McCain crosses aisle to stand with Obama

GOP USA/AP ^ | 7/29/2013 | AP Staff

[IbJensen]

WASHINGTON - There was no conciliatory phone call, no heart-to-heart talk to soothe the tensions. No one knows exactly when President Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain went from bitter rivals in the 2008 presidential campaign and foes over health care and national security to bipartisan partners.

Yet in recent months, an alignment on high-profile domestic issues - not to mention an eye on their respective legacies - has transformed Obama and McCain into Washington's most unexpected odd couple. The Arizona senator is a regular visitor to the West Wing and in near-daily contact with senior White House officials.

McCain, in an Associated Press interview, said that he and Obama "trust each other." White House chief of staff Denis McDonough, among the Obama advisers who speak regularly with McCain, praised the lawmaker as a "refreshing" partner who "welcomes a debate and welcomes action."

-snip-

For Obama, the senator has become a rare Republican backer of important elements on the president's second term agenda, including immigration overhaul, stricter background checks for gun buyers, and perhaps a fall budget deal.

In return, McCain has secured increased access to the White House and an opportunity to redeem his reputation as a Capitol Hill "maverick." That image was tainted when McCain tacked to the right during his failed 2008 presidential run against Obama.

"I've told the people of Arizona, I will work with any president if there are ways I can better serve Arizona and the country," McCain said. "That seems to be an old-fashioned notion but it's the case."

-snip-

McCain said his stronger ties with the president on domestic issues won't keep him from challenging the president on national security issues..... "He is the president of the United States," McCain said. "You can strongly disagree and still be respectful."

[LibLieSlayer]

Why is it he cannot lift his arms more than a few inches? I have no doubt that he was tortured... but I also have no doubt that they broke him. I think that they scrambled his small brain and that it has caused the mental aberrations that we all see... his temper included.

LLS

[LibLieSlayer]

They both did.

LLS

[2ndDivisionVet]

The plane crash? The beating he took when initially captured?

[beelzepug]

Compare and contrast: John McCain and Bud Day

[Uncle Miltie]

GOPe: Comrade Juan McNuts ain’t a conservative?

Say it ain’t so!

[mykroar]

Beat me to it. LOL

[Girlene]

McCain loves being able to be the go-to guy. He’s in it for the power. Obama is just exploiting his weakness.

[Washi]

The source, GOPUSA, couches this in positive terms.

Is McCain's sucking up to Barack "fundamentally change America" Obama something that the GOP officially endorses?

[Jane Long]

But there was one subject that was off-limits, a subject the Arizona senator almost never brings up and has never been open about — his long-time opposition to releasing documents and information about American prisoners of war in Vietnam and the missing in action who have still not been accounted for. Since McCain himself, a downed Navy pilot, was a prisoner in Hanoi for 5 1/2 years, his staunch resistance to laying open the POW/MIA records has baffled colleagues and others who have followed his career. Critics say his anti-disclosure campaign, in close cooperation with the Pentagon and the intelligence community, has been successful. Literally thousands of documents that would otherwise have been declassified long ago have been legislated into secrecy.

War Secrets McCain Hides

[LurkingSince1943]

Welcome to Free Republic.

You joined today to post that insult?

You are conflating John McCain’s service record with his career after he retired from the Navy.

I am a Vietnam vet, and I am not offended by his service.

What did you do during the war?

[jsanders2001]

> Does McCain really have to “cross the aisle” to stand with Obama?

Yes so he can bend over for Obummer

[noinfringers2]

McCain knew that the Senate resolution certifying his eligibility was not worth the trumpeting it was given He was born outside the USA controlled Panama Canal Zone. He also understood that if he did win the election Obama and his enablers would/could claim him ineligible in spite of the resolution and Obama would be in by default. Palin was a ploy to make the election look on the up and up. I believe that to this day McCain appreciates that Obama won the election.

[noinfringers2]

McCain knew that the Senate resolution certifying his eligibility was not worth the trumpeting it was given He was born outside the USA controlled Panama Canal Zone. He also understood that if he did win the election Obama and his enablers would/could claim him ineligible in spite of the resolution and Obama would be in by default. Palin was a ploy to make the election look on the up and up. I believe that to this day McCain appreciates that Obama won the election.

[LibLieSlayer]

I know that he was injured in the crash but I also believe that they worked on him. At least one fellow prisoner said that they did. I cannot remember the man's name but I do believe he was a CMH Award Recipient and he was there with mccain. He had some pretty sobering statements about old john and they were not all all sympathetic or flattering. He was always reckless and somewhat of a renegade. I have always thought that he should have to pay for the four planes that he destroyed. I still am not certain about the Forrestal... the official record points to many failures leading up to that accidental firing of a missile. It is funny how mccain has always been and still is a walking disaster. Everything that he touches seems to become a disaster.

LLS

[USS Johnston]

McCain: "The Devil and I trust each other."

God: "Good luck with that, Smokey."

Conservative Americans: "Thank you, John McQuisling, for validating what many of us have suspected all along -- that you were a globalist Commie-enabling patsy in 2008 who never intended to win. Just like Romney in 2012."

[headstamp 2]

This is legacy building pure and simple.

McCain is a blue dog Democrat at best but he knows there is simply no place for him in the current Democrat party.

[USS Johnston]

Heck... he threw the election. I am now absolutely convinced of it. He sabotaged Sarah and suspended his campaign and heck we all know the dozens of things that he did and said that sunk any chance that he may have had. He ensured defeat by actively working against victory.

CHECK. CHECK. And, CHECK.

McVichy is a complete and utter fraud and collaborator.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Exhibit A

[Luke21]

South Park was right.

[Dogbert41]

His Communist masters from Vietnam must have called him up on the phone and told him what to do or else...