Rand Paul’s mention of McCain draws boos at conservative event

A crowd of mostly high school students booed when Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) mentioned Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) during a speech on Tuesday night.

“The reason we didn’t repeal [ObamaCare] is because we have six or seven Republican senators who got cold feet,” Paul said at the High School Leadership Summit hosted by conservative group Turning Point USA (TPUSA).

“Let’s just say, John McCain and a few others,” Paul added, drawing boos from the audience.

Massive boos for Cryptkeeper John McCain at #TPUSA dinner pic.twitter.com/G3HWw8GJIk

— Cassandra Fairbanks (@CassandraRules) July 24, 2018

President Trump and other allies have repeatedly swiped at McCain’s decisive vote last year against a scaled-down bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which helped torpedo GOP efforts to undo former President Obama’s signature health-care law.

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Paul’s comments Tuesday echoed Trump, who has continually mocked McCain for the “thumbs down” hand gesture he made when he voted down the bill.

McCain has been in his home state of Arizona for months undergoing treatment for an aggressive form of brain cancer following a diagnosis last year.

McCain’s daughter, Meghan McCain, last month called the president’s mockery of her father “gross.” 

On Tuesday, the high school crowd also interrupted Paul’s TPUSA speech with Trump’s signature campaign rally chant of “Lock her up,” which refers to jailing 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. 

“So, when the people say, ‘Oh, what about the Republicans and Russians?,’ the only person we know who paid the Russians was Hillary Clinton,” Paul said.

The crowd chanted “Lock her up” until Paul resumed speaking. 

Earlier in the day, Attorney General Jeff Sessions also laughed as a TPUSA crowd chanted “Lock her up.”

The four-day TPUSA conference runs through Thursday and features top conservative figures including Donald Trump Jr., former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci and billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel.