Huffington Magazine Issue 42 | Page 45

“... it’s always the wacko birds on right and left that get the media megaphone.” AGING BULL TAKING ON ‘THE WACKO BIRDS’ While McCain has been a fierce critic of the Obama administration, he has also tangled with members of his own party, particularly the new crop of lawmakers including Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), darlings of the conservative grassroots. When I asked him if “these guys” — having just mentioned Amash, Cruz and Paul by name — are a “positive force” in the GOP, McCain paused for a full six seconds. “They were elected, nobody believes that there was a corrupt election, anything else,” McCain said. “But I also think that when, you know, it’s always the wacko birds on right and left that get the media megaphone.” “I think it can be harmful if there is a belief among the American people that those people are reflective of the views of the majority of Republicans. They’re not,” he continued. I asked McCain to clarify who, specifically, he was talking about. “Rand Paul, Cruz, Amash, whoever,” McCain said. When asked about Amash’s recent accusation that a joke McCain made on Twitter about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was “racist,” McCain had a long belly laugh. “Yeah he defended, he defended Ahmadinejad,” McCain said, barely getting his words out. “I thought, ‘Wow, wow! That’s interesting.’ I thought it was a pretty funny line, and all of a sudden this Amash, or whatever his name is, is defending me making a joke about Ahmadinejad.” McCain also criticized Cruz over his suggestion during Hagel’s confirmation hearing that Hagel had accepted money from terrorist groups. “He was making a presentation that said that Chuck Hagel might have taken money from Palestinian organizations, people connected with all that,” McCain said. “Look, you can’t, without any basis in fact — you just don’t go around saying that kind of stuff.” A Cruz spokeswoman said in an e-mail that the Texas senator “has great respect for Sen. McCain and is honored to work with HUFFINGTON 03.31.13