John McCain Loves the Syrian Rebels, But Confuses Them With ISIS

Sen. John McCain made quite the gaffe
on Sean Hannity’s show last night. While criticizing Sen. Rand
Paul’s opposition to arming the “moderate” Syrian rebels, McCain
slipped up and accidentally implied that he had met with ISIS.
McCain clearly meant to say that he had met with the Free Syrian
Army (the Syrian rebel group that McCain and the Obama
administration support), and was vouching for its
trustworthiness.

The mixup is noteworthy because critics like Paul are arguing
that arming the Syrian rebels is not categorically different from
arming ISIS—our enemy—since those weapons eventually make their way
into the hands of ISIS terrorists anyway. While McCain and Obama
want to make the case that the Free Syrian Army is the group worth
supporting in the conflict, others have raised serious doubts that
the rebels are as “moderate” or as organized as U.S. forces would
like to believe.

Some media reports
claimed that the Free Syrian Army agreed to a temporary truce
with ISIS, given that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is a mutual
enemy of both groups. And the family of Steven Sotloff, one of the
journalists murdered by ISIS, has claimed that Syrian rebels

actually sold Sotloff to ISIS for cash.

Watch McCain making a fool of himself
here.

Elsewhere, Reason’s Lucian McMahon notes
that McCain is ready to send American troops into Syria,
because of course he is.

Hat tip: The Daily Caller