Politics / John McCain Mac's Missile Shield Rant Off Target, Forgetful System he's now never heard of relies on ship named for forebears By Will McCahill, Newser Staff Posted Sep 18, 2009 8:45 PM CDT Copied Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, speaks during a town hall meeting in Charleston, SC, Sept. 14, 2009. (AP Photo) Sen. John McCain’s savaging of President Obama over shelving the Eastern European missile shield could hardly more disingenuous, David Corn writes for Mother Jones. McCain said he hadn’t heard of the technology Obama plans to use instead, but not only did he publicly praise Obama for boosting funding for it, a Navy ship named for his father and grandfather is a key piece in the puzzle. “McCain made it seem as if Obama’s proposal was all new to him and utterly untested. But that’s not so,” Corn concludes. “Perhaps the possibility of using these elements for a European-based system was not on McCain’s radar screen. But he depicted Obama as proceeding recklessly—when, actually, it was McCain who had gone ballistic.” (More John McCain stories.) Report an error