Edited Video Made McCain Look Insensitive to Aurora Victim’s Mom

Video of Sen. John McCain speaking to the mother of an Aurora shooting victim was edited in a way that made him appear to be insensitive to the tragedy, the Arizona lawmaker’s office charges.

“[The video] had been selectively edited by a TV station in Phoenix to make McCain look insensitive to her,” Brian Rogers, the veteran senator’s Communications Director, told Newsmax.

“And then [MSNBC’s] Rachel Maddow and several other liberal outlets attacked McCain for it.”



The controversy surrounds a news clip that first appeared on Phoenix television station KTVK, showing McCain at a recent town hall meeting.

In the video, McCain is seen in conversation with Caren Teves, whose 24-year-old son Alex was shot dead in the Aurora movie theater massacre last year.

Speaking about assault weapons in the video, Teves tells McCain, “These weapons don’t belong on our streets.”

The video shows McCain responding, “I can tell you right now you need some straight talk. That assault weapons’ ban will not pass the congress of the United States.”

But it turns out his response was heavily edited and excluded his heartfelt condolences to Teves.

In the longer video, McCain tells the grieving mom, “First of all, can I say thank you and God bless . . . Our hearts and our prayers go out to you and your family.

“I just had a town hall meeting yesterday in Tucson and the people who were affected by the terrible, tragic shooting there,” McCain continues.

“I met with [retired astronaut] Mark Kelly and [his wife, former Arizona Rep.] Gabby Giffords in my office last week on this issue — as you know they are becoming, understandably, great advocates on this issue, and I will continue that conversation.

“I can tell you right now — you need some straight talk — that assault weapons ban will not pass the Congress of the United States. It won’t. Now I owe it to you to give you my opinion because the majority of the members of Congress don’t support it . . . All I can tell you is . . . I will continue to work with the bipartisan group on both sides of the aisle representing all of America, not just California, and we will try to come up with ways to prevent this from happening again . . .

“I appreciate your opinion. I promise you that you have my commitment to work with every member of Congress no matter where they are in the political arena to try and prevent this from happening again.”

When Maddow ran a piece on the meeting, she aired the heavily-edited KTVK segment.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, Maddow admitted, “Obviously there was an edit between the end of the woman’s question and the part where John McCain sneers the straight talk line at her. So maybe that edit was cut in a way that’s not fair to John McCain.

“Maybe he wasn’t in real time so insensitive and abrasive, to a woman who probably deserves some sensitivity when she is talked to about these matters.”

But Rogers said there was no excuse for MSNBC and others to go with the edited version.

“The full video was available when Maddow and [the others] did their stories,” Rogers told Newsmax.

“They were apparently just too lazy to check for it, or they didn’t want the context. Really outrageous.”