What détente?
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) ratcheted up his rhetoric against President Barack Obama on Friday, accusing his administration of being “near delusional” in their assessment of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose forces have occupied the Ukrainian Crimea.
“I think many things and I’ll try to be brief,” McCain told Andrea Mitchell on “MSNBC.” “One is a fundamental understanding of Vladimir Putin. They have been near delusional in thinking the Cold War was over.”
“Maybe the President thinks the Cold War is over,” he added, “but Vladimir Putin doesn’t and that’s what this is all about.”
If the Cold War never truly ended, it sure fooled former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, the latter of which famously peered into Putin’s soul and proclaimed him “a very straight forward and trustworthy” man.
It also fooled John McCain, who faced off against Obama in the 2008 presidential race.
“The Cold War is over, the Soviet empire is gone and neither one is missed,” he once told a group of military veterans during the campaign.
This post has been updated.
