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McCain Almost Left the GOP -- Twice March 24, 2008 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT Senator McCain has not wrapped up the Chuck Hagel endorsement yet, and I wanted to mention this to you. Hagel was on This Week with Stephanopoulos on Sunday, and Stephanopoulos said to him, "Senator McCain is a good friend of yours. Why haven't you endorsed him?" HAGEL: When I work for someone or commit to someone, I want to be behind that person in every way I can. I've obviously got some differences with John on the Iraq war. That's no secret. I want to understand a...

As Senator John McCain slips further and further into the grips of age-realted dementia, his arguments in favor of legalizing 38 million illegal aliens become more and more specious. In 2007, for instance, McCain issued a very bizarre challenge to American patriots who oppose the amnesty travesty that McCain favors. Speaking at a fund-raiser in Houston, the senator said: "I think it’s (immigration reform) a matter of national security,” McCain said, “and to do nothing - to leave the status quo - would be an abrogation of our responsibilities to the American people.” The addled senator added, “If they’ve got...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Here's what leading presidential candidates have said about climate change and energy policies, and what they want to do. REPUBLICAN ARIZONA SEN. JOHN MCCAIN: "I know that climate change is real ... we've got to address it, we can do it with technology, with cap and trade, with capitalist and free enterprise motivation." Co-authored bill to cut emissions by 65 percent by 2050, favors unspecified fuel efficiency increase and overall energy efficiency. DEMOCRATIC NEW YORK SEN. HILLARY CLINTON: "We need to start on a path to slow, stop and reverse the growth of greenhouse gas emissions." Supports...

(The Politico) "The hot-button issue of immigration doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon – at least not in Republican circles. On NPR’s “Morning Edition” today, John McCain suggested that strong anti-immigrant rhetoric contributed to two recent, high-profile GOP Congressional losses – of former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, who badly lost to Sen. Bob Casey in 2006, and Jim Oberweis, who lost the heavily Republican seat of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert this month in a special election.

It’s not the kind of endorsement that a Republican presidential candidate should welcome. But former Clinton State Department official and alleged Russian dupe Strobe Talbott says that Senator John McCain and Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are all “moderate pragmatists” in foreign policy “with the demonstrated ability to reach across party lines.” This is “good news,” says Talbott, who is an advocate of world government. Can our media stop talking about race, sex and gender long enough to examine whether the American people will be given a choice or an echo on foreign policy issues this November?...

I just got back from the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, D.C., where conservatives began lining up behind a man who’s been sticking it to us for years. By a process of self-hypnosis, many have managed to convince themselves that McCain is actually one of us. Not for nothing did Benjamin Disraeli call conservatives the stupid party. What part of John McCain do we not get? McCain-Kennedy, McCain-Feingold, McCain-Lieberman, McCain-Edwards -- among other socialist, anti-speech, open-borders, enviro-Marxist measures he’s co-sponsored with the hardcore left of the Democratic Party over the years. If Il Duce had served with...

Without exactly being like Mike, Sen. John McCain yesterday join-ed Mayor Bloomberg in calling global warming a reality to be dealt with by weaning the U.S. off Mideast oil. "The world is already feeling the powerful effects of global warming," McCain said in calling for caps on carbon emissions, and "the problem isn't some Hollywood invention." The Arizona Republican did not directly address Bloomberg's environmental plan, which includes $8 tolls on cars south of 86th St. But a McCain spokesman said the mayor and the senator were in sync on facing up to a greenhouse gas effect that many in...

After being forced to respond to three separate incidents in recent weeks of conservatives alluding to Barack Obama's middle name, John McCain's campaign manager today sent a memo to top supporters urging them to stick to the campaign's preferred message -- and to avoid taking gratuitous shots at their Democratic rivals. "We expect that all supporters, surrogates and staff will hold themselves to similarly high standards when they are representing the campaign. To help guide you, please find talking points below."

