Sen. John McCain (R-AZ): President Obama Created More Partisan Environment Than Bill Clinton

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) ripped President Obama on Sunday for abandoning his campaign pledge to create a bipartisan Washington D.C. McCain, during an appearance on Fox News Sunday, accused the president of creating a more toxic political environment than that which existed during the Clinton administration. Er, one problem, John -- the Republicans have come out swinging from the start against working with President Obama from Joe "You Lie" Wilson to deliberate acts of stonewalling anything Obama suggests.

"In some ways, of course, yeah," McCain told Fox News Sunday when asked if the Obama White House was more partisan than Bill Clinton's. "At least under Hillarycare they tried to seriously negotiate with Republicans. There has been no effort that I know of -- of serious across the table negotiations -- such as I have engaged in with other administrations. And that was the commitment that the president made."

McCain, who squared off against Obama during the 2008 campaign, harped on two main issues: the deal the White House made with the pharmaceutical industry to secure its support of health care reform, and the fact that no C-SPAN cameras had been brought into Senator Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) office as the majority leader tinkered with the health care legislation.

"There has never been serious cross-the-table negotiations on any serious issue that I've engaged in -- and that I and others have engaged in -- with other administrations both Republican and Democrat," said McCain. If blame for the partisan environment was to go mutually to Republicans as well as the president, McCain wasn't offering it. The Arizona Republican never mentioned the role played by the GOP (nor was he asked by host Chris Wallace) in overtly trying to derail health care reform. He was, however, asked if he had grown more conservative and combative in the 11 months since the election.  "I, unfortunately, have always been combative," he said, adding that's he's always been conservative as well. Source: Huffington Post

Didn't Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) claim the Republicans wanted to "break him" and turn health care reform into "his Waterloo?" Is this the rhetoric of a party that wants bipartisanship? I guess it's President Obama's fault that some in the Republican Party have said they want him to fail and would never vote for anything he proposes.