""There's always been an isolation strain in the Republican party, that Pat Buchanan (a former Republican presidential contender) wing of our party. But now it seems to have moved more center stage, so to speak," he said.
There is no question that President Barack Obama, a Democrat, made the right choice in lending US military support to the NATO mission in Libya, McCain told ABC television's "This Week" program.
"If we had not intervened, Kadhafi was at the gates of Benghazi. He said he was going to go house to house to kill everybody. That's a city of 700,000 people. What would be saying now if we had allowed for that to happen?
"That's not the Republican party of the 20th century and now the 21st century," McCain said."
Tea party candidate Michele Bachmann and Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney were among those voicing opposition on Libya in the New Hampshire debate.
(via SodaHead)