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July 3, 2011 2 Republicans Open Door to Increases in Revenue By JOHN M. BRODER WASHINGTON — Two senior Republicans said Sunday that they might be open to raising new government revenue as part of a deal to resolve the dispute over the federal debt ceiling, but they warned that there was little time to enact a comprehensive deal. One of the senators, John Cornyn of Texas, said he would consider eliminating some tax breaks and corporate subsidies in the context of changes in the tax code, provided there was not an overall increase in taxes. “I think it’s clear...

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...

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...

WASHINGTON — Senators John F. Kerry and John McCain, seeking to defuse a contentious debate over funding for US military operations in Libya, proposed a resolution yesterday offering congressional support for President Obama’s policy in the North African country. The senators, both high-profile members of the chamber and former nominees for the presidency, sought to project a united front in support of the NATO-led action to protect Libyan civilians from Moammar Khadafy’s forces and curtail the dictator’s ability to wage war. (snip) Some legal scholars say the resolution, despite assurances from McCain and Kerry, does not limit the current mission....

Headline and link only (AP covering it's tracks)...

Republican Senator John McCain today ripped into the current crop of GOP candidates, accusing them of breaking with the party's traditions by preaching 'isolationism.' Mr McCain, the Republican candidate in the 2008 presidential elections, said if former President Ronald Reagan were still alive he would have been disappointed in last week's Republican presidential debate in which candidates voiced impatience with U.S. military efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq and now Libya. Mr McCain told ABC's This Week: 'He would be saying: "That's not the Republican Party of the 20th century, and now the 21st century. That is not the Republican Party that...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday that any Republican-backed plan to raise more government revenue would have to come from eliminating subsidies and tax deductions, not by raising taxes. "No one on the Republican side is going to vote to raise taxes, but I think many of us would look at flattening the tax code, doing away with deductions and exemptions and take that revenue and help pay off the debt," said Graham on NBC's "Meet the Press."

WASHINGTON — US Senator John McCain on Sunday expressed concern about growing isolationism in the Republican party, particularly among those vying for the 2012 presidential nomination. McCain, the 2008 Republican nominee, said he was alarmed to hear various candidates at a campaign forum last Monday express opposition to US military involvement in the NATO military assault on Libya's Moamer Kadhafi. "There's always been an isolation strain in the Republican party, that Pat Buchanan (a former Republican presidential contender) wing of our party. But now it seems to have moved more center stage, so to speak," he said. There is no...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) warns his Republican colleagues on Sunday to not push against U.S. involvement in Libya for partisan gain. Republicans on Capitol Hill have been pressuring the White House to come to Congress to seek authorization of ongoing air strikes in Libya. And House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has warned that if President Barack Obama did not seek congressional approval, the president would be in violation of the War Powers Act. McCain, though, suggested during an interview aired Sunday on ABC's "This Week" that the GOP's complaints have little to do with concerns over balance of powers in...

(snip) McCain acknowledged that war weariness is a factor in opposition to U.S. involvement in Libya, but he disagreed with Republican candidates like Michele Bachmann who said at last week's GOP debate that the U.S. had "no vital national interest" there. "I strongly disagree with her and others," McCain said. "The fact is our interest are our values. And our values are that we don't want people needlessly slaughtered by the thousands if we can prevent such activity." "We are the lead nation in the world, and America matters and we must lead," McCain added. "Sometimes that leadership entails sacrifice...

It wasn't long ago that the conservative, free-market Club for Growth was viewed by a swath of Republicans as a furtive, well-heeled enemy whose efforts to purge moderates from the GOP had to be thwarted. The club and its agenda are "not representative of the Republican Party," the director of the Republican Main Street Partnership, a group of moderate GOP congressional members, once said, adding: "We raise money on a daily basis to defeat them." When asked this week about the Republican animus the group faced in the recent past, Club for Growth executive director David Keating replied: "That sounds...

WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham criticized his party's presidential candidates and congressional leaders for increasingly advocating an international isolationism that he said repudiates the legacies of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. The South Carolina senator mocked seven GOP presidential candidates' discussion of foreign policy in Monday night's New Hampshire debate as "shallow" and full of "platitudes."(snip) "I was very disappointed that no one articulated why it matters if we win or lose in Afghanistan," Graham said. "No one articulated what would happen if (Libyan strongman Moammar) Gadhafi stays in power. So we have Republicans talking about stopping...

The term “isolationist” is much like the word “racist” in that it has become almost useless due to its overuse. For example, if the Left rightly considers Ku Klux Klan members racist—but also members of the Tea Party who merely criticize President Obama “racist”—such a glaring logical disparity cries out for a reassessment of terminology. A word that can mean anything can quickly become meaningless—and it also becomes a great rhetorical weapon in a political environment that substitutes smears for thoughtful debate. Such was the case at the Wall Street Journal last week which published an editorial entitled: “The Kucinich...

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."

Link only, per FR posting rules

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President Barack Obama should begin only a "very modest" withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan next month and not bring home any combat troops, senior US Senator John McCain said Wednesday. "I'm in exact agreement with (US Defense) Secretary Gates that it should be very modest," McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters. "He said, basically, no combat troops and that's what I agree with," McCain said amid a political battle in the US Congress over the size and speed of Obama's planned withdrawal from Afghanistan.

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...