On Tuesday, Senator John McCain shared his time with a handful of his supporters from his 1982 election campaign at the Sabar Shrine in Tucson, Arizona. McCain dropped in on the Pima County Republican Club to discuss issues over which he says he has no control, such as the proposed demise of the A-10, immigration and Obamacare.
McCain, speaking to the semi-friendly crowd, told those, who refer to him as “Johnny” from back in the day, that without a majority in the Senate, there was virtually nothing he could do to save their community from the economic devastation it will face when the A-10s are to be mothballed. He assured the crowd that he does support the A-10 but argued that unless the Republicans take over the Senate, he has no power. However, McCain made no mention that he has refused fellow Senate Armed Force’s Committee member Kelly Ayotte’s bill designed specifically to save the A-10.
One attendee described the scene as, “a time warp, where everyone was back in 1982, and they were getting a young whipper snapper maverick elected. I was just starting to vote, and they were working to elect Johnny. It was surreal, and kind of depressing. Nothing has changed. Same problems, same answers, no new ideas given. All you have to do is plug in a different country, yesterday’s Iraq and Afghanistan speeches substitute Syria, pushing the same war he pushed years ago. Thirty-two years, and these people are stuck there as McCain reminisced on his run for president, more than five years ago.”
McCain urged arming Syria rebels. He said that they would not need to send troops, just arm the rebels. The docile crowd had many questions, and one attendee took exception to McCain’s take on means testing for Social Security and Medicare.
McCain advised the group that his amnesty plan needs to be embraced by Republicans in order to win the Hispanic vote. He made no humanitarian argument. His sole reason was reform could lead to wins in future elections.
Why do I doubt that reasoning?