Free Republic

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 25, 2009 Contact: Francisco Lopez, Executive Director: (503) 269-5694 Erik Sorensen, Communications Director: (503) 488-0263 Historic White House Meeting on Immigration a Complete Success Roadmap to Immigration Reform makes a strong and positive beginning Salem, Ore--Today members of Congress from both houses and from both sides of the aisle met at the White House for an historic working session on Immigration Reform. The White House meeting, which was postponed from last week, was rescheduled for today after immigration reform proponents generated over 200,000 faxes, 30,000 phone calls, and 3,300 personal notes calling on the President to...

Steve Hayes is getting lots of well deserved attention for his report at the Weekly Standard today about how the Obama/Holder Justice Department has quietly instructed the FBI to start giving Miranda warnings to captured alien combatant terrorists — the next logical move in the ongoing effort to move us away from a war approach and return us to the law-enforcement paradigm for dealing with international terrorism.

When the Obama administration outlined its plans to cut big weapons programs, some of the military industry’s allies in Congress assumed, as they have in the past, that they would have the final say. But over the last week, the White House has prodded Congressional leaders to strip several billion dollars’ worth of extra equipment out of a wartime spending bill. Experts say that effort suggests Mr. Obama should be able to reshape the Pentagon’s spending practices. The developments have shaken up the industry. In the past, military contractors have routinely beaten back attempts to cancel weapons programs by lobbying...

South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint on Friday became one of the first high-profile Republicans to publicly criticize John McCain following his electoral defeat, blaming the Arizona senator for betraying conservative principles in his quest for the White House. The conservative senator, speaking to a group of GOP officials gathered in Myrtle Beach at a conference on the future of the Republican Party, described how the party had strayed from its own "brand," which, according to DeMint, should represent freedom, religious-based values and limited government. "We have to be honest, and there's a lot of blame to go around, but I...

WASHINGTON — John McCain’s close friend and ally from South Carolina, fellow Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, will be on hand in Chicago Monday as McCain meets with his former rival, President-elect Barack Obama. Also attending will be Obama’s new chief of staff, Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill. In an interview Friday, Graham said Emanuel asked for the meeting about a week ago. “We were talking about some things that we could work together on,” Graham said.

It's standard fare for a president to make a bipartisan gesture by including one member of the opposing party in his cabinet - just as it's always the case (lest we forget) that every president-elect vows to change the tone in Washington and reach out magnanimously to his vanquished opponents. But John Podesta, the former Bill Clinton former chief of staff who's spearheading the transition for the 44th president, said today that there would be independents and Republicans in Barack Obama's cabinet and "not just at a token level".

One of McCain's selling points was that he was going to attract moderates and independents. Did they simply not go for him or was there not enough?

In the campaign for the hearts of the heartland - from Independence, Mo., to Lacrosse, Wis. - the Democratic and Republican candidates for president, senators both, are attempting to explain today why the financial bailout - for which they are returning to Washington -- deserves the support of voters. "Even with all these taxpayer protections, this plan is not perfect,'' Democrat Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois said today, campaigning in Wisconsin. "Democrats and Republicans in Congress have legitimate concerns about it. I know many Americans share those concerns. But it is clear that this is what we must do right...

<p>John McCain, you treasonous bastard, I challenge you or any of your traitorous cohorts to find even one thread, one post, one paragraph, one sentence or even one lousy word posted to this web site that is not fully protected by the First Amendment!</p>

Barack Obama takes the podium at the National Council of La Raza/The Race tonight. John McCain will Hispander, as Mickey Kaus puts it so well, tomorrow. It’ll be an open-borders lovefest for Obama, who was championed yesterday at The Race conference by L.A.’s zealous pro-illegal immigration mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa. You’ll recall that Obama is very, very proud to have marched “shoulder to shoulder� with shamnesty activists in the 2006 illegal alien May Day parade. ABI gives him a career grade of D- for his immigration voting record. As I predicted in my column this week, the open-borders radicalism of The...

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...

