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I normally don't stay up late enough to watch Late Night with David Letterman, but I happened to catch a little of it Thursday night, when Sen. John McCain was on. David Letterman make a rude joke about Gov. Sarah Palin, and John McCain laughed at it. That is when I realized I am done with John McCain. . . . . . If I were Rod Blago, I'd use some nice four-letter words to describe how I feel about Sen. McCain, but I'm not, so I won't. . . . . . I'm glad Sen. McCain didn't win the...

Yes, yes, yes, it's much too early to start thinking about running mates. Too bad. People are doing it anyway. And even though they won't admit it, odds are that Sens. John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are giving it at least some thought. So, too, are people who turn up their noses at the suggestion they might be a good fit, yet secretly harbor ambitions of getting the nod. Veepstakes speculation - always an undercurrent with a presidential election afoot - intensified this past week after Mitt Romney dropped out of the race, helping to clear McCain's...

I posted a squib on the National Review Web site about a robo call I received from John McCain. (Virginia's primary is Tuesday.) The call stressed that he would, if elected, be a down-the-line limited government conservative who would never raise taxes, would defend life, would enforce immigration laws and would win the war on terror. The candidate is trying, I said, to meet conservatives "more than halfway." The response of readers was, shall we say, emphatic. One lady wrote that she would never vote for him as "He is the most disloyal, ill-tempered man and he brings out the...

Despite what the pundits, talking heads, and self-annoited experts say about the Republican race, it is more muddled and more up in the air than at any time since Iowa. Why? Because 60 percent of the Republican Party is against John McCain. And the more a dour Tim Russert or an arrogant Chris Mathews says that, “the Republican race is, for all intents and purposes, over,” or this one, “it is very hard to see how John McCain can be stopped,” the more agitated conservatives get. That translates to “we lefty pundits who dominate the TV airwaves want McCain so...

This country needs two things... foreign policy leadership and economic reform. Where McCain may be week with the economy, Bloomberg can help make the U.S. an economic power house again. I'll go door to door for McCain if he chooses Bloomberg.

The McCain campaign continues to perpetuate its Big Lie in the run-up to Super Tuesday. And thanks to MSM enablers and open-borders Republicans rooting for a McCain win, voters are swallowing the Big Lie. The Big Lie is that McCain can be trusted on immigration and border security .. You want straight talk? McCain’s tongue says he’s “listened and learned.” But his heart is with La Raza, the militantly ethnocentric, anti-immigration enforcement Hispanic lobbying group that honored him in 1999 and whose annual conference he keynoted in 2004. Go back and watch McCain on the Senate floor during the amnesty...

The rest of the Republican world has pretty much decided whether it prefers John McCain or Mitt Romney. Now, finally, I have too. Both candidates have major strengths and distinct weaknesses. Either would have my vote in November. But I believe Romney is the better choice. This view may seem odd in light of the following comment I made a few weeks ago: Every time it looks like McCain will break away from the pack, I panic in anticipation of four years of watching him stick it to conservatives on a more than occasional basis. When things seem to be...

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With John McCain’s victory in the Republican Primary in Florida, a lot of attention has come his way. The reaction of the pundits and the blogosphere has been all over the map. Some, such as Michael Medved, are enthusiastic about the candidate and his chances in the general election; others, such as Rush Limbaugh, are concerned that a McCain candidacy will spell the end of the Republican party as we know it. And with the cheering for and against him, so to have his past actions and policies come under scrutiny. Everything, from the Keating Five, to the Gang of...

If any recent day typifies life in this crazy modern world, it was probably this past Tuesday. World financial markets were in a meltdown and the Federal Reserve held an emergency meeting to cut the interest rate a massive three quarters of a point in an attempt to stave off a precipitous stock market drop. President Bush was working with congressional leaders on an economic stimulus package to reduce the likelihood of a recession. Meanwhile the U.S. presidential campaign was in full swing with Hillary and Obama having just ripped each other to shreds at a debate, and Fred Thompson...

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Fred Thompson let another silk drift gently to the straw-covered ground of the Iowa State Fair on Friday as he continued his Dance of the Seven Veils toward declaring his candidacy for president. “If things play out the way I’ve got in mind, we’ll be seeing a bit more of each other” in the next couple of months, Thompson said at the end of a low-key, 20-minute speech to a crowd of supporters, the media and the curious. It wasn’t anywhere near the outright declaration of candidacy the Fredheads in the throng were hoping for, but...

