“‘Ah, that angry old white
guy. He, you know what,
he’s just bitter about losing.’”
AGING
BULL
maverick morphed into that of
an angry old man. In 2010, McCain again ran to the right again
in his primary against former Rep.
J.D. Hayworth, taking a hardline
stance on immigration and the
need for a border fence.
Since winning his sixth term,
he has been an outspoken critic of
the Obama administration
over what to do in Syria and the
attack on the U.S. consulate in
Benghazi, and he’s had a series
of high-profile exchanges with
Obama cabinet officials. “I must
say you’ve been making more
news as a questioner than I have,”
Fox News’ Chris Wallace said
when the senator appeared on Fox
News Sunday in February, citing
McCain’s interrogation of outgoing defense secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs Chairman
Martin Dempsey on Syria.
At Hillary Clinton’s last hearing as secretary of state before the
Senate Armed Services Committee, McCain opened with heartfelt
and effusive praise and gratitude
for her service, and then proceeded to rip into her answers on
Benghazi. McCain and Clinton are
friends, going back to her days in
the Senate. But that didn’t stop
him from blasting her in public.
And after McCain’s sharp
questioning of Hagel at his Senate confirmation hearing last
month, MSNBC host Chris Matthews accused McCain of being
“angrier than ever” and suggested his queries for Hagel were
caused by a “flashback” to his
days in combat and as a POW.
McCain did misstep in midNovember, when he called a press
conference to complain about the
lack of answers from the White
House about the terr orist attacks
on the Benghazi consulate, only
to have it emerge later that he
was missing a nearly two-hour
classified briefing on the subject
that occurred at the same time as
his press conference. A spokesman said it was a “scheduling
error,” but McCain snapped at a
reporter and grew agitated when
asked about it.
Nonetheless, stories asking
different variations of the same
question — “Who is the real
John McCain?” — have exasperated McCain’s friends, supporters and staff. Mark Salter,
HUFFINGTON
03.31.13