Sen. John McCain has asserted his opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin a number of times, going so far as joining with Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., in 2005 to introduce legislation calling on President Bush to suspend Russian's membership in the Group of Eight. That opposition, however, is being called into question by links that have been established in various reports between McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, and Ukrainian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, who is suspected of having ties to organized Russian crime. Davis even arranged for McCain to meet Deripaska at a time when Davis' lobbying firm was working under...

JOHN McCAIN Who is the real John McCain? McCain dumped his first wife after she had been disabled in an auto accident. Although this woman had worked tirelessly to get him released from captivity as a POW in Vietnam, he did not hesitate to betray her with other women upon finding her crippled when he returned home. In fact, McCain developed a serious reputation as a womanizer during the years following his release. Finally, he acquired a fortune through his second marriage and settled down with his second wife, Cindy. According to the Phoenix Gazette of May 19, 1987, "the...

... If there's a single thread that runs through the e-mails I receive from peevish Republicans, it's that none of the current candidates possesses the conservative purity of Ronald Reagan. One could almost get the idea that Dutch was betrayed by Pontius Pilate and crucified on Calvary. But that wasn't exactly the case. The fact of the matter is that Gov. Reagan gave Gov. Jerry Brown a run for his money – or should I say our money? – when it came to raising taxes here in California. But, in spite of the additional revenue, he was responsible in large...

WARNING TO CONSERVATIVES!!! When the AP quotes Open Borders moll Tamar Jacoby, Arlen Specter, RINO/Bushie/McCainite Charlie Black as saying McCain is "looking strong" or good on immigration" and no conservatives or anti-Invasion advocates or experts are quoted in the [following] story, you know the fix is in! McCain is on a major media effort to try to make conservatives like him enough to vote for him and he knows he's in deep trouble. So he's going to try to pull the wool over our eyes by saying he's going to get tough on the Border--if elected. What he WON'T discuss...

Arizona senator says GOP rhetoric 'not helpful' WASHINGTON - Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Thursday he did not believe Democratic candidate John Kerry, a friend and Senate colleague, was weak on defense or would compromise national security if elected president. “This kind of rhetoric, I think, is not helpful in educating and helping the American people make a choice,” McCain said on “The Early Show” on CBS. “You know, it’s the most bitter and partisan campaign that I’ve ever observed. I think it’s because both parties are going to their bases rather than going to the middle. I regret it.”...

Ted Nugent: McCain has two battles he must win Sunday, February 17, 2008 Now that Mitt Romney has thrown in the towel and endorsed him, the Republican nominee for president will almost certainly be Sen. John McCain. Attempting residency at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is surely tough enough without turning your friends into enemies. There are plenty of enemies on the other side who wear different political stripes altogether. McCain faces a distrustful, dissatisfied, frustrated, and in some cases, downright angry conservative base. Conservatives are not happy with McCain. He has not always carried the conservative torch on immigration, taxes, First...

McCain a 'True Conservative,' Bush Says Feb 10 09:36 AM US/Eastern WASHINGTON (AP) - John McCain is a "true conservative," President Bush says, although the presumptive Republican presidential nominee may have to work harder to convince other conservatives that he is one of their own. McCain "is very strong on national defense," Bush said in an interview taped for airing on "Fox News Sunday." "He is tough fiscally. He believes the tax cuts ought to be permanent. He is pro-life. His principles are sound and solid as far as I'm concerned." But when asked about criticism of McCain by conservative...

WASHINGTON (AP) — John McCain faces a dilemma on immigration as he works to persuade conservatives he's tough enough on the issue without erasing his historic appeal to Hispanic voters. Once a crusader for offering the nation's roughly 12 million undocumented immigrants a way to get legal status, McCain now says his first priority is fortifying U.S. borders. The metamorphosis reflects McCain's intensifying effort to consolidate his support among conservatives, who deride the Arizona senator's past proposals on immigration as offering amnesty to lawbreakers, and bitterly resent his work with Democrats, including Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, on the issue....

