McCain Flubs Hit on Gingrich, Santorum While Stumping for Romney
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Richard Ellis/Getty Images(CONWAY, S.C.) — Another Mitt Romney event, another senior senator moment from Sen. John McCain.
On Friday, he mixed up the names of GOP candidates when trying to cast differences between Romney and his counterparts. “Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint have joined with me time and time again to go to the floor of the senate to fight against the earmark, pork barrel corruption that goes on in Washington, D.C., said McCain, speaking at a rally in a peanut warehouse. “Earmarks are a gateway to corruption. I can tell you that neither Mitt Romney nor Rick Santorum share that view.”
What McCain meant to say was that neither Newt Gingrich nor Rick Santorum share that view. McCain quickly tried to recover, going on to hit Gingrich on the earmark spending.
“When Newt Gingrich was Speaker of the House, earmarks exploded,” said McCain. “Rick Santorum sponsored earmark after earmark. I went down to the floor and fought against those. My friends, earmarks are the gateway to corruption.”
“Members of Congress went to jail and I guarantee you this president,” said McCain, pointing at Romney, “will fight against it time after time.”
During a rally on Thursday in Charleston, McCain erred when he replaced President Obama’s name in a line that was meant to laud Romney. “I am confident, with the backing of the American people, President Obama will turn this country around,” said McCain, immediately catching his error. “President Romney.”
McCain officially endorsed Romney on Wednesday, and has been campaigning with the former Massachusetts governor in New Hampshire and South Carolina since.
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