Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) continued to hammer the Obama re-election team over its use of the death of Osama bin Laden in a campaign commercial, echoing Mitt Romney's statement that any president - including Jimmy Carter - would have made the same call.
“I say any president, Jimmy Carter, anybody, any president would have, obviously, under those circumstances, done the same thing. And to now take credit for something that any president would do is indicative of take over campaign we're under -- we're -- we're seeing…So all I can say is that this is going to be a very rough campaign," McCain told Fox News in an interview set to air Monday night. "And I've had the great honor of serving in the company of heroes. And, you know the thing about heroes, they don't brag.”
Those remarks largely mirror a similar claim made by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney earlier Monday. McCain has endorsed Romney's bid for the White House and served as one of his top surrogates on foreign policy issues.
"Of course. Even Jimmy Carter would have given that order," Romney said Monday before a New Hampshire campaign event.
Fox News host Bill O'Reilly then pushed McCain about Vice President Joe Biden's statement that he would have not ordered the SEAL raid that killed Bin Laden, as part of a larger commentary on President Obama's decisiveness.
“Listen, Biden is the same one that said we should divide Iraq into three countries. Biden is the same one that said Desert Storm would be another Vietnam. Biden has -- has been consistently wrong on every national security issue that I've been involved in in the last 20 years or so," McCain said.
The Arizona senator and former GOP presidential candidate went on to offer advice for Romney in the general election.
“I think hold the president accountable for his record, the -- the promises and statements and commitments were made about purple states and no -- that every -- hope and change, how has that all been working out?" McCain said. "But I also think it's important -- and -- and Romney is doing this now -- is to tell the American people the positive agenda he has for the future of this country, both at home and abroad.”
Last week, McCain issues a statement denouncing an Obama campaign commercial heralding Bin Laden's death as "the height of hypocrisy" and accused the president of "a shameless end-zone dance to help himself get reelected."
"Shame on Barack Obama for diminishing the memory of September 11th and the killing of Osama bin Laden by turning it into a cheap political attack ad," McCain said.
On Monday, Obama said there had been no "excessive celebration" over the anniversary of Bin Laden's death.
"I hardly think you’ve seen any excessive celebration taking place here," Obama said at a press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Noda.
"I think the American people remember rightly what we as a country accomplished in bringing to justice someone who killed 3,000 of our citizens."
