Looking back at the tragic and deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi last fall, we know quite a bit about what happened. We also know, thanks to an independent investigation, that "Republican charges of a cover-up" were "pure fiction."
But as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) argued yesterday, he can't be bothered with facts -- he has a partisan vendetta to pursue.
For those who can't watch clips online, "Meet the Press" host David Gregory pressed the Republican senator on the unsubstantiated charge that the Obama administration has engaged in a "massive cover-up." Gregory asked a simple question: "A cover-up of what?"
McCain, just a few days after explaining how important it is not to be "disagreeable," became unusually belligerent, asking the host whether he cares about the deaths of four Americans.
Gregory tried to get an answer anyway, responding, "You said there is a cover-up. A cover-up of what?" McCain, unable to think of anything substantive, said, "Of the information concerning the deaths of four brave Americans."
Even for McCain, whose capacity has deteriorated sharply in recent years, this was a pathetic display.
Remember, McCain has had several months to think about this. He's sat through classified and unclassified briefings. He's participated in a series of congressional hearings. He's (presumably) read the results of independent investigations, and had his own questions answered, verbally and in writing.
And yet after all of this, McCain is not only ignorant of the basics, he doesn't understand his own conspiracy theory. The senator, after pondering the issue since September, still believes there's an elaborate "cover-up," but doesn't know why he thinks this.
The exchange on "Meet the Press" wasn't awkward; it wasn't bizarre; it was alarming.
This was the point at which it might have dawned on everyone watching, including journalists who still consider the senator an credible on foreign policy and national security, "Good lord, John McCain has no idea what he's talking about."
I hate to be a stickler for such things, but as a rule, when the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee accuses the White House on national television of orchestrating a cover-up as part of a terrorist attack, it's not too much to ask that the senator have some idea what he's talking about.
But in this case, McCain is simply lost in a fog of his own partisan rage. At this point, the man doesn't understand what he doesn't understand, and worse, he just doesn't care. McCain no longer thinks it matters that he can't back up his accusations; he simply wants to keep making them. And if you press him for details he should understand, the increasingly unhinged senator will suggest you're indifferent to the deaths of Americans at terrorists' hands.
Why? Because he's John McCain.
Incidentally, this was McCain's fourth Sunday show appearance of the new year -- that's four appearances in seven weeks -- which suggests he'll have another opportunity to answer similar questions in a national setting very soon.
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What do we want? A cure for Alzheimer's! When do we want it? When do we want what?
It is time for John McCain to retire. Ever since losing his presidential election he seems to have lost it. Seriously lost it.
Perhaps it would be worthwhile to commission an independent study of every attack on US embassies and consulates since 9/11, given that there were more leading up to 2008 than between 2008 and now. The study could end with policy recommendations aimed at protecting diplomatic personnel posted in hot spots. This is what McCain would push for if his agenda was noble and transparent. In fact, he is bitter that he lost the 2008 election due to his own incompetency as a candidate. He can't get over it. The mainstream media should stop enabling him before this public display of decline becomes a full- on train wreck.
Im waiting for him to fully break off and just say "GET OFF OF MY LAWN YOU N!&&@!"
Thats gonna be the BEST day as it will insure the last of the republican hopes to act like they arent a bunch of racist pigs... kinda like the guy who slapped a baby on a plane and said "SHUT THAT N!&&#R BABY UP!"
He dosnt think he was being racists either... SERIOUSLY, GO CHECK HIS STORY.
McCain has had it his way his whole life, except for national elections where he played the fool. He is fighting for his political life now and knows that all has to do is yell out keywords. There is no intelligent debate on television for the most part because "we have to move on and sell some stuff". We live in a keyword society. I am looking forward to the new era of speeches and debate from political or corporate leaders where the individual just says words instead of a proper sentence. The fact that so many people in this country believe Obama is a muslim socialist speaks volumes about our society, or, maybe just 131 keywords.
David , as I have mentioned earlier is not fit to continue MTP as his questions and research , both are weak and he lets guests walk all over him , dodge the questions . Rachel Maddow or Luke should be given a chance.
Chris Mathews had it right during the 2008 campaign when he said that McCain reminded him of an old main in robe and slippers out on his front porch yelling at a kid to get off his lawn. It's time that his wife sold one of their many houses and bought him a golf cart and a nice rambler in Sun City and put him out to pasture.
This guy is just Old, Bitter and Senile. Sad And PATHETIC.
Any journalist worth their salt would respond to McCain that as an American, they care about their countrymen, but as a journalist, they care about facts and questions pertaining thereto, not speculations and questions based thereupon.
If you don't know anything, don't report it. Report what you know and what is happening, and never let an interpretation of the facts or the evidence be all you go on.
McCain accusing the White House of covering up something is just meant to say "you can't trust them, because they're in power." We've seen bigger coverups from his own party, and that's a fact, from Nixon onwards.
"Republican charges of a cover-up" were "pure fiction." But as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) argued yesterday, he can't be bothered with facts -- he has a partisan vendetta to pursue." --- Exactly! The Republicans are well known for lies and deceit, it seems to have become the party of treachery. The extreme partisanship is too radical for America!