Americans and Europeans share a common goal – to build an enduring peace based on free­dom. Our democracies today are strong and vibrant. Together we can tackle the diverse challenges we face, whether radical religious fanatics who use terror as their weapon of choice, the disturbing turn towards autocracy in Russia or the looming threats of climate change and the degradation of our planet. But the key word is “together”. We need to renew and revitalise our democratic solidarity. We need to strengthen our transatlantic alliance as the core of a new global compact – a League of Democracies –...

WHEN Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, arrives in Britain this week, he will start the job of presenting a new face of America to Europe. “We need to do a better job on America’s image,” he said, citing the many differences he has had over the years with President George W Bush, from the conduct of the war in Iraq to the importance of climate change. Once he reaches British soil, he intends to adopt a more neutral tone. It is against diplomatic protocol to criticise your country abroad. In any case, McCain is grateful to Bush for...

(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?...

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."

A spokeswoman for Sen. John McCain today condemned comments by Iowa Rep. Steve King (R), who on Friday said terrorists would be "dancing in the streets" if Barack Obama is elected president. "The Senator rejects the type of politics that degrades our civics and this campaign will be about the future of our country," Communications Director Jill Hazelbaker said. "[Sen.] McCain could not be clearer on how he views these types of comments and obviously that view extends to Congressman King's statement." King, a three-term Republican, made the remarks to a radio station Friday as he announced his bid for...

ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain criticized his Democratic rivals on Tuesday for pledging to renegotiate a hemispheric trade treaty that Democrats blame for U.S. manufacturing job losses. At a town-hall meeting in St. Louis, the Arizona senator also called for the Democratic-controlled U.S. Congress to approve a free-trade treaty with Colombia that is being stymied on Capitol Hill. "On trade, I'm a free trader," McCain told employees at Savvis Internet company, a session dominated by questions about the ailing U.S. economy. McCain, the likely Republican nominee to run in the November election, is spending the week...

Think you can sidestep the issue of “global warming,” simply by voting Republican? Think again. Now that Senator John McCain is officially the Republican nominee for President, global warming is, whether anyone likes it or not, an “issue” for both of our nation’s dominant political parties. McCain has been gravitating towards this issue for several years, and made his mark with it during his chairing of the U.S. Senate hearings on global warming back in 2004

What would Americans think, then, of a member of Congress who introduced legislation, not to improve health care in the United States, but to improve health care in Mexico? What would Americans think, then, of a member of Congress who introduced legislation, not to improve health care in the United States, but to improve health care in Mexico? Even more unbelievable, the senator who sponsored the bill is not on the verge of being thrown out of office for this odious piece of legislation. No, the senator who introduced the bill, Senator John McCain of Arizona, is on the verge...

Geraldo Rivera and Juan Hernandez, two of the most flagrant supporters of illegal immigration and amnesty in the media, have both announced their support for McCain. The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) also known as the Council of the (Hispanic) Race has announced their positive feelings for McCain while labeling any group or personality opposed to amnesty as an ally of the KKK. Even Ruben Navarrette, a CNN columnist who constantly rants in support of illegal immigration, while slinging mud at anyone who stands up for immigration enforcement, loves John McCain. Every illegal immigration supporter is signalling they want...

While John McCain was being coronated as the heir apparent at a highly publicized White House meeting with President Bush, his colleagues on Capitol Hill couldn't resist rolling out what could be described as a Lou Dobbs dream package of immigration bills. It was one of those moments where one had to wonder if the right hand of the Republican Party was talking to the left, er, moderate hand. Immigration is the preeminent issue that has divided McCain from his party, as he has supported an ill-fated comprehensive immigration overhaul, including a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Since that...

Dear Senator McCain.... by Gerald A. Honigman Here's my dilemma. Dear Senator John McCain, I have followed your career fairly closely over the years, often with pride. So, here's my dilemma. Coming home from work recently, I heard on the news that James Baker III has endorsed your candidacy. The problem emerges from your end of this story. Please read these excerpts from a Jason Maoz article on May 12, 2006 in JewishPress.com: McCain told