Free Republic

THE VILLAGES, Fla. -- John McCain has become Mitt Romney's biggest advocate in this critical early primary state, one that made his own GOP presidential nomination inevitable four years ago. In an interview with RealClearPolitics after a town-hall meeting with about 100 seniors here, McCain often referred to Romney and his campaign as “we.” At the end of the interview, he asked intensely, “What’s [the RCP polling average] saying about us overnight after the debate?” A reflection of this sense of ownership was evident in his take on last Saturday’s South Carolina primary, which Gingrich won. “We haven’t had time...

Ed Harris as McCain. Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin.

Complete title: ‘On What?’--McCain Says He Didn’t Know Defense Bill He Approved Repealed Military Ban on Sodomy, Bestiality Video at link (CNSNews.com) - Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told CNSNews.com on Wednesday that he did not know that the 926-page Defense Department authorization bill that came through his committee and was approved by the Senate last week on 93 to 7 vote included a provision that would repeal the military’s ban on sodomy and bestiality if the bill becomes law. CNSNews.com asked McCain: “Senator, did you read the Defense authorization bill that...

Ann Coulter, conservative author and preferred provocateur among cable news bookers, was repeatedly bleeped during a recent appearance on "Morning Joe" on Tuesday. In the bleeped asides, Coulter apparently called John McCain a "douchebag." Coulter was also cut for several seconds while discussing the consistency of current and former GOP candidates, including Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and McCain. "What did I say, 'douchebag'?" Coulter, realizing she had been bleeped, asked Joe Scarborough. "We'll just blur it all out," Scarborough said. "Well, they got the general drift," Coulter added.

VFW Presses Senator McCain on Support: VFW National Commander Richard DeNoyer expressed the organization's strongest opposition today to ongoing efforts by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) to further balance the budget on the backs of military service members, their families, and retirees. In a letter, the Chief wrote that McCain's acceptance of proposals to examine the current retirement system along with military pay, allowances and their tax implications, plus to suggest excluding military retirees from TRICARE Prime, implies that his unwavering support of the military exists only as long as you are...

WASHINGTON, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Republican Senator John McCain has some advice for President Barack Obama to help energize stalled Middle East peacemaking: Put former President Bill Clinton in charge. Democrat Bill Clinton, husband of Obama's Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is always "the smartest guy in the room" and so would he be in a roomful of Israeli and Palestinian negotiators, McCain told the Reuters Washington summit on Tuesday. The Republican presidential nominee in 2008 who lost to Obama, McCain said Clinton had credibility with both Israelis and Palestinians and had come the closest of anyone to producing peace....

Meghan McCain became an official MSNBC contributor this week and it left a lot of conservatives (even some on the left) a little teed off. But not her dad. “I’m very happy for her. I hope she does well,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told THE BLAZE in Washington, D.C, Thursday night where he and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) were accepting American Patriot Awards. Response from the right on Twitter was less than favorable to the news that McCain would be on the news — regularly. “Whatever John McCain’s sins, he does not deserve a daughter like [Meghan],” Editor in Chief...

BREAKING NEWS. Meghan McCain reveals that no one has ever sexually harassed her, or even hit on her. In a not so shocking revelation, Meghan McCain, aka Tits McGee, aka The Daily Beast has revealed she has never once been hit on in her life. Furious, she describes daily events where children run in horror of her and even Karl Rove wears a blindfold to their daily meetings. Meghan McCain has also revealed that she plans to endorse Mitt Romney for President. She said he is the most qualified candidate because he is the only one who hasn't attempted to...

(snip) “I think he’s delusional,” McCain said. “And him calling me clueless I think is so sexist and disgusting and lame and a really offhanded remark … that he’s making towards me. And I think it’s ridiculous. Any polls that he’s reading, if you were seriously running for president, you wouldn’t be taking vacations to Greece during the middle of your campaign trail. I think he has a lot of other issues that all of us are very well aware of. And I would bet my career he’s not going to be our next nominee.” (snip)

U.S. Senator John McCain says now that NATO military intervention in Libya is ending, military action to protect civilians in Syria might be considered.

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.

(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)

Anyone who has met me knows I'm totally like, no fan of 26-year-old woman Meghan McCain. I found her latest threat to sue Erick Erickson at RedState.com for "illegally using her byline" on Leon Wolf's "Totally Meghan McCain" parody columns absolutely hilarious. Even better, McCain claimed the parodies, which were poorly written on purpose, could be confused with her real columns at The Daily Best. The buxom blogette tweeted: Sexist? Really? Here is part of the parody post that triggered McCain's lawsuit threat: Firstly in the first place, some people had a question about my very obvious statement, “I don’t...

In 2008, John McCain's campaign team discussed whether they should let Sarah Palin be sworn in as vice-president if they were to win the election, according to campaign staffer Nicolle Wallace. "There certainly were discussions -- not for long because of the arc the campaign took -- but certainly there were discussions about whether, if they were to win, it would be appropriate for her to be sworn in," Wallace tells Time's Claire Suddath. In her new novel, It's Classified, Wallace has a character -- a mentally ill female vice-president -- which she says is based on her experience working...

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...

<p>Amid continued speculation that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is seriously considering a bid for the Republican presidential nomination, John McCain, 2008's GOP presidential nominee, said he thinks Christie would make a "viable" candidate - but he warned that "the swimming pool looks a lot better until you jump right in."</p>

Video at link

It's Raining McCain. Hallelujia!

