The most vocal opponent of Susan Rice’s potential secretary of state nomination, John McCain, is joining the Senate Foreign Relations Committee just in time for the confirmation hearings. Josh Rogin reports:
MANAMA – The committee that will soon vet the next secretary of state will have a new Republican heavyweight next year: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the man leading the charge against potential nominee U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice.
McCain told The Cable he will join the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) and also remain on the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) in an interview on the sidelines of the 2012 IISS Manama Security Dialogue. …
It’s unclear whether the five or six Senate Republicans who have come out against Rice’s potential nomination would succeed in their effort to thwart her nomination, if it materializes. McCain said the Senate should use the confirmation process to properly examine the president’s choice, and he pointed to her SFRC hearing as the place for the final showdown.
“I’ll wait and see if she’s nominated and we’ll move on from there. She has the right to have hearings. We’ll see what happens in the hearings,” he said.
In other words, Obama will have another headache to deal with if Susan Rice gets the nod. Having John Kerry (Rice’s most likely competitor for secretary of state) and Bob Corker (a critic of Rice) as the top Democrat and Republican, respectively, on the committee would be bad enough on its own. But McCain had been leading the charge against her, and having him on the committee will mean a lot more scrutiny into the administration’s Benghazi response.
Rice is bad. nKerry is bad. nBut Hillary has been no bargain either. nHowever, having Chuck Hagel as Sec. of Def. would be an unmitigated disaster, especially if there is a weak Sec. of State.
soccerdhg–there's also another NYT article I just read (sorry, don't have the link but it's on realclearpolitics) that goes into more detail about Susan Rice's palsy-walsy relationship with a Rwandan strongman. n nas they say: when you've lost the New York Times…
McCain as Sec of Defense? n nClinton did it with Bill Cohen and in addition to giving us Susan Collins, it silenced someone who otherwise might have criticized a good deal of Clinton's Bosnia stuff.