McCain: Ask The People Of Ukraine If Mitt Romney Was Right About Russia

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Mitt Romney was right about Russia, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said Tuesday, and if you want to know why look to the Ukrainian people.

The former governor of Massachusetts was ridiculed during the 2012 presidential campaign for calling Vladimir Putin’s Russia — not Iran or North Korea — the United States’ biggest “geopolitical foe.” A senior editor at the New Republic agreed with that assessment on Monday.

Asked Tuesday how Obama misread the situation, McCain attributed to what he claims is an overly idealistic nature.

“Because the president views the world how he wants it to be, not how it is,” he said on Fox News. “He has ignored the signs throughout. Vladimir Putin has made moves and the president has ignored them. He believes Vladimir Putin can be dealt with. And Vladimir Putin can be dealt with but only in the context of an individual who is bent on restoring the empire and maintaining that position.”

The Arizona Republican, who lost to President Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign, noted that he warned the country about Russia even before Romney did in 2012.

“And you might run the clip of me in 2008 saying watch Russia or when he told Romney the Cold War has been over for 20 years,” he said of the president.

Latest Livewire
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: