Political podcast host Meghan McCain called out Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday for invoking her late father, former Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain, during a recent speech.
During a campaign stop in Arizona, Harris claimed to supporters that the late senator allegedly told her she’d make a “great senator” after a heated committee hearing. On “2Way Tonight,” McCain told host Mark Halperin that while politicians often reference her father, she wasn’t “thrilled” with Harris sharing a story she doesn’t believe “sounds like him.”
“Everybody does it on both sides. I’m really — I’m not thrilled with this, because I just find that — maybe it did happen. To me, it doesn’t sound like him … Democrats really want to turn my dad into a progressive liberal that like, six years after his death, he’s now just the most liberal progressive that ever existed when he’s one of the most conservative senators in American modern history,” McCain began.
“I think it’s because he’s still so popular in Arizona, even now and there’s data and polling and research that’s been done by polling institutes and the McCain Institute that shows that around 14% people in Arizona who are Republicans consider themselves McCain Republicans,” McCain said. “So I’m sure that’s what she’s going for, and those are people who are obviously not Trumpers.”
McCain added that frequent mentions of her late father are becoming “disrespectful,” hinting that he did not speak highly of Harris.
“I think it’s getting to the point of being disrespectful the way everyone is talking about him, because I find so much of it — it just doesn’t sound like him. We were obviously incredibly close, and I worked with him both professionally, and we were very close personally. It’s just, it’s hard,” McCain said.
“I remember what he actually said about Vice President Harris in private,” McCain added. “I actually was, like, remembering a specific dinner party with something he said, which, I don’t want to be disrespectful or uncouth and share it right here, but, it just doesn’t, just sounds like not real to me.”
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Halperin then pressed the political podcast host on if she believes Harris’ claims of what the late senator told her were “consistent” with what her father believed.
“No, not at all. There’s one thing in particular. There’s one dinner that I was at with him and some other politicians, I can remember very specifically something he said about her. Again, I don’t want to get into a — some kind of match with the Harris campaign. But I just like, he was not a Democrat. He was so far from it, and her stance on Israel alone would gross him out,” McCain said.
McCain continued to note how her father would disagree with the botched Afghanistan withdrawal, the economy and the border crisis before questioning if Harris’ alleged interaction ever happened.
“Maybe it did happen. Again, maybe it did, I just didn’t work with him all the time, but like, I’ve never heard it before,” McCain said. “She never felt the need to share it before, except 24 days before the election in Arizona, when you’re for all intensive purposes, from everything I’ve heard from you and many other places that’s being reported, she’s flatlining with independents.”
“So I am sick of it, but I also understand that, like, politicians are going to politician, and they’ve got to invoke whatever they can, wherever they can. On both sides, everybody does it and it’s hilarious because some of the people who were the most cruel to him in life have sainted him in death,” McCain added.
As polls in key swing states tighten between Harris and former President Donald Trump, Trump currently holds a slim lead in Arizona. RealClearPolling average shows the former president ahead by 0.5 points, with 48.1% support compared to Harris’ 47.6%.
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