Sen. John McCain, a critic of President George W. Bush's use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” in the war on terror, reflected on the “issue of torture” a decade after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. “Abu Ghraib and the torture of prisoners hurt us a great deal and did provide a propaganda tool for our enemies including Al Qaeda,” the Arizona Republican said on "Fox News Sunday." Noting that on the 10th anniversary of those attacks he did not want to dwell on his differences with the current and previous administration, McCain applauded both Bush and President Barack Obama for...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) received a slew of birthday tweets Monday.

(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)

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...

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.

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

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:

McCain Warns Bachmann July 14, 2011 12:18 P.M. By Robert Costa       She is acting “sort of like Senator Obama did.” 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.” In 2006, then-senator Obama refused to lift the debt limit. Speaking on the floor, Obama ascribed his opposition to the “failure” of George W. Bush to address the country’s fiscal problems. McCain has little patience for such...

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...

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...

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...

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."

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...

Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for five and a half years, has rejected the argument that torture was necessary to successfully combat terrorism - and denied claims that waterboarding detainees provided intelligence that helped end the manhunt for Osama bin Laden. (snip) On CBS' "The Early Show" Friday, McCain denied claims made by Rep. Peter King, the Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, who said earlier this week that through the use of such tactics, a courier for the al Qaeda leader was identified. (snip) "Through normal, conventional...

The U.S. Senate today overcame a Republican filibuster and approved a former Planned Parenthood abortion business director, John McConnell, as a federal judge in Rhode Island. Senators voted 63-33 to surpass the 60-vote threshold necessary to stop the filibuster and approve the nomination of McConnell’s nomination to the District Court for the District of Rhode Island. his nomination previously cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee recently on a party-line 11-7 vote. Senate Republicans joining all Democrats to end debate included Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Susan Collins of Maine, Lyndsey Graham of South Carolina, Johnny Isakson of Georgia, Mark Kirk of Illinois,...

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:...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Monday he feared a "stalemate" has developd in Libya that would lead to a more radical government in that country. McCain, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the U.S. should revive its air attacks to incapacitate forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi's regime. "All we need to do is get sufficient air power in there to really nail Gadhafi's forces, and we can succeed," McCain said on KFYI radio. "A stalemate is a terrible outcome, because if you have a stalemate you open the door for radical Islamists to come in and...

He urged GOP candidates to support foreign aid to Middle Eastern countries and said they should be ready to criticize President Obama if he fails to force Moammar Gadhafi to vacate power in Libya.Graham, one of his party’s most forceful voices on foreign policy, warned that presidential candidates will encounter a “war-weary” public that wants to troops to return from Iraq and Afghanistan. Candidates also will find that pitching increases in foreign aid to key Middle Eastern nations like Egypt “goes over like a lead balloon.”The reason such public sentiments worry Graham is “because it doesn’t take long before the...

Washington - Sen. John McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, calls Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton an “international star” but sharply criticizes the Obama administration’s policy on Libya. At a Monitor-sponsored breakfast for reporters on Wednesday, Senator McCain, the 2008 Republican candidate for president, was asked to rate President Obama’s national security team. “I think the international star is Secretary Clinton,” McCain said. “She has done a really tremendous job.”

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Two Senate Republicans joined an effort to rapidly wind down government controlled mortgage titans Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FMCC), hoping to put pressure on Democrats to take action soon. Sens. John McCain (R., Ariz.) and Orrin Hatch (R., Utah) introduced a bill Thursday to wind down or privatize Fannie and Freddie over the next five years. Their bill mirrors one introduced earlier this month by Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R., Texas). "The events of the past three years have made it clear that never again can we allow the taxpayer to be responsible for poorly managed financial...

(CBS News)- Sen. John McCain continued to press President Barack Obama for a more forceful strategy to remove Muammar Qaddafi from power in Libya, saying that the U.S. should be willing to use "any means" necessary to accomplish that goal and comparing the current strategy of limited air power combined with diplomatic pressure to the post-Gulf War strategy in Iraq that kept Saddam Hussein in power. Mr. Obama laid out his case for intervention Monday night, saying that he authorized the use of missile and airstrikes in an international military action to protect civilians from a "massacre." However, while the...

(VOV) - The fine relationship between the US and Vietnam plays an important role in maintaining peace and stability in the region, said US Republican senator, John McCain at a meeting with Vietnamese ambassador to the US, Le Cong Phung in Phoenix, Arizona. Senator McCain said that the US-Vietnam relationship has made significant progress, especially in economics, defence and education in recent years. He said he is proud of being able to contribute to accelerating normalizing the relationship between the two countries and emphasized the need to develop the relationship into a strategic partnership.

Arizona's stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border is still not secure despite improvements, and ending the National Guard mission there is ill-advised, Sen. John McCain said Thursday. (snip) McCain spoke to reporters after a border tour he took alongside four fellow Republican lawmakers from Arizona: Rep. Jeff Flake, Rep. Paul Gosar, Rep. Ben Quayle and Rep. David Schweikert. The group toured the border near Nogales and Douglas and met in Tucson with officials from the Arizona High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, or HIDTA. While in Douglas, they met with the widow of rancher Robert Krentz who was killed a year ago...

With a non-fly effectively put into place over Libya, Sen. John McCain says momentum in the fighting between the Muammar Qaddafi regime and rebel fighters can now swing back to anti-Qaddafi forces, but acknowledges they will need more weapons and better training. McCain, R-Ariz., said on CBS' "The Early Show" that he hopes the United States, or others in the international community, supplies rebels with arms, as it once did insurgents fighting the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. (snip) "If the goal then is to get him out, does that ultimately mean that the U.S. could end up arming the rebels...