John McCain, Lindsey Graham fire back at Rand Paul after being called Obama 'lap dogs'
Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham are speaking out after fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) called them "lap dogs" for President Obama and his foreign policy.
"Sen. Paul is the worst possible candidate of the 20 or so that are running on the most important issue, which is national security," McCain (Ariz.) said Wednesday on the Fox News program Your World With Neil Cavuto. "The record is very clear that he simply does not have an understanding about the needs and the threats of United States national security." Later, McCain mimicked a dog barking when asked by Politico how he felt about being called out by Paul, and said that an anonymous Obama administration official actually compared the two to Doberman Pinschers.
Graham (S.C.), who is considering joining the 2016 race, told reporters that Paul's foreign policy vision is "one step behind leading from behind." He did concede that if Paul is the nominee, "I will support him. But if he's the nominee of the party, we risk giving up the central issue of the 2016 campaign, which will be foreign policy." Watch Paul's "lap dog" comments below. —Catherine Garcia
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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