THERE ARE 39 OTHER GOP SENATORS…. NBC News announced the line-up for this week’s “Meet the Press.” Take a wild guess who’ll be on.
Also This Sunday: Exclusive! Senator John McCain (R-AZ)
Sen. John McCain, the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008, and Ranking Member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, gives us his reaction to the president’s plan.
I especially loved the “Exclusive!” with the exclamation point, as if this were a rare, special occurrence.
For those keeping score at home, as of this weekend, there will have been 47 Sundays since President Obama’s inauguration in January. With this 16th appearance on a Sunday morning talk show this week, John McCain will have been a guest on one of the programs every 2.9 weeks. No other official in the country has been sought out by bookers this often.
Since the president took office, McCain has been on “This Week” three times (September 27, August 23, and May 10), “Fox News Sunday” three times (July 2, March 8, and January 25), CNN’s “State of the Union” three times (October 11, August 2, and February 15), and “Face the Nation” four times (October 25, August 30, April 26, and February 8). His appearance on “Meet the Press” this weekend will be his third (December 6, July 12, and March 29).
And who, exactly, is John McCain? He’s the one who lost last year’s presidential race badly, and is now just another conservative senator in the minority. He’s not in the party leadership; he has no role in any important negotiations on any issue; and he’s offered no significant pieces of legislation. By all appearances, McCain isn’t even especially influential among his own GOP colleagues.
Now, I suspect producers for “Meet the Press” would point out that U.S. policy in Afghanistan is a very important topic right now, and argue that McCain represents the conservative Republican perspective on the issue. Perhaps.
But let’s not forget, McCain’s alleged expertise has been wildly exaggerated, and his understanding of the policy debate is tenuous, at best. The main reason the Arizona senator is considered credible on the issue is that the media keeps handing him a microphone whenever the issue comes up.
What’s more, there are 39 other Republican senators — eight of them serve on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and 10 of them serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee. That doesn’t even include the House.
There’s no reason to invite McCain on 16 times in 10 months.
