In a Friday interview with Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) stated flatly that it's too late to repeal Obamacare and that the tea party-led drive to shut down the government over it has been a "fool's errand."
The senior Arizona Senator was responding to MacCallum's assertion that the White House has badly mishandled the shutdown crisis. There wouldn't be an opportunity for the White House to mishandle anything, he said, if the Republicans hadn't fumbled the shutdown so badly.
"Let's have a little straight talk, Martha," said McCain. The Obama administration "wouldn't have had the opportunity to handle it that way if we had not shut down the government on a fool's errand that we were not going to accomplish. The whole premise of shutting down the government was the repeal of Obamacare. I fought against Obamacare harder than any of the people who wanted to shut down the government."
But, he said, the Affordable Care Act is here to stay, having been ratified by Congress, the Supreme Court and the American people by way of the 2012 election.
"On the debt limit, now," McCain said, "there are things that we could negotiate with the president about, some entitlement reforms, some tax reforms, things that are achievable. Defunding Obamacare is not one of them."
"Well, we'll see," insisted MacCallum, still holding out hope, "how the package gets put together and it's..."
"Oh, I guarantee it," concluded McCain. "Not only will you see it, I guarantee it."
McCallum responded with a small, frustrated sigh.
Watch the video, embedded below via TPM:
