Jacob Heilbrunn deflates McCain's hyperbole:
Does McCain have it right? Are Mitt Romney and others flinching from the freedom crusade? And does that make them isolationists? What is really taking place in the GOP is a showdown between the neoconservative view of the world that has dominated the party—a Wilsonian freedom crusade—and the more traditional view of using American military power in a restrained fashion—much as Defense Secretary Robert Gates is advocating. Gates has, of course, conveyed his deep unease about the idea of further wars of choice. Does McCain think Gates is representative of an isolationist strain as well?
Larison blames an absurd definition of isolationism for the confusion, and sees the problem as bigger than McCain:
Like John McCain, Rubio promises to be an advocate for perpetual war. Just as McCain misrepresents anything short of support for perpetual war as “isolationism,” Rubio wants to portray it as an embrace of American decline. Like Paul Ryan, Rubio absurdly exaggerates and then overreacts to the dangers that come with what he describes as decline.
The Dish 