Why Is John McCain Accusing Rand Paul of Working for Russia?

John McCain set an ugly precedent in the U.S. Senate this week. On Wednesday, McCain and two Democrats—Ben Cardin of Maryland and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire—asked the Senate for a unanimous consent vote to advance Montenegro’s bit to join NATO. McCain would brook no dissent: to any colleague who would object to unanimous consent, he warned, “You are achieving the objectives of Vladimir Putin... trying to dismember this small country which has already been the subject an attempted coup.” Sen. Rand Paul did object, then left the chamber. And McCain, on the floor of the Senate, explicitly called his colleague an agent of a foreign power.