Free Republic

Freshman Tea Party Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) is incensed that Republicans caved in the payroll-tax debate, and is putting the blame squarely on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). “I don’t think there’s a revolt with respect to Speaker Boehner,” Gowdy said Thursday night on Fox’s "Your World With Neil Cavuto." "I think the license tag of the truck that just ran over us has Kentucky license tags. For the life of me, I cannot understand when the Senate is going to find something they care enough about to stand on policy and principle.”Last week, the Senate overwhelmingly passed a...

Former presidential candidate and Arizona Sen. John McCain says he has made no decisions on endorsing Mitt Romney in the 2012 race for the White House, contrary to an earlier story by The Hill. McCain had previously said he would not endorse during the primary, and officially says he has not made up his mind. His staff denied The Hill story is true, and this afternoon tweeted the Senator's response: "To clear up any confusion, I haven't made a decision on whether to endorse in the primary."

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said his home state could be "up for grabs" in the 2012 presidential election, due in large part to the growing numbers of Hispanic voters. "The demographics are clear that the Hispanic vote will play a major role in national elections," he said on CNN's "State of the Union." However, higher numbers of Hispanic voters does not guarantee Obama an edge according to McCain, who said his inability to meet some campaign promises on immigration makes that voting bloc competitive. The most recent GOP candidate went so far as to say New Mexico, Colorado, and even...

WASHINGTON — Two hundred and seven years after their deaths, 13 of the Navy’s first fallen heroes this week came closer than ever to returning home from the shores of Tripoli — thanks in part to the efforts of two veterans’ advocates from Western New York. But then Sen. John McCain got in the way.

The US government has been slowly eradicating the Posse Commitatus Act of 1878. That act banned the US government from using the US military in domestic law enforcement. Over the past few decades the US government has repeatedly violated the act. However, many Republicans have insisted that the Posse Comitatus Act needs to be respected to protect the rights of American Citizens. South Carolina's left-wing Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, however, is supporting provisions to eradicate Posse Commitatus and dramatically expand the powers of the Federal government. The US Senate Armed Forces Committee, led by Carl Levin (D-MI) and John McCain...

The Arizona lawmaker—who was tortured himself while a prisoner of war in Vietnam — said the controversial practice was both illegal and ineffective. BY ALIYAH SHAHID Republican Sen. John McCain is ripping presidential candidates in his party who insist waterboarding is an effective technique for interrogating suspected terrorists. The Arizona lawmaker—who was tortured himself while a prisoner of war in Vietnam — said the controversial practice was both illegal and ineffective on Monday evening. “Very disappointed by statements at SC GOP debate supporting waterboarding,” he tweeted. “Waterboarding is torture.” McCain, who ran for President in 2008, elaborated on CNN later,...

(snip) McCain, who identified herself early in the program as heterosexual, spoke candidly about her own support for a battery of LGBTQ issues on stage...at one point, McCain even indicted pro-Don't Ask, Don't Tell politicians as being "dangerously out of touch.""I support equality," she said. "You can't call this country free if people are being discriminated against. "I'm scared by people who don't evolve," said McCain later on, frustrated by the static nature of conservative politics. The blogger, whose views contradict much of the religious rights' stance on homosexuality, suffered extreme backlash from news pundits throughout her father's campaign. (snip)

The Occupy Wall Street movement is getting sympathy from an unlikely person: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). The 2008 GOP presidential nominee said he understands the growing protest movement’s concerns over Washington bailouts of major financial institutions. “Down in Arizona today, Maricopa County has the highest number of homes underwater of any place in this country,” he told reporters Wednesday. “And it’s disgraceful that we took care of the financial institutions, and we did nothing about the housing crisis. So I understand their frustration.” He later quipped that he may be the “only” Republican does.

Sen. John McCain said Monday he disagreed with former vice president Dick Cheney's assertion that the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki could be equated with enhanced interrogation techniques. "They're two entirely different things," McCain said Monday on CNN's "American Morning." "One is that this was specifically authorized by Congress after 9/11. And it's action that is taken against a declared enemy of the United States of America. I'm glad they did it. I'm glad that they will continue." On Sunday, Cheney said on CNN's "State of the Union" that President Barack Obama owed the Bush administration an apology for criticizing enhanced...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on Sunday called for President Barack Obama to "sit down" with Republicans to find solutions to the nation's struggling economy.

