McCain and Graham, Irrelevant or Dangerous

Imagine U.S. Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana attacking fellow Democrats Diane Feinstein, Chuck Schumer and Richard Blumenthal over their unconstitutional gun control proposals. Further, envision Manchin granting an interview with conspiratorial radio talk show host Alex Jones, during which the senator calls Feinstein, Schumer and Blumenthal “wacko birds.” Picture the harrumphing that would emanate from the elite media...
Diane Sawyer, ABC News: “An inexplicable thing happened in Washington today. In a bizarre tantrum gone public, two Senate Democrats attacked three esteemed colleagues for their work to stop mass shootings like the one at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut...”
Brian Williams, NBC News: “You don’t often see this kind of testiness in the collegial upper chamber, but today a pair of Democratic Senators let their tempers get the better of them by impugning the motives of fellow Senators Diane Feinstein, Charles Schumer and Richard Blumenthal...”
Scott Pelley, CBS News: “In a strange diatribe that almost sounded like a manifesto, two Democrats unloaded on three of their senate colleagues today. Senators Diane Feinstein, Charles Schumer and Richard Blumenthal — who have worked feverishly to make sensible gun legislation the law of the land — were themselves subjected to a merciless assault, albeit verbal, from two of their fellow Democrats...”
Wolf Blitzer, CNN: “What has happened to the decorum of the United States Senate? Two Democrats ran completely off the rails this week in a fit of pique not seen since President Lyndon Johnson clashed with Dixiecrats in the great civil rights battles of the 1960s...”
Rachel Maddow, MSNBC (in her best snarky voice): “Two rogue Democrats — Joe Manchin of West Virginny, and Jon Tester from Militia-land, somewhere in Montana — savaged three of their colleagues on the floor of the U.S. Senate today. Manchin then took to the air waves, granting an exclusive interview to paranoid, far-right wing radio host Alex Jones. During that interview, Senator Manchin called fellow Democrats Diane Feinstein, Charles Schumer and Richard Blumenthal “wacko birds” because they don’t want five-year-olds buying Uzis on the streets of America! This was on the Alex Jones show! Talk about your wacko birds!”
In reality, Democrat politicians don’t do this to one another. Furthermore, if such a situation did occur, it is improbable that the mainstream media would report on it at all. They would bury it along with the truth about Benghazi and a hundred other scandals over the last four years.
But if they did cover the story, it would be as I have described it. In other words, they would circle the wagons and throw Manchin and Tester under the bus so fast it would send a whole new thrill up Chris Matthews’ leg.
Not so when John McCain and Lindsay Graham condemned fellow GOP Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas, as well as Republican Congressman Justin Amash of Michigan, who supported Senator Paul’s 13-hour filibuster on the Senate floor last week.
Senator Paul simply wanted an opinion from Attorney-General Eric Holder as to whether the President of the United States has the constitutional authority to use weaponized drones to kill American citizens, without due process, on American soil. (By the way, my 7-year-old grandson came up with a “no” answer long before Holder did.)
For this perceived outrage, the cantankerous McCain, who long ago chose to transform himself from an American hero into a political clown for the amusement of Washington media elites, granted an interview to the loony-left Huffington Post website to vent his displeasure. Therein, he referred to Senator Paul, Senator Cruz and Rep. Amash as “wacko birds.”
Amash, who has taken on McCain & company before, especially on Twitter, tweeted in response, “Sen McCain called @SenRandPaul, @SenTedCruz & me ‘wacko birds.’ Bravo, Senator. You got us. Did you come up with that at #DinnerWithBarack?” — a reference to McCain and Graham having dinner with the president just before their condemnation of their colleagues.
Amash has put his finger on the pulse of the problem. John McCain and Lindsay Graham have been in Washington far too long. When a Republican United States Senator prefers to attack Rand Paul and Ted Cruz for defending liberty rather than Barack Obama and Eric Holder for trying to destroy it, that senator has become irrelevant at best or dangerous at worst.
Doug Patton describes himself as a recovering political speechwriter who agrees with himself more often than not. His weekly columns are syndicated by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate. Readers are encouraged to email him at dpatton@cagle.com and/or to follow him on Twitter at @Doug_Patton.