CNN’s Candy Crowley explained the news network’s seeming fixation on Sen. John McCain for foreign policy analysis, after some viewers asked her why she has him on her program so often.
Crowley spoke to the Arizona Republican on Sunday about the rapid advance of ultra-violent jihadists in Iraq, with McCain slamming President Obama’s limited airstrikes as too timid to halt the Islamic State’s ruthless advance.
For those familiar with cable news, McCain appearing on television to criticize the White House’s foreign policy is essentially a daily occurrence. And some viewers are growing tired 0f the routine.
“Senator McCain, lot of people, when we have you on, often say, ‘Why do you have him on so often?'” she said. “And we say, ‘Because he answers our questions, because he expresses his views quite clearly.'”
“And very often what we get back — and I think you get it on Twitter, too — is, ‘That’s just John McCain!'” she continued. “‘There isn’t a thing this president could do that John McCain would approve of when it comes to foreign policy. Your reply?”
McCain objected to the characterization. “Well, my reply is that there are a number of things that the president has done foreign-policy-wise that I have not only approved of, but supported,” he said — though he did not name a single one of these areas of agreement.
The senator added that the world has become increasingly dangerous under President Obama’s administration. “When the United States of America withdraws from leadership of the world, it creates a vacuum,” he asserted. “And bad things happen.”