Hillary Clinton or Rand Paul in 2016? John McCain says ‘It’s gonna be a tough choice’
The 2008 Republican presidential nominee and senior Senator from Arizona, John McCain, made some interesting and surprising , or not so surprising comments concerning a potential 2016 Presidential match-up between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) in an interview with The New Republic.
In the interview with Isaac Chotiner, McCain was asked first about the Clinton’s performance as Secretary, where he gave Mrs. Clinton kudos, “I think she did a fine job. She’s a rock star. She has, maybe not glamour, but certainly the aura of someone widely regarded throughout the world. I do think it is interesting that the issues where John Kerry is engaging is where Hillary Clinton did not engage in, that those decisions were left to the White House and the National Security Council.”
McCain, an notable interventionist in the US Senate talked of that “element” in the GOP, “but certainly there is an element in the party that has been there prior to [World War II], the isolationist, America-Firsters. Prior to World War I, it was Western senators, and then Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh, and then Taft versus Eisenhower. Even Reagan—Reagan’s presidency was perfect without ever a problem [said sarcastically]—there was an isolationist wing that fought against Reagan. And now the bad economy has exacerbated what has always been out there.”
McCain also acknowledged that Mitch McConnell, Minority Whip John Cornyn, the Republican leadership in the Senate, were from the same states as Paul and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) saying that posed a problem, although he didn’t go any further into it.
In the hypothetical question from Mr. Chotiner concerning the potential presidential battle between Hillary Clinton versus Rand Paul in 2016, ” I guess you are going to have to decide who to vote for, huh?”
McCain answered chuckling, “It’s gonna be a tough choice.”
In addition, McCain suggested that Paul represents the libertarian-leaning segment of the Republican Party that was once represented by his father, former Congressman Ron Paul, R-Texas.
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