senator, i wanted to know if you know if mitt romney and paul ryan agree with your views about the necessity for a greater military intervention or a greater american intervention in syria. do they agree with you on that? they agree with me, rachel, on that we need to provide arms to the syrian resistance. they believe it is shameful, and it is shameful. we sat by and watched 20,000 people massacred, men, women, and children. tortured and gang raped. i think they obviously are embarrassed, as i am, that the president of the united states won t even speak up. when was the last time the president spoke up for these people much less did something about it? i m sure their view is very different from this president who is awol, in case you missed what that means, absence without official leave. and senator, do you feel freer to be tough on the president now that you re not his direct opponent and the nominee? do you feel somehow more
ground in tand the conflict is becoming more dangerous by the day for our allies and for us. in other times, when other courageous people fought for their freedom against sworn enemies of the united states, american presidents both republicans and democrats, have acted to help them prevail. sadly sadly for the lonely voices of dissent in syria and iran and elsewhere in the world who feel forgotten in their darkness and sadly for us as well, our president is not being true to our values. for the sake of the cause of freedom, for the sake of people who are willing to give their lives so their fellow citizens can determine their own futures and for the sake of our nation,
honesty and courage, but here he was giving a real bell ringer for war. and i think that was the last thing, even anyone in the room, was happy to hear. steesk, as someone who was so intimately involved with the campaign, the point chris made about strategy and the campaign, that mccain himself personally didn t want to go there in that racially inflected stuff, is that something he continued to advocate for in the party? here he s making a pure national security speech, not talking tactics, not talking politics, a couple shots at the president, but it s mostly why aren t we invading syria. does he have a political strategy role that people pay attention to? when you re a defeating presidential candidate and you stay in the united states senate, his political future is much more in line with what happened to ted kennedy, for instance, after he lost the race in 1980. he s not a political player in the sense that he has control over strategy. his involvement, and you just heard it, i
republican foreign policy critique of the administration, and to chris point, broadly speaking, i do think that there s a fundamental disconnect between the republican foreign policy establishment and even republican voters on these questions. this is a war weary nation. you can talk about our strategy in afghanistan. you can talk about we must say there until peace is at hand or victory is won, but the reality is we re going to leave afghanistan. we will leave afghanistan, nothing will have changed in that country. it is a tribal, islamic society with forces rooting it in the seventh century. we have had dozens of american men murdered by afghan comrades of arms. there s no discernible strategy, and i think that when the american people think about syria, they think about iran, they think about libya, they
liberated to be tough on the president? no, i just thought that the president wouldn t be this bad on national security issues. i had no idea that he would sit by and watch people slaughtered without saying a word about it. i am astonished that he doesn t believe in american exceptionalism, i m astonished he wants america to lead from behind. we appreciate your time. back to you. thank you, kelly. thank you senator mccain. that s sort of a remarkable answer. he did call for additional intervention in syria and in iran and additional intervention in a number of other places around the country, and he says that mitt romney and paul ryan share his views on that. if we hear mitt romney and paul ryan articulate those views, we ll get to debate them. otherwise, we re taking john mccain s word he s they re on his page on this. we have a ton of news and event coverage and a visit with elizabeth warren of