On Sunday, Sen. John McCain went on Fox News to call once again for the U.S. to aid the rebels in Syria. The Arizona Republican and 2008 GOP presidential nominee accused President Obama of conducting a "feckless foreign policy" and of seeking to "kick the can down the road until after the election," adding: "It's really an abdication of everything that America stands for."
Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, offered a response Wednesday, telling msnbc's Andrea Mitchell that aiding the rebels would be dangerous, in part because we don't know exactly who's in charge.
But on Hardball Wednesday, Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton was less diplomatic about McCain's comments. Said Eaton:
Senator McCain has not recovered from 2008. That colors everything that he says and does. And he is not pursuing complex nuanced approaches to solving foreign policy problems. His answer is, airstrikes, airstrikes, airstrikes. And he has marshaled other surrogates for Gov. Romney to have that same party line. It’s unfortunate. And I am delighted to hear Ambassador Rice and the subtlety with which she speaks.
Of course, for McCain this is nothing new. He was a staunch supporter of both Iraq wars, wanted a more robust intervention in Libya, and has even joked about bombing Iran.