On the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) appeared separately on “Fox News Sunday” to warn that the United States needs to stay active in the Middle East in order to fight the War on Terror. McCain said that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were correct, but also talked about mistakes that were made. “I don't think we should ever forget that those [Sept. 11, 2001] attacks originated in Afghanistan. I think we did the right thing there, but I also think we've learned a lot of lessons,” McCain said. McCain...

US Senator and former presidential candidate John McCain has lashed out at Russia, saying it could be the next country to experience a Libya-style uprising. ­But Senator McCain has a very far-fetched outlook, believes RT's Washington correspondent Gayane Chichikyan. McCain is sure that the Arab Spring will rage on and will make it to countries like China and Russia, which according to him “need democracy” just as Libya does. At some point he even said that Libya has already achieved democracy, which is far from reality according to the situation on the ground.

(snip) McCain said he is aware of the perception of Congress at the moment, noting the current approval rating of 10 percent and adding, “I’ve yet to meet anyone in that 10 percent at these meetings.” He said he has heard time and again from people who want him to reach compromises with the other side of the aisle, that Washington is polarized and unproductive. “Folks, I’m ready to compromise,” he said. “But not on principle.” (snip)

Sen. John McCain said that as Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi faces an "inevitable" end, the U.S. should concern itself with helping contain weapons from Qaddafi's arsenal. "We've got to secure these weapons depots," the Arizona Republican said on CBS' "The Early Show" Tuesday. "that have huge, huge numbers of weapons, and apparently mustard gas and other weapons of mass destruction."

Arizona Sen. John McCain said the United States must lead the world in providing support to Libya as they begin their post-Gadhafi era. "I think we would be well-served if we make sure that there is not an extremist takeover or hijacking of this revolution," McCain said. McCain appeared on CNN's "The Situation Room", where he said an earlier and stronger showing of power by the U.S. in the air could have shortened the conflict significantly. "The only thing that was holding [Gadhafi] in power was money and fear," McCain said. "Once those are dissipated by military strength, it is...

Sen. John McCain was put on the defensive Sunday for comparing some of his GOP colleagues to hobbits during the debt ceiling debate. The Arizona Republican had taken to the Senate floor in July to admonish conservatives for “unrealistic” expectations and quoted a Wall Street Journal editorial that compared them to the characters from J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings.” “What I was talking about, quoting from a Wall Street Journal editorial, was that there was a segment of the Republicans in the Senate — Republican Senators — that said we cannot raise the debt limit until we pass...

August 21, 2011 12:11 PM McCain: Palin would be "formidable" in 2012 By Lucy Madison Sen. John McCain says Sarah Palin has not solicited his advice on running for president - but he says she would make a "very formidable" challenger if she did jump into the race. McCain, speaking on CBS' "Face the Nation," declined to say whether or not he thought Palin, his running mate in the 2008 election, should run. "That's a decision that is so personal," he noted. But, he said, "I think she would be very formidable." The former presidential candidate pointed out that...

Sen. John McCain to hold town hall Tuesday in Goodyear Tuesday, August 23, 2011 3 pm Goodyear Justice Center 185 North 145th Avenue, Goodyear, Ariz. McCain town hall here Monday Monday, August 22, 2011 Noon First Congregational Church 216 East Gurley Street, Prescott, Ariz.

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) today released the following statement applauding President Obama for calling on Bashar al Assad to leave power in Syria, and urging other nations to also call for and take action to end the Assad regime: “We applaud President Obama for calling on Bashar al Assad to leave power, a position we have long argued should be the policy of the United States.(snip) “We urge other nations to join the United States in demanding an end to the Assad regime, whose legitimacy is clearly exhausted. We...

TUCSON-U.S. Republican Senator John McCain was in Tucson Tuesday for a town hall meeting. And, boy did he get an earful from constituents. McCain expected a rough meeting and he got it. The meeting room at St. Mark's United Methodist Church, 1431 W. Magee Road, was packed. The crowd was mixed with people on all sides. There were Tea Party conservatives, moderate Republicans and liberal Democrats. All sides challenged McCain. Asked about entitlements, McCain said, "With Social Security we should be raising the retirement age gradually, not for present day beneficiaries." And some in the audience yelled back "no". The...

