McCain: Fox News is "a bit schizophrenic"

The Arizona senator was referring to the way the network portrays immigration reform

Published July 31, 2013 3:25PM (EDT)

In an interview with the New Republic, Sen. John McCain called Fox News "a bit schizophrenic" when it comes to discussing immigration reform.

" It is well known that Rupert Murdoch is a strong supporter of immigration reform," McCain said. "Roger Ailes is also a realist. He believes that immigration reform is vital to the country first, but also the GOP. Yet he does not dictate. [Sean] Hannity has come out against it and kept his job. I don’t think Roger Ailes is ham-fisted."

From TNR:

[TNR's Isaac Chotiner]: But if you watch Fox, there are all these segments on immigrants and crime and so on, and people get riled up, and then they want reform. It’s a difficult dynamic in the party.

[John McCain]: I think that Fox News is a bit schizophrenic. I saw a guy on “Hannity,” maybe “Huckabee,” and the guy said, “You know, the Chinese are coming across our border, and they are going to commit cyber attacks.”

IC: They have to cross the border to do that?

JM: Honest to God! “They are going to commit cyber attacks.”

In the same interview, McCain chided Katie Couric for her famous interview with then Vice Presidential-candidate Sarah Palin, saying that Palin "did everything I ever wanted. She excited our base in a way I was unable to achieve. And then I watched the shredding and destruction to destroy a good and decent person by the liberal media, beginning with Katie Couric."


By Jillian Rayfield

Jillian Rayfield is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on politics. Follow her on Twitter at @jillrayfield or email her at jrayfield@salon.com.

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Arizona Conservatives Fox News John Mccain Republicans