<p>For the second time in as many days, Sen. John McCain was forced to rebuke members of his own party for over-the-top attacks on Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama.</p>

John McCain couldn't handle the outstanding rebel-rousing introduction by Cincinnati conservative talk show host, Bill Cunningham the other day--a man the McCain Campaign had hired to introduce the Senator. Instead, Wussie McCain immediately "apologized" profusely to Obama for Cunningham's using Obama's full name over and over during the intro. This shows how "p.c." and how "wussie" John McCain is when it comes to worrying about how the left is going to perceive him. Instead of concentrating on gaining base support which he sorely needs and can't win without, he's playing to the left and saying to conservatives, "S**w you! I...

Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain (R.-Ariz.), often described as a “maverick” by the media, has been duly dealt blows from both the right and the left by groups who find hypocrisy in the senator’s “straight talk.” Straight Talk America is the name of McCain’s presidential campaign committee, a spin-off from the well-known “Straight Talk Express” bus he toured on during his 2000 presidential campaign. On the “Straight Talk Express” reporters enjoyed full-access to McCain and nothing was “off the record.” But, yesterday two groups claimed McCain’s “straight talk” is a sham. Brave New Films, a left-leaning film-making company that...

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., will sponsor a bill to strengthen campaign finance laws in this session of Congress despite vehement opposition to campaign finance reform from conservative Republican activists whose support he needs to win the party's nomination for president in 2008. McCain recently had appeared to be backing away from his support of campaign finance reform, which has been a signature issue for him. But Friday, a top aide in his Senate office said that McCain will reintroduce a bill to further clamp down on independent "527" groups. "Yes, it is McCain's bill and McCain will introduce it this...

John McCain is signaling his intent to seek the GOP nomination for president. Unlike many FReepers, I view him as a very real threat to the GOP's chances in 2008. Just look at the polls. We can debate the most important lessons of last Tuesday ad infinitum, but clearly one of them is that polls do reflect public opinion and must be taken seriously. Based on polling data, McCain is usually described as the front-runner. If he gets the nomination, I believe he will self-destruct during the campaign and guarantee the election of the Democrat candidate. We have a choice....

The charismatic war hero who is not afraid to criticise Bush could be just the man for the Republicans NED LAMONT, the winner of the Democratic primary for the Senate in Connecticut, is a lucky man. He has both old and new money; his great-grandfather was a partner in J. P. Morgan’s bank when it was still the most powerful private bank in the world. He has made fortunes in asset management and communications. In his filing, he states modestly that his net worth is between $50 million (£28 million) and $300 million. He was able to outspend Joseph Lieberman,...

Tax-cut advocate Grover Norquist has labeled Senator John McCain, and his report last week on a $50,000 contribution by the Choctaw Indian tribe to Norquist's Americans for Tax Relief, "dishonest." In an interview with NewsMax, Norquist also accused McCain of "lying" about ATR's role in the matter and suggested McCain's report is nothing more than political payback. Norquist said McCain has claimed to others that Norquist and Ralph Reed engineered his defeat in the heated 2000 South Carolina presidential primary that pitted the senator against George Bush. Andrea Jones, McCain's press secretary, did not respond to requests seeking comment.

Republicans intent on safeguarding power in Washington have drifted from the values of the Reagan presidency and ushered in an era of reckless spending and government growth that threatens to drive them from office, U.S. Sen. John McCain said in prepared remarks Friday. "Why has our party, the party of small government, lately adopted the practices of our opponents who believe the bigger the government the better? I'm afraid it's because at times we value our incumbency more than our principles," the Arizona Republican said in a speech to be delivered at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. "We came to...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. John McCain has returned $20,000 donated to his Straight Talk America political action committee by two Texas businessmen who helped finance ads that criticized the Republican during his 2000 White House bid. Published reports last year said brothers Charles J. Wyly Jr., and Sam Wyly were being investigated for their handling of money in offshore accounts. Government agencies declined to say whether any probes are ongoing. The Wylys have been active in Republican fundraising for years. "Through our vetting process, when we find any controversy, we return the check," said Craig Goldman, executive director of Straight...