GILBERT - Arizona Sen. John McCain held a town hall in Gilbert this morning and the economy took center stage. The town hall was focused on the nations' economic troubles and McCain said the on-going financial problems would be much greater had Congress not passed a bill to keep the country from defaulting on its debt. McCain said he is very concerned with the recent S&P downgrade of the United States' credit rating and views it as a wake-up call to the nation. "It will cost more to borrow money and it is a very serious situation," McCain said. McCain...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two senators and former presidential candidates say Standard & Poor’s decision to downgrade the U.S. credit rating speaks to the need for more bipartisan compromise — but they also say the blame lay with the other party.

(snip) MCCAIN: ... just wants to spend money. Hello? He just wants to spend more money. You and I are -- remember when Ronald Reagan said the worst deal he ever made was when he sat down with the Democrats and said they would cut spending $3 and raise taxes for every $1. Guess what? They raised taxes and they didn’t cut spending. That’s why the Tea Partiers and others would – I’m not a Tea Partier -- but the fact is, we need a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. We couldn’t get it through the Senate as the...

Our country is in crisis. Not the kind of crisis liberals invent out of mid air but the kind that results from the implementation of their policies and brings a country to its knees (and proves the president a rank amateur and many of the legislators unsuited for office). We are in debt, we have an energy crisis, we have high unemployment, and we’re more worried about whether our enemies think we’re nice that we are with crushing them with our military might. In a word: times are crazy. Yet in the middle of all this, I can honestly say...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. John McCain says he'll vote for compromise legislation averting a government default, although "I will probably have to swallow hard."

Former GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, who this week referred to Tea Party lawmakers as "hobbits," publicly criticized Pennsylvania's Pat Toomey Sunday during an unusual unscripted debate on the Senate floor. McCain, who appeared to be having a great 'ol time during a back and forth with Democrat Majority Whip Sen. Dick Durbin, referred to Toomey and those who share his views as "terrible." (snip) "...the terrible obstructionists on this side of the aisle, the terrible people, their flawed philosophical views about the future of America..."

Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (Mich.), a Republican presidential candidate, called Saturday morning for Republicans and the Tea Party to stop fighting and work together to help save the country, presumably from Democratic policies, although he was not specific. "On the right, take note," McCotter said on the House floor. "It is as unwarranted and injurious for a Republican to call a Tea Partier a hobbit as it is for a Tea Partier to call a Republican a RINO."McCotter was referring to a comment earlier this month from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who compared Tea Partiers to hobbits. That sparked rebukes from...

So the debt limit debate has come to this: John McCain, who you may recall was the GOP’s 2008 standard bearer, is now openly accusing conservatives of actively misleading America with their completely unrealistic demands, which he labeled “deceiving” and “bizarro.” In a seminal moment in this debate, here’s some video of McCain on the Senate floor today, unleashing an angry tirade at conservatives who are still holding out for a balanced budget amendment as part of any compromise on the debt ceiling. McCain accused them of “deceiving” America into believing such a thing can pass the Senate:

Mr. McCain mocked Tea Party-allied Republicans in the House for believing — wrongly, he said — that President Obama and Democrats will get the blame for a default if Republicans refuse to increase the nation’s debt ceiling. By that flawed logic, “Democrats would have no choice but to pass a balanced budget amendment and reform entitlements and the Tea Party Hobbits could return to Middle Earth,” he said, quoting a Wall Street Journal editorial. “This is the kind of crack political thinking that turned Sharron Angle and Christine O’Donnell into G.O.P. nominees,” he jeered, referring to two losing Tea Party...

As rain splatters the windows of Sen. John McCain’s second-floor office on Capitol Hill, the 74-year-old Arizona Republican leans back, clasps his hands, and recalls the Nineties. Brinksmanship, he says, cost the party then, and it could cripple Republicans this summer — especially if Rep. Michele Bachmann gets her way. Over in the House, “I am told that it is very difficult,” McCain says. “There are Republicans who are committed, like Michele Bachmann, to vote against raising the debt limit under any circumstances.” Bachmann, he warns, is acting “sort of like Senator Obama did.”(snip) Yet as poorly as Obama has...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) praised a backup plan by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to raise the debt ceiling. “I strongly support Senator McConnell’s efforts to avoid a default on our nation’s debt, and the last-case emergency proposal he outlined yesterday to ensure that Republicans aren’t unduly blamed for failure to raise the debt ceiling," McCain said in a statement on Wednesday.

