Conservative pundit Michelle Malkin attacks 'the ghost of John McCain' during wild CPAC speech

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Michelle Malkin.

• Conservative commentator Michelle Malkin condemned "the ghost of John McCain" during her speech at CPAC on Friday.
• The audience at CPAC gave her a standing ovation for the line going after McCain, who died of brain cancer last year.

Conservative pundit Michelle Malkin railed against Republicans who she believes are not serious about combatting illegal immigration and condemned "the ghost of John McCain" during her speech at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Friday.

After lamenting that visa overstay problems have not been fixed, Malkin said "both parties are to blame." After some applause, she began listing Republicans she believes are responsible for ongoing issues with illegal immigration.

"And yes I'm looking at you retired Paul Ryan. And yes I'm looking at you Mitch McConnell. And yes I'm looking at you, Bush family. And yes I'm looking at you, the ghost of John McCain," she said while pointing to the sky.

Read more: Socialism, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and abortion: 3 themes dominated CPAC, the year's biggest gathering of conservatives

Many CPAC attendees in the audience gave Malkin a standing ovation after the remark about McCain.

McCain, a combat veteran and longtime US senator from Arizona, died of brain cancer in 2018.

For the rest of the speech, Malkin also made several other incendiary comments.

She noted that CPAC should not have invited liberal commentator and former Barack Obama administration official Van Jones "for attempting to silence the right" and because he is associated with Color of Change, a liberal nonprofit organization. Malkin's issue was that the group is in part funded by liberal billionaire George Soros.

At the end of her speech, Malkin said, "Diversity is not our strength," which is a common expression among white nationalists.