Jackwad.

(Briefing Room) — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Monday refused to apologize for calling Tea Party lawmakers ‘hobbits’ in a speech last month.

“I am sorry if it was misunderstood. I am not sorry for what I said,” McCain said at a town hall meeting in Gilbert, Arizona.

“Why should I when it’s the facts?” McCain said when asked to apologize, according to a video posted by Arizona’s local 3TV News.

At the end of July, during the debt-limit debate, McCain criticized some members of the Republican party for not supporting House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) deficit plan by making a Lord of the Rings reference on the floor of the Senate.

At the time, McCain eviscerated members of Congress as “foolish” and “deceiving” for believing that refusing to raise the debt ceiling would give Democrats no choice but to pass a balanced budget amendment. McCain described that scenario as a fantasy, saying then “the Tea Party hobbits could return to Middle Earth having defeated Mordor.”