Meghan McCain condemned Martha McSally after the Republican senator called a CNN reporter a “liberal hack.”
On Thursday, McSally ignored a question from CNN reporter Manu Raju by calling him a “liberal hack.” During Friday’s episode of The View, McCain ripped McSally for her remarks and highlighted that the senator was not elected to the seat.
“She was actually appointed. She didn’t win that seat,” McCain said. “I think that’s important. She didn’t earn it, I mean, in the traditional sense with votes. And she does have an extremely tight race.”
McCain added: “Arizona could turn blue, which will, I mean, like, pigs may start flying around the studio if that ends up happening. I never thought I’d see the day.”
McSally ran to fill the Arizona Senate seat Jeff Flake vacated in 2018 but lost to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema. Following her loss, McSally was appointed by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to replace Sen. John McCain after he died in office.
As McCain noted, McSally faces a tough election in 2020 against likely Democratic candidate Mark Kelly, an astronaut and the husband of former Rep. Gabby Giffords. The senator tried to fundraise off her “liberal hack” remark, but McCain argued that taking a Trump-like approach to the press would hurt McSally’s reelection odds.
“She is fundraising off of this with Trump supporters, but unfortunately there’s a lot of states, like Utah, like Arizona, like Nevada, that I think people just assume are going to be full red forever, and it’s not. It’s very independent. It’s sort of fringy, and I think there’s a reason why it has such a long history, especially in Arizona, with people like Barry Goldwater in place.”
McCain added: “I actually think she’s playing her cards completely wrong, 100%. I think this is not the right way to do it.”
Co-host Joy Behar agreed and called it “a dictatorship move” for McSally to criticize CNN’s reporters.
