Wack-O McCain...

McCain: Obama 'directly responsible' for Orlando massacre

By Manu Raju and Deirdre Walsh

Sen. John McCain said Thursday that President Barack Obama was "directly responsible" for the massacre at the gay nightclub in Orlando, though McCain later said he "misspoke."

"Barack Obama is directly responsible for it because when he pulled everybody out of Iraq, al Qaeda went to Syria, became ISIS, and ISIS is what it is today thanks to Barack Obama's failures -- utter failures, by pulling everybody out of Iraq, thinking that conflicts end just because you leave. So the responsibility for it lies with President Barack Obama and his failed policies," McCain told reporters on Capitol Hill.

The Arizona Republican, who has been sharply critical of the President's foreign policy strategy, argued that his failure to adequately address terror threats led to the rise of ISIS.

McCain said later he "misspoke," using a statement to clarify that it was not the President himself who was "personally responsible," but his "security decisions."

"I misspoke. I did not mean to imply that the President was personally responsible. I was referring to President Obama's national security decisions, not the President himself. As I have said, President Obama's decision to completely withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq in 2011 led to the rise of ISIL," McCain said, using another name for ISIS.

McCain also tweeted, "To clarify, I was referring to Pres Obama's national security decisions that have led to rise of #ISIL, not to the President himself."

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid's spokesman immediately blasted McCain's remarks, saying, "Senator McCain's unhinged comments are just the latest proof that Senate Republicans are puppets of Donald Trump." (Note: George W Bush signed an agreement with Iraq stating that all US troops would be removed by 2011. President Obama complied with that agreement. Bush was the one who set in motion the removal of troops.)

Former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer told CNN's Erin Burnett on "OutFront" that she was "a little bit amused" by the discussion about McCain's statement considering he had clarified his comments.

"As a politician, sometimes on the spur of the moment we say things," Brewer told Burnett. "He did walk back that it wasn't President Obama personally."

Omar Mateen, the gunman who killed 49 people at Orlando's Pulse gay nightclub over the weekend, pledged allegiance to ISIS during his attack.