by Mark Finkelstein February 7, 2006 - 19:39 There's been speculation today that Democrats and their MSM allies would turn on erstwhile hero John McCain in the wake of his breathtakingly critical letter to Illinois Sen. Barack Obama - whom we are legally required to refer to as a "rising star of the Democratic party." But at least one MSMer with impeccable Dem credentials - Chris Matthews - was reveling in the cat fight this evening. Obama and McCain apparently had a gentlemen's agreement that they would cooperate in a bi-partisan way on a lobbying reform bill. But it seems...

United States Senator John McCain will not be in attendance at Saturday’s Arizona Republican Assembly state convention. He would not want to be present, nor would his presence be all that welcomed by Republicans. Among the resolutions to be addressed during Saturday’s annual Arizona Republican Assembly (ARA) convention is an effort to censure Arizona’s senior U.S. senator over his betrayal of the GOP on juidicial filibusters and other important issues. The ARA is a principled, constitutional organization which honors – without compromise – the Republican Party platform. In recent years, Senator McCain has shown little regard for the party or...

Washington --- As gay marriage was in 2004, immigration will be a driving social issue in the next presidential election, some conservatives predict. In California and Colorado, they have started campaigns for referendums to crack down on illegal immigrants, and groups in other states are considering similar efforts. Some are buoyed by a successful state referendum in Arizona last year requiring immigrants to show proof of legal residence before voting or receiving state welfare services. Immigration is also becoming an increasingly hot topic on radio and television talk shows as Congress considers various proposals, including one introduced last month by...

A leader of the modern conservative movement says the bipartisan deal to end the filibusters of President Bush's judicial nominees was all about the presidential election of 2008. Arizona Senator John McCain was one of the seven Republicans involved in brokering the recent controversial "compromise" that suspended a Democratic-led filibuster and allowed judicial nominee Priscilla Owen to finally get an up-or-down vote before the full Senate. The deal called for allowing two other nominees to go before the Senate for a confirmation vote, but permitted Democrats to continue their filibustering tactics on future nominees. Paul Weyrich, the founder and director...

He took big bucks from shady Charles Keating, and did favors for KEating. All the pandering to the liberal media is an effort to get them to ignore his corrupt relationship with Keating. Here's how Mark Levin recalled it, in a column a few years back:McCain was one of the so-called "Keating Five" senators. He was investigated by the Senate Select Committee on Ethics in 1991 regarding the acceptance of favors from Lincoln Savings & Loan Association (Lincoln) and its owner, Charles H. Keating, Jr. Simply put, the issue was whether McCain and the other senators used their official positions...

ON THE DAY JOHN McCain engineered the "deal" that undercut Bill Frist and apparently sacrificed fine nominees to his own ambition for reputation, The New Yorker hit the stands with a lengthy profile of Arizona's senior senator. The magazine confidently predicted the senator's 2008 presidential run and quoted him as saying, "When people are in close races, I am the first Republican who is asked to come and appear for that person. I am the most sought-after of all Republicans. In this last campaign, I was the one asked by the president to travel and campaign with him....When you look...

Let no one suppose that the "deal" engineered by the "Gang of 14" (7 Republicans and 7 Democrats) in the Senate last week put to rest either of the related major disputes that have been roiling that distinguished body in recent weeks. The would-be peacemakers labored and brought forth a mouse. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) says "The constitutional option" (or "nuclear option," if you prefer) "is still on the table." Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says the deal "took the nuclear option off the table. The nuclear option is gone for our lifetime." As for filibustering judicial nominees,...

Season of Turncoats by Isaiah Z. Sterrett 02 June 2005 John McCain sold out the Senate, the Republican Party, the American judiciary, and the people of this country. Jim Jeffords was ahead of his time.  He jumped ship before it was popular.  As we're currently learning, the summer of 2005 is the season of turncoats.  John McCain sold out the Senate, the Republican Party, the American judiciary, the people of his state, and the people of his country.  On an issue of vital national importance -- likely the single most significant domestic issue of the year and of Bush's second...

