The prisoners had been held for three years, and happened to be rescued within 24 hours of McCain visiting. Sorry, that doesn’t sound like a natural progression to me.
As for McCain, I’ve made no attempt whatsoever to make it look like he had done anything wrong. I never said so, and I never implied so.
The American hostages were captive for more than 5 years. Betancourt was 6 (6.5 I think).
The contractors had been held for 5 years. There have been intensive efforts to get them free for all 5 years. If we didn’t succeed today, we would have kept trying.
Colombia is an outstanding friend, and I hope they continue to kick the FARC’s butt. This is just the latest in a string of victories over the last 6 months.