McCain was very supportive and flattering of Sec. State Kerry...

[karynnj]

100. Nothing he said was at Obama's or Clinton's expense

His comments spoke ONLY of Kerry - and of a time when he worked side by side on a very very difficult task. Someone from Kerry's office spoke in 2004 of how his entire staff advised him not to take this assignment. Their reasons - they knew how personally painful dealing with all the issues of Vietnam would be for Kerry and they - and all of the Senate - thought it was a lose/lose proposition. Ask yourself why the popular McCain was not ranking member, the far right Smith was. Reason - McCain would not accept it.

Only in his LATER questions did he speak of Benghazi - and Kerry won that exchange in a flash.

One thing that no one in the media noticed was that there WAS a reason for the Senate to prefer Kerry over Clinton. Throughout his responses, Kerry spoke of wanting Senate input, ideas and connection. On issue after issue he said he wanted to speak to or meet with Senators. I know from watching hearings since 2005 that the SFRC felt that they often did not get what they needed from State as quickly as they wanted - under both Rice and Clinton. Without criticizing Hillary, Kerry was crystal clear that he wanted to do better on that. In his statement, he emphasized that he went in with both the Senate and the foreign service in his blood. It is hard to better say that he cared and would look out for both.