Despite continuing outrage among conservatives over last week’s sellout of Senate Republicans by seven “moderates” in their midst, it is clear that Arizona Senator John McCain, the apparent leader of the effort, presumes himself to be a big winner. While McCain has been positively deferential towards Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist when questioned directly, his actions dealt a severe setback to Frist’s efforts to solidify Republican Senate clout. Appearing widely in front of network cameras (a place he clearly relishes), McCain nevertheless pronounced that the compromise had been undertaken “in the finest traditions of the Senate.” Any presumed victories resulting...

On the day John McCain engineered the "deal" that undercut Bill Frist and apparently sacrificed fine nominees to his own ambition for reputation, The New Yorker hit the stands with a lengthy profile of Arizona's senior senator. The magazine confidently predicted the senator's 2008 presidential run and quoted him as saying, "When people are in close races, I am the first Republican who is asked to come and appear for that person. I am the most sought-after of all Republicans. In this last campaign, I was the one asked by the president to travel and campaign with him. . ....

McCain: I 'Absolutely' Want to Be President Sen. John McCain says he "absolutely” wants to be president – but hasn’t yet decided if he’ll run in 2008. In a wide-ranging interview in the June edition of Men's Journal magazine, the Arizona Republican also reveals: John Kerry "discussed” the possibility of McCain running as his vice presidential candidate. U.S. troops could be in Iraq for another 50 years. Colin Powell will never run for office. Dan Rather was definitely fired over the Rathergate flap. In the interview, McCain – who has had prostate surgery and treatment for melanoma – said his...

As Democrats celebrated the new civility in the Senate by launching a friendly filibuster against John Bolton's nomination as U.N. Ambassador, Sen. John McCain, M-AZ, worked late into the night to strike a deal with his 13 colleagues in the bipartisan progressive coalition (BPC), offering a free iPod Shuffle to any Democrat who supports the next vote to close debate on Mr. Bolton. "Thanks to our compromise on judicial nominees earlier this week, my friends in the Democrat party have become more open to receiving special premium offers in exchange for restraining their minority power," said Sen. McCain. "The iPod...

With the Republican Senate 24 hours away from liberating all seven judicial hostages of Minority Leader Harry Reid and his Democrats, Sen. John McCain stepped in to snatch compromise from the jaws of victory. We will, said McCain, settle for only three. McCain's Gang of Seven had just engineered a Republican Munich. As of Monday, Majority Leader Bill Frist had the 51 votes needed to free all seven. Had a cloture vote been taken, all seven Bush appellate court appointees would soon be on their way to the federal bench. Reid's Democratic minority would have been stripped permanently of its...

How in the world are we supposed to believe that employment by a significant Washington player and probable presidential candidate of a spouse of a reporter who covers Washington players and probable presidential candidates won't affect Brownstein's judgments? Would a paper allow the wife of an Enron executive to continue reporting on the Enron scandal? Would the son of an NBA owner be allowed to cover his father's franchise? Would a sister be assigned to review a major motion picture in which her sibling had a supporting role? Brownstein gets credit for transparency in telling the audience so we can...

Having helped broker the Great Senate Compromise last week, Sen. John McCain is back in the media limelight, winning the usual accolades for bucking his party. But the deal by 14 "moderates" doesn't just preserve the judicial filibuster and allow confirmation of a few of President Bush's "extremist" nominees. It also reveals that the myth the McCainiacs hoped would propel their man into the Oval Office in 2000 still endures, despite evidence of successive elections to the contrary. The myth is simply that the only way to win elections is to draw voters from the other party by bucking a...

