Meghan McCain: Tea Party can’t hold US hostage
Oct 15, 2013, 5:55 PM
When it comes to the government shutdown, Meghan McCain said it’s wrong of the Tea Party to hold America hostage because they lost in the last election.
“I just don’t understand how you can sort of take the Senate and control of the government hostage because the American public disagreed with you,” she told News/Talk 92.3 KTAR’s Mac & Gaydos on Tuesday.
McCain was referencing Mitt Romney’s defeat in the presidential election. A large part of his platform was to repeal the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare. She said that, though she’s against Obamacare, she understood that her viewpoint lost in the election and that is how democracy works.
“I don’t think that one small section of the American public, which doesn’t represent the mass, should be in control.”
McCain went on to say that members of the Tea Party within the Republican Party will do what it takes to fulfill their agenda, even if it hurts the United States.
“It’s just this fringe element of the party right now and the country right now that will do anything and everything just to get it heard, it doesn’t matter how much damage it does to the country or our party.
“They do not care.”
She also said that for anyone within the Tea Party to identify themselves as Ronald Reagan Republicans is wrong, as the former president had a track record of reaching across the aisle.
“I think extremism is what’s popular in this country,” she said.
When asked about her father, Sen. John McCain, Meghan said he has not been optimistic since the shutdown happened over two weeks ago.
“It has been a long time since I’ve heard my dad this depressed and this pessimistic,” she said. “He’s just sad.”
McCain said she was discouraged by the actions of her own party and said everybody is feeling about the same way.
“I think anybody from any party is humiliated about how our government is conducting themselves at this moment,” she said.
