Add another name to the list of Republican lawmakers who think homeland security adviser John Brennan should step down from his post in the Obama administration.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) insisted on Monday morning that Brennan had "lost any utility he could have for the President of the United States," because of recent assertions he's made about the prosecution of the war on terror and the administration's critics.
"When you impugn people's patriotism and integrity and make statements that compare people going back into the fight in Afghanistan or Yemen or other places, with criminals who go back to a life of crime in the United States, you've lost touch with reality," McCain said, in an appearance on Fox News.
The Arizona Republican did not go so far as to directly call for Brennan's firing -- though it was implicit in his remarks. That charge was leveled, instead, by his close friend in the Senate, Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who said it "would be better to have a new person in that job" during an appearance on Fox News Sunday.
The GOP guns clearly are pointed in Brennan's direction, despite the fact that -- having worked for five administrations -- he is widely regarded as an apolitical figure and some of his offending statements aren't all that controversial when placed in historical context.
McCain, for example, seemed particularly irked that Brennan would compare recidivism rates for terrorists with those for criminals, when former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice did much the same.
As pointed out by Politico's Glenn Thrush, the long-time Bush confidant declared, during an 2005 AP interview, that "recidivism isn't just a problem at Guantanamo; it is a problem with criminal justice as well."