Sen. Bernie Sanders gave a shout out to Sen. John McCain at a rally Friday to support a government-run healthcare system, saying he wished that the Senate’s other Republicans lawmakers were more like the stubborn Arizonan.

“Thank you, John McCain,” Sanders, the Senate’s only avowed socialist and a Vermont independent, said at a San Francisco rally hosted by National Nurses United, a leftist union. The comment drew a tepid response from the crowd.