John McCain: Senator from Arizona, war hero, moderate, Republican, statesman, maverick, savior of America from right-wing, radical, activist, extremist judges. On the Ides of May, Maverick McCain leaned in closer to the ear of the Majority Leader and whispered ever so statesmanlike, "Fourteen people -- and I was not the leader, all of us were together -- fourteen people sat down. We wanted to preserve the institution; we wanted to move forward; the Democrats had threatened to slow down or stop the Senate; we're tired of this fighting. I think we've got a good agreement -- it's based on trust...

Gen. Richard B. Myers yesterday condemned as "absolutely irresponsible" an Amnesty International report that compared prisoner treatment at Guantanamo Bay to the Soviet gulag, adding that 100 out of 68,000 detainees held in the war against terrorism were abused. Amnesty International also suggested that foreign governments investigate senior U.S. officials involved in "torture scandals" and arrest and question Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, former CIA Director William Tenet, and Vice President Dick Cheney. "I think it's irresponsible. I think it's absolutely irresponsible," Gen. Myers told "Fox News Sunday." We've had 100 cases of substantiated abuse and there are 100 individuals...

Washington is a strange city because, unlike New York, money doesn’t confer status and, unlike Los Angeles, neither does celebrity. The elusive element that structures life and work here is power or the appearance of power. Like electricity, this substance cannot easily be seen. But when it emerges decisively, you feel the atmosphere change in the city. And last week something shifted. Fourteen senators made a deal. All the president of the United States could do was look on. In a finely balanced Senate, a centrist faction of seven Republicans and seven Democrats shelved the notion of abolishing the judicial...

This bipartisan deal cut by Sen. John McCain is noxious. No, the issue isn't judges. (Or campaign finance, or health care...) It's illegal immigration and a proposal that has just been cooked up by the Arizona maverick and the Massachusetts non-maverick Sen. Ted Kennedy to grant an amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants. Under the bill, illegals would have to work in the U.S. — which they are already doing — for six years as legal temporary workers, then they would be eligible to apply for green cards. Also, a new category of guest workers would be created who would...

Craig Crawford's 1600: The Lone Arranger. Democrats are wrong to think that John McCain is their favorite Republican. The Arizona senator could be their worst nightmare in 2008. By leading his colleagues from the brink of disaster in the Senate filibuster debate, McCain proved to be at the top of his game — and, for now, he’s standing almost alone as a nationally known leader with the instinct and skill for commanding the politically profitable middle ground. Rather than pander to his party’s activist ideologues in the bid to silence minority voices on judicial nominees, McCain helped forge a coalition...

McCain

Because politics is the ultimate zero-sum game, John McCain's role in brokering the deal over President Bush's court nominees makes him the big winner from a mixed result. The senior Republican senator from Arizona was the moving force on his side of the aisle for the compromise that angered both parties' extreme elements. In Washington, where score is kept daily of such things, it may well go down as a significant step in his road to the presidency. Of course, conservatives hold great sway in the GOP nomination process, but those who see this matter as a nail in McCain's...

WASHINGTON—Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) announced that he has no intention of running for President of the United States this week by his latest egregious blow to Republicans when he joined Democrats in a phony "compromise," that will allow liberal interest groups to continue to block reasonable judges. The extreme leftist group People for the American Way called the McCain sellout, "good news," convinced the measure would help preserve liberal activist judges' influence in the courts. Senate Democrats have spent the last two terms blocking Bush administration nominees through the unprecedented use of the filibuster to create a supermajority requirement for...

McCain Urging Accord on Bolton and Secret Documents By DOUGLAS JEHL and CARL HULSE WASHINGTON, May 27 - One of John R. Bolton's leading Republican backers, Senator John McCain of Arizona, signaled his support on Friday for a compromise in which the White House might allow Senate leaders access to highly classified documents in return for a final vote early next month on Mr. Bolton's nomination as United Nations ambassador. The conciliatory signal from Mr. McCain came as Senate leaders traded blame over who was responsible for the miscalculation that led to Mr. Bolton's nomination being blocked Thursday. But the...

Drudge: McCAIN URGING ACCORD ON BOLTON AND SECRET DOCUMENTS...