Possibly the wrong strategy here by Cook. Jaw jaw is better than war war, as Churchill said. By refusing to talk with them Cook is literally inviting the politicians to reach their own conclusions. If they do that with zero input from Cook then he can hardly complain about the laws that get passed in the future. Sure, it may not be a law dreamt up by McCain, but there's a lot of law enforcement pressure to change the current situation. It'd be a whole lot better if the whole tech industry were sat at the table talking about it, instead of pretending that they have no need to participate. Or do they think they control the whole democratic process?
Besides, what's Cook worried about? That McCain would make him look stupid?
Biting the hand that feeds IT