Sen. John McCain accused President Obama of using scare tactics by saying that he cannot guarantee older Americans will continue to receive their Social Security checks if there is no deal to raise the debt ceiling. “The president has now gone from the blame game to the scare game,” McCain said Tuesday in an interview on CNN’s “In The Arena.” “It's really, really unfortunate and it's demagoguery.” The Arizona Republican said he agrees with statements made on the Senate floor Tuesday by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who said “as long as this president is in the Oval Office, a...

Too short to excerpt.

The US should keep as many as 13,000 troops in Iraq beyond the end-of-year deadline for ending its eight-year combat mission there to help keep the peace around hot spots, according to John McCain, the influential Republican senator. (snip) “I understand the war weariness of the American people ... but I also believe that our interests are our values, for one thing,” he told the FT, adding that he was “puzzled” when people say the US should not act when Muammer Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, has been promising to go house to house and kill Libyans who oppose him. “We...

The American people won’t accept tax increases as part of a debt ceiling increase compromise, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Sunday.

 In an interview on CNN's “State of the Union” with Candy Crowley McCain said even proposed increases on specific taxes was not something Republicans could agree to. "Well, I think that if we did those small things you're talking about it would have a very small impact but the principle of not raising taxes is something that we campaigned on last November and the results of the election was that the American people don't want their taxes raised and...

Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) are working together to expand the U.S.' role in the Arab Spring, according to The Washington Post. Kerry and McCain traveled to Egypt last weekend with eight Fortune 500 executives to explore how the U.S. can expand economic investment in that country after the fall of Hosni Mubarak. They envision similar plans across the Middle East in the aftermath of the Middle East revolts that would be similar to the U.S.' “Marshall Plan,” in which the U.S. invested billions of dollars in war-torn European nations after World War II.

For 25 years, war has fortified — and nearly destroyed — the ties binding John McCain and John F. Kerry. (snip) Concerned about what they see as an isolationist and fearful drift in both of their parties, Kerry (D-Mass.) and McCain (R-Ariz.) are advocating an even more forceful role for America in the world. (snip) Kerry and McCain are leading the fight in Congress to shore up support for U.S. action in Libya... (snip) The elder statesmen are also hoping to forge something resembling a Marshall Plan for the Middle East... (snip) But the Kerry-McCain partnership was derailed when Kerry...

U.S. Senator John McCain, joined by business leaders on a visit to Cairo, says the U.S. is ready to invest in Egypt. Deborah Lutterbeck reports.

Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on Thursday the survival of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's regime could spell the end of NATO. “Logically you can exact that if he [Gadhafi] outlasts NATO, the Arab spring is over,” said Graham. "…He will take it out on his people, I think it will affect the price of oil and would be the end of NATO because NATO taking on Gadhafi and losing -- its going to be very hard for that organization to go off to another war and be taken seriously.” Speaking on the Senate floor, Graham and...

Elevating the fallacy of the false alternative to a foreign policy, John McCain and a few others believe Republicans who oppose U.S. intervention in Libya’s civil war — and who think a decade of warfare in Afghanistan is enough — are isolationists. This is less a thought than a flight from thinking, which involves making sensible distinctions. Last Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” McCain warned that the GOP has always had “an isolation strain.” He calls it “the Pat Buchanan wing,” which he contrasts with “the Republican Party that has been willing to stand up for freedom for people all...

Via Playbook, John McCain raps the Republican presidential field for what he sees as an isolationist strain that's emerging as the candidates shift away from strict hawkishness on foreign policy, and which cropped up at the New Hampshire debate last Monday. From the pre-taped interview with "This Week:" McCAIN: “Well, I was more concerned about what the candidates in New Hampshire the other night said. This is isolationism. There's always been an … isolation strain on the Republican Party — that Pat Buchanan wing of our party. But now it seems to have moved more center stage, so to speak....

