Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Wednesday said he thinks Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has political “ambitions” aimed at 2016.
He told Fox News Obama would be “wise” to replace Vice President Biden with Clinton, who plans to retire from her position as the State Department at the end of Obama’s first term.
"But that's not going to happen, obviously, for a whole variety of reasons, including the fact I'm not sure if I were Hillary Clinton I'd want to be on that team,” he said. “I think her ambitions, very frankly, are for 2016.”
The Obama administration has stood firmly behind keeping Biden on the ticket, including during his most recent, vilified verbal stumble.
And Clinton has said she is retiring from politics. But that does not stop speculation that the former first lady wants to run for president for the second time.
McCain called Biden “a nice guy” but said he “crossed the line again” when he said earlier this week that the Republican ticket would “unchain Wall Street” and “put y'all back in chains,” while speaking to a crowd at a campaign event in Virginia.
“He should be held accountable, the Obama administration should be held accountable for this ad that basically alleges that Mitt Romney is responsible for the tragic death of a man’s wife,” McCain said, referring to an ad released by Priorities USA, a super-PAC that supports Obama.
The Romney campaign this week has blasted both Biden’s comment and the Priorities USA ad, saying they demonstrate a nasty level of negative campaigning by Obama.
McCain called Obama’s campaign tactics “slash and burn” and said it would be hard to govern and bring people together after such divisiveness.