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Wednesday that the issue of illegal immigration angered people unlike no other, including the unpopular war in Iraq, and sparked unprecedented death threats against him. "It is unbelievable how this has inflamed the passions of the American people," the Arizona senator said in remarks at The Aspen Institute, a public policy forum. In an interview, he declined to elaborate on the threats he had received. Still, McCain said, he continued to support a temporary worker program for the 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States. Derided by critics as amnesty, the program was...

WASHINGTON - Republican presidential hopeful John McCain on Thursday backed a scaled-down proposal that imposes strict rules to end illegal immigration but doesn't include a path to citizenship. The move away from a comprehensive measure is an about-face for the Arizona senator, who had been a leading GOP champion of a bill that included a guest worker program and would have legalized many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S. It failed earlier this year. "We can still show the American people that we are serious about securing our nation's border," McCain said in a statement,...

<p>He's hiring staff, raising money, making public appearances, and doing nicely in the polls – all without announcing even an exploratory committee for his presidential campaign. In fact, Fred Thompson might consider never formally entering the 2008 presidential sweepstakes, he's doing so well – or at least wait "until after he's wrapped up the [Republican] nomination," quips pundit Stu Rothenberg. But in the end, the former senator from Tennessee, lawyer/lobbyist, and TV actor does, by many press accounts, plan to announce in early September that he is running for president; he may formalize an "exploratory" phase before then. One point is already clear: GOP nomination race 2.0 has begun. "It's down to three [candidates]. Some would say 2-1/2. I would say three," says Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. The half-candidate would be former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who still leads in national polls, but whose numbers have been falling steadily for several months – in direct proportion to the steady, upward trajectory of Mr. Thompson's, according to Pollster.com. The campaign of Sen. John McCain (R) of Arizona, once seen as the GOP heir apparent, is nearly bankrupt, and with Thompson entering the race, that makes his money chase all the more difficult. Mr. Giuliani could remain strong if there's continued national focus on terrorism – and especially if the US is attacked again before the primaries. But failing that, the race may well boil down to Thompson and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, analysts say. Despite Giuliani's longstanding position at the top of the GOP heap in national 2008 presidential polls, political experts have attributed that lead to name recognition. As conservative base voters have learned about Giuliani's liberal positions on abortion and gay rights, the former mayor's overall support has declined.</p>

No matter where my colleagues came down in 2003 about the centrality of Iraq to the war on terror, there can simply be no debate that our efforts in Iraq today are critical to the wider struggle against violent Islamic extremism. Already, the terrorists are emboldened, excited that America is talking not about winning in Iraq, but is rather debating when we should lose. Last week, Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s deputy chief, said that the United States is merely delaying our “inevitable” defeat in Iraq, and that “the Mujahideen of Islam in Iraq of the caliphate and jihad are advancing with...

Even as John McCain's presidential campaign struggled to streamline after disappointing fundraising in the first quarter, it continued to add payroll, rent and other expenses to what became a bloated operation that couldn't support itself. During the past three months, McCain added $229,900 in rent payments, about 20 aides and $434,100 in salaries, according to a finance report filed with the Federal Election Commission just before Sunday's midnight deadline.

I guess the Straight Talk Express is finally melting down. After returning from a trip to Iraq — something hardly likely to have lifted his spirits — John McCain apparently blew up at campaign manager Terry Nelson and chief strategist John Weaver over their out-of-control spending. In the end, he fired Nelson and Weaver then resigned: Weaver's resignation was the most surprising. He has been McCain's chief strategist and confidant for many years, playing a role as central to the Arizonan's political operations as White House senior adviser Karl Rove has played in President Bush's. The only other person in...

Republican John McCain struck a positive tone throughout much of his first presidential campaign, assailing rival George W. Bush only after the Texas governor engaged in nasty politics in South Carolina. Eight years later, the Arizona senator is mixing it up with rival Mitt Romney with increasing intensity after largely ignoring the former Massachusetts's governor's criticisms -- a full six months before voting begins, and as McCain, once considered the Republican to beat, finds himself struggling to regain momentum. His support in early primary state surveys has been static or slipping; this week, polls in Iowa and South Carolina showed...

McCain's Obsession posted by: jason | posted at: 6:58 AM | permalink here McCain seems to be literally obsessed with Romney. I guess it's that whole dying gasp thing. First he was going to open www.mittvstruth.com, then he was thinking about it, now it's definitely off the table. Now he is in Massachusetts taking pot shots at Romney, all the while sinking himself into presidential obscurity: BOSTON - Sen. John McCain said Monday he hopes to take advantage of former Gov. Mitt Romney's sagging support at home and lead a resurgence of the Republican Party in the northeast during...