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Tuesday that a resolution he’s spent months crafting on Libya will likely call on the White House to increase its communication with Congress, an addition that could help pick up support for the stalled measure. Last week the Foreign Relations Committee postponed a mark up of McCain’s resolution, written in partnership with Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.), fearing the measure would not get enough votes. “I think as the situation has evolved in Libya, and frankly the lack of consultation and reporting to Congress has gone on, then we will be working on more...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday that it’s time to consider international intervention in Syria to avoid the further “slaughter” of people there by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. “If it made sense to protect the Libyan people against Gadhafi, and it did because they were going to get slaughtered if we hadn’t sent NATO in when he was on the outskirts of Benghazi, the question for the world [is], have we gotten to that point in Syria,” Graham said on the CBS' "Face the Nation."

WASHINGTON, June 7 (UPI) -- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has postponed debate on a resolution on U.S. involvement in the military mission in Libya, led by NATO, a spokesman said. The resolution, sponsored by committee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., and John McCain of Arizona, the top Republican on the committee, would generally express Senate approval of the U.S. role in Libya, Politico reported, citing senators familiar with the proposal. (sni;) McCain said he spoke with Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Monday about a vote on his resolution, adding that he believes the resolution will pass handily and should satisfy...

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) said he met in recent weeks with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) as Giuliani mulls a second run for president. Giuliani said on conservative talker Sean Hannity's radio show that he'd met recently with McCain, the 2008 GOP nominee, and come away with the conclusion that it'd be better to focus on primary states if he were to run again.Giuliani's campaign is widely seen to have stumbled because of his focus on the Republican primary in Florida, at the expense of earlier, traditional contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. By the...

(snip) During the comments, talk turned briefly to whether McCain would support former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin - his running mate during the 2008 presidential election - in a bid for the White House in 2012. McCain said it is all hypothetical at this point, as Palin has not officially announced her intention to seek the Republican nomination. "I'm proud of Sarah Palin. I'm proud of the campaign that she ran and she invigorated our campaign," McCain said. "I think she will be a very formidable candidate if she decides to seek the nomination of the Republican Party." The New...

WASHINGTON, May 20 (UPI) -- President Obama is repeating a mistake he made at the beginning of his administration with his call for a Palestinian state, U.S. Sen. John McCain said Friday. McCain, R-Arizona, the Republican presidential candidate in 2008, was interviewed by Sean Hannity, the ultra-conservative Fox News commentator. McCain said the president was wrong in his speech on Middle East policy to say that Israel should agree to a Palestinian state based on its borders in 1967. "I think they're making the same mistake that they made at the beginning of the administration," McCain said. "As you may...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Wednesday he does not believe Congress will act before the May 20 deadline to authorize military engagement in Libya and he does not “recognize” the constitutionality of the War Powers Act that sets the timeline, in any case. “No president has ever recognized the constitutionality of the War Powers Act and neither do I,” McCain said. “So I don’t feel bound by any deadline. It’s pretty obvious there’s no consensus in the Senate or in the Congress now to move forward with a resolution. I respect that.”McCain, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee,...

U.S. Sen. John McCain said Wednesday that he’s “seen this movie before” when it comes to federal claims of a secure border between the U.S. and Mexico. In a Senate hearing, McCain criticized the Department of Homeland Security for not keeping up with escalating drug and smuggling cartel violence that has resulted in mass graves and executions of Mexican officials. McCain, R-AZ, told Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano he remembered the U.S. giving amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants in 1986, “when we said we’d secure the borders.” Today, millions of illegal immigrants enter the U.S. at Tucson. McCain said:...

(snip) "I reminded them that Kuwait and Saudi Arabia reimbursed us after Operation Desert Storm," McCain says. "They said they'd be glad to discuss that.(snip) "They're very good people," he says. "Mainly well-educated, a number of women in the [Transitional National Council] -- very normal, dedicated people." (snip) McCain dismissed concerns that rebel forces include some veterans of al Qaeda. "I'm sure that there may be some element there, but I guarantee you that they didn't rise up because they wanted to be al Qaeda fighters," McCain says. "They rose up because they wanted to throw off the yoke of...