Arizona Sen. John McCain fired back Wednesday at fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who earlier this week accused him and Sen. Lindsey Graham of being "lapdogs" for President Barack Obama.
"One of my colleagues today said, 'Yes, McCain and Graham are lapdogs,' they're a couple of Doberman Pinschers," McCain said Tuesday on
Fox News Channel's "Your World with Neil Cavuto."
Paul made his comments Monday to Fox News Channel's
Bill Hemmer. He was responding to Graham's criticism of Paul's foreign policy views.
"This comes from a group of people who have been wrong about every foreign policy issue over the last two decades," Paul said. "They supported Hillary Clinton's war in Libya, they supported President Obama's bombing of Assad.
"They also support President Obama's foreign aid to countries that hate us. So, if there's anyone who is the most opposed to President Obama's foreign policy, it's me. These people are essentially the lapdogs for President Obama, and I think they're sensitive about that."
Asked by Cavuto on Tuesday to respond, McCain echoed the sentiments of his friend Graham.
"Sen. Paul is the worst possible candidate of the 20 or so that are running on the most important issue, which is national security," McCain said. "The record is very clear that he simply does not have an understanding about the needs and the threats of the United States national security."
McCain denied Paul's claims that he and Graham have been wrong on foreign policy.
"We said you've got to arm the Free Syrian Army," McCain said, adding that the entire national security team at the time agreed.
"If we had armed them, [Syrian President] Bashar Assad would have been overthrown," he said, "200,000 people would not have been slaughtered, with millions as refugees."
McCain supports Graham for president, though his friend has not decided whether he will run. But he said he would support whomever the GOP nominee turns out to be — even if it is Paul.
"I would hope that good sense would prevail here, because the reality of the world today does not allow for isolationist policies," he said. "We've already seen what happens from 'leading from behind,' leading from far behind, and that's what Rand Paul would do. But I would hope that many of us could prevail on him to see the world in a very different light."
GOP operative Karl Rove also appeared on Cavuto's show, saying Paul didn't score any points attacking McCain.
"First of all, does that advance his candidacy?" Rove asked. "Does it make him look like a president? Is that the kind of thing we expect out of somebody sitting in the Oval Office?"
Paul likely only angered people who like McCain without gaining any votes from people who dislike McCain, Rove said.
"I don't think we would have expected that from Ronald Reagan or President Bush 41 or President Bush 43," he said. "That's trash talk."
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