Vietnam proved that McCain was incompetent.
The Keating Five proved McCain was corrupt.
This interview proved that McCain has no business in the Senate.
What filth.
And sadly he is better than some of the other Republican senators -- sad and scary.
I was first diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in 1990. Since then I have had in excess of 6,000 hours of individual and group therapy and that continues as of this writing at the Loma Linda, Ca. Vetrans Hospital so I probably know what I'm talking about when it comes to observing PTSD patients and their behavir.
Diminished Capicity, delusional, excessive anger, uncoordinated thought processes....
I have maintained for years John McCain has PTSD as a result of his service to our country. I was also a pilot, albeit helicopters not jet bombers. When helicopters were shot down by the VC or NVA we were killed or tortured and then killed as opposed to those pilots shot down while bombing the North. They were more often that not captured as it made for superb propaganda parading them by bombed out hospitals or quaint villages with extensive bombing damage.
But we all know what happens to a political career or potential political career if there's any mention of a pshchological problem.
And PTSD being one of the most dangerous and severe Neuropsychiatric disorders imaginable... Well... any career would be done before it ever got started.
Check the book, "Castrated Hearts PTDS" by 17 male and female U.S. Military Veterans all of whom acquired PTSD as a result of their service to our country.
Dear Roadrunner: I hope your treatments will be successful and that your country will pay for and provide the treatment that you need.
One of the reasons that McCain thinks Hagal is unfit to be Sec. of Defense is that Hagal has been on the ground in a real war and knows the horrors of war. Hagal has said that war must be a last resort. He does not want to bomb Iran. McCain as a bomber pilot dropped his bombs from a high altitude and did not see the human cost of the bombs he dropped. He may have had to deal with being a prisoner of war, but he did not have to watch his brothers in arms get blown to pieces in battle.
As a helicopter pilot your missions were probably at a lower altitude and closer to the carnage. I do not dispute your contention that McCain has PTSD. I have only been trying to figure out why he thinks Hagal is unfit to be Sec. of Defense. It would seem to be because Hagel does not want to go to war at every provocation.
Thank you for your service to the United States. I hope that you are finding help in dealing with PTSD. My husband also served as a bomber pilot in Viet Nam.
37.1 It's pretty clear to me McCain's opposition to Hagel is more sour grapes. He feels betrayed by his former friend and colleague who has deigned to join the opposition.
It is getting a little ridiculous with McCain,personally I really dont think he is well? I am serious,he should retire and let someone talk intellengently about the issues .he is so jealous of the President it is a shame.he needs to step aside and stay home with his wife,and focus on her...not the U.S.
Is John McCain the only Republican allowed on Sunday talk shows?He is having a mental breakdown-not saying this to be cruel.Someone needs to stop him .
McCain appears to have the first signs of dementia --
He should retire.
Got to wonder what the people of Arizona are thinking of him these days...and whether a conservative Democrat might have a shot at unseating him
4 weeks out of 7. This ubiquity is not McCain's fault, but rather that of NBC, David Gregory and Meet The Press.
If "Sen. Abe Simpson" is not given his weekly soapbox, we do not have to listen to his senile ramblings.
In this case, the press, and David Gregory in particular, are feeding the beast...
Personally, I'm tired of the polite yet absurd fiction that John McCain has ever been a "thoughtful, moderate centrist Republican." He is what he has always been: a bitter, deranged, war-mongering gigolo who was long ago driven to madness over the self-knowledge that his only real accomplishment in wife was finding a rich sugar-momma to finance his campaigns.
Just as there is a re-validation of your ability to drive, shouldn't there be a governing test...a medical/mental examination that needs to be passed and shared with the public? These people put our country at risk and need to be checked.
Retire before you make a bigger jerk of yourself and the GOP
Actually, maybe McCain and Graham should keep at it. They are the FACE of the real gop. Who would seriously want these people in office again? Evidently neither got the message from Jindal or Rubio or rove's group to quit saying stupid stuff .
I once thought highly of McCain, but now Mc180Cain has gone over the deep end and joined the dark side! I voted for this man once. A much greater effort must be made to change the mix in Washington. Get registered, vote, and get out the vote! We well know the truth of the concentration of wealth in the hands of fewer and fewer people and the concentration of power in stricter, less compassionate hands. "Sweep your state Capital CLEAN....in 2014" "Sweep the House CLEAN....in 2014" "Sweep the Senate CLEAN....in 2014"
just shows we need to put age limits in place for those holding public office....
Just like the conspiracy nuts keep waffling about the Moon Landings, McCain simply CANNOt accept there are NO ANSWERS to give ? Like a small child he keeps asking 'why' no matter how comprehensive the answer is.
Senator McCain has gone way past the "grumpy old man" syndrome. He appears to have quite simply "gone off"......It is just a pity that it has to be so public....
I really think it is time for John McCain to think about retiring from active politics. He is really beginning to look as if he is really losing it, and slipping into slow dementia. I am a senior myself, and he is looking and sounding really bad. I also think that Meet the Press, and other political shows have him on as a guest entirely too much. It is boring!