sense that the moment is theirs to seize. We know how that story ended. Thank you.

What does this mean? 'A comes much closer to B than half' (both A and B are amounts of money)

What is 'companion materials' here? Thank you in advance. Used books may not include companion materials; notes or highlighting may be present.