October 13, 2013

It looks like someone put a little more piss and vinegar than usual into Grandpa McGrumpy's coffee this Sunday. Apparently Sen. John McCain thinks it's the Democrats' job to save face for the Republicans after they've boxed themselves into a corner with this government shutdown, and don't dare "humiliate" them by asking for Republicans to give a single concession.

And if he doesn't get his way, well, Democrats had better look out, because "What goes around comes around." Really McCain? As Sarah Jones over at PoliticusUSA pointed out, after what we've been through for the last five years, what do they think they've got left to threaten everyone with?

John McCain Threatens Revenge on Democrats if They Humiliate Republicans on Govt Shutdown:

As he made a discombobulated, shaky case for why Democrats were somehow responsible for Republicans’ failure of leadership, and fretted about Al-Qaeda coming after us while we were shutdown, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) huffed on CBS’ Face the Nation that Democrats better stop humiliating Republicans. He tried to sound scary from beneath the pin of GOP defeat, “Democrats better understand something, what goes around comes around!” So there. NEENER NEENER. [...]

To clarify, are Republicans being “magnanimous” now? Because it’s been five years of Republicans calling Obama a terrorist, asking for his birth certificate, and shouting about impeaching him because of his skin color. They’ve crapped all over his nominations and stalled his entire agenda. In McCain’s chamber, Republicans as the minority have set records for filibustering. In the House, they have set the record for pretend votes to repeal ObamaCare. So, this is “magnanimous”, eh?

Democrats better watch out! When Republicans are in charge, they aren’t going to be magnanimous to Democrats. No more “you’re either with us or against us” or “you’re a terrorist if you don’t vote to invade Iraq” niceness.

McCain thinks we're stupid enough to believe they're ever going to play nicely if they're allowed back in charge of the government again. Yeah, and the beatings will stop when morale improves. Full transcript of his nonsense below the fold:

SCHIEFFER: All right. Senator, thank you so much. Well, I'm going to the other side of the table here and Senator McCain. Senator McCain, do you see any kind of a path to a deal here?

MCCAIN: I'm glad that negotiations are going on. I'm disappointed that twice they were close to a deal and the Democrats moved to go oppose, in light of the polling data. I'm very disappointed that the president of the United States has not played a more active role in this as Bill Clinton did back in '95. I am very disappointed that the 12 of us, led by Senator Collins, Senator Ayotte, Senator Murkowski, Senator Klobuchar, Senator Manchin -- we had a plan, and we wanted to present that plan. And the Democrat leadership squashed it. We were ready to go to the press gallery, OK? And the Democratic leadership said no. And I still wonder why, unless maybe it was too generous. So I'm hopeful that we will get negotiations. I hope the president will become engaged. Maybe we need to get -- maybe we need to get Joe Biden out of the witness protection program because he has good relationships with...

SCHIEFFER: We haven't heard very much from him.

Let me -- let me ask you this, Senator. Do you think it is possible to get a deal that does not get a majority of the Republicans in the House of Representatives?

MCCAIN: You know, I don't know, and I hate to tell the House Republicans what they should to. They resent it, and I understand that. I was once in the House and thought we were a bunch of snobs, which is probably true. But the fact is that -- that they're going to have to understand that we're on a fool's errand when we say that we're going to defund Obamacare. Now that has all -- that has all changed. And could I just mention one other thing? The director of national intelligence said that the shutdown is extremely damaging to our ability to defend this nation. Look, Al Qaida's not in shutdown. And when I saw, as you did, these death benefits not being given to families, I'll take -- everybody take the blame. But it's not acceptable to the American people. It's not acceptable.

And -- and we should be sitting down, and the president should be engaged, and the Democrats, they better understand something. What goes around comes around. And if they try to humiliate Republicans, things change in American politics, and I know what it's like to be in the majority and in the minority, and it won't be forgotten. Now is the time to be magnanimous and sit down and get this thing done.

SCHIEFFER: Let me ask you this, Senator. How is it -- I've been in Washington a long time; you've been in Washington a long time -- that a freshman senator, less than a year in office, Ted Cruz, was able to lead your party into what some in your party are calling a box canyon here? How did this happen?

MCCAIN: I think the very extreme dissatisfaction that many people feel. There was already fertile ground because of those many members of the House who were elected in 2010 on the promise that they would repeal and replace Obamacare. And by the way, there are many of us who fought it back to 2009. We still want it changed. But to say that we were going to defund it just -- after the 2012 elections, every speech I gave all over the country, we'll repeal and replace Obamacare. Well, we lost. So, we still can fight provisions of it. And the irony of all this is, the roll-out is a fiasco. That should be on the front page of newspapers.

SCHIEFFER: But what about Ted Cruz and the impact that he's had? Is that a positive for Republicans?

MCCAIN: Oh, obviously it's very divisive in our party. But Ted Cruz is entitled to his views, and he's very articulate. He's very intelligent. And what we need to do is to have this debate within the Republican Party. And it's going to be a serious debate. And, look, I respect Senator Cruz. He didn't make any bones about what he was going to do when he came to Washington. The question is, is should we follow that leadership or should we go in other directions and coalesce the majority of the American people? Look, I guess we can get lower in the polls. We're down to blood relatives and paid staffers now. But we've got to turn this around. And the Democrats had better help us rather than do what they've done -- turn down two good proposals that they were about to agree to, and then, of course, this proposal that they just scuttled yesterday.

SCHIEFFER: What do you think the sticking point is?

MCCAIN: The major sticking point, of course, is sequestration as you mentioned, which -- that's the key element, and I'm very worried about the devastation to our military and our defense. But at the same time, we do have to reign in spending. That's a major sticking point here.

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