Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) was not shy about hitting back at Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who on Wednesday told NBC News that the congressman had "no intelligence."
"Obviously, Senator McCain would be better off with ‘no intelligence’ since he does not know the Syrian opposition he met with is infested with al Qaeda and terrorist kidnappers," Gohmert responded in a statement to the Daily Beast. "His ‘intelligence’ even caused him to support the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt that burned churches and killed Christians, as the senator stood against the will of the massive majority of Egyptians including moderate Muslims, Christians, and secularists who demanded the Muslim Brotherhood extremist persecutions must end."
Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, arrives for a meeting with House Republicans after the Senate leaders reached last-minute agreement Wednesday to avert a threatened Treasury default and reopen the government after a partial, 16-day shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013. Credit: AP
The two lawmakers' disagreement stems from comments Gohmert made at the Values Voter Summit, where he argued that McCain supporting the rebels in Syria is no different than supporting al Qaeda, which has infiltrated the opposition. Though their differences don't stop there politically.
"I heard just before I came some senator from Arizona," Gohmert said, sparking laughter from the crowd. "A guy that liked Qadaffi before he wanted to bomb him, a guy that liked Mubarak before he wanted him out, a guy that's been to Syria and supported Al-Qaeda and rebels."
Though the Arizona senator's office first refused to respond to Gohmert's remarks, he came out strong against his fellow Republican on Wednesday.
"Sometimes those are, comments like that are made out of malice, but if someone has no intelligence, I don't view it as being a malicious statement," McCain said on NBC News. "You can't respond to that kind of thing."
Here's the McCain clip if you missed it:
–
[related]
