Sen. John McCain suggested that he was tired when he questioned fired FBI director James Comey on Thursday, a performance that lit up Twitter and the Internet with unsparing criticism.
The 80-year-old Arizona Republican joked that maybe he shouldn’t have stayed up late watching the Arizona Diamondbacks playing a night game out West.
“What I was trying to get at was whether Mr. Comey believes that any of his interactions with the president rise to the level of obstruction of justice,” McCain said in a statement after his questioning.
Instead, McCain flummoxed Comey with a question about why “the investigation of anything former Secretary Clinton had to do with the campaign is over and we don’t have to worry about it anymore?”
Comey pointed out they were separate investigations, begun at different times.
“I’m a little confused,” Comey responded. “With respect to Secretary Clinton, we investigated a criminal investigation in connection with her use of a personal email server.”
McCain said he doesn’t understand how Comey could be done with the Clinton probe having concluded no charges were warranted, but wouldn’t say the same about the Russian investigation. Comey said the Russian investigation is ongoing as far as he knows.
McCain, who can alternate between gruff and self-deprecating, afterward made light of the mess.
“I get the sense from Twitter that my line of questioning today went over people’s heads,” McCain said in a statement. Turning more serious, McCain said, “while I missed an opportunity in today’s hearing, I still believe this question is important, and I intend to submit it in writing to Mr. Comey for the record.”
The Diamondbacks joined in, retweeting McCain’s statement with the “shrug” emoticon.
(AP)
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7 Responses
The man’s 80.
Who and what are the “Diamondbacks?”
A great hero and public servant, but it may be time for him to retire, it was painful to watch his complete confusion.
Senator John McCain has always been a respected Senator. Had he been elected President, he would have performed admirably as a strong proponent of values that we hold dear. However, at this point, he is at the crossroads. Some older Senators, like all older people (and this writer is not young), can keep going at an advanced age and still effectively represent their constituency and continue to be strong advocates for their respective points of view. Others, like President Reagan (who during his term of office was a master of communication), were made to realize that it was time to bid the public arena good-bye. Regretfully, yesterday’s performance at the Comey Hearing, makes us all realize that Senator McCain is no longer the person that he was. To preserve his self-respect and to be remembered positively for all his very significant accomplishments in the past, it is now time for Senator McCain to retire.
Who are you kidding he is on the wrong side of every issue and gets a pass because he is the a so-called hero
To motcha11: The Diamondbacks are an amateur singing group of shop owners on 47th Street in New York. They have a weekly TV show that is syndicated in several markets around the US, including Phoenix, AZ.
There is another group from Kentucky called the Diamondbacks. They don’t sing – they are religious Christian fundamentalist snake handlers. They once contacted a Chabad house in Louisville, KY, to try to get Chabad to promote snake handling among Jews, but Chabad turned the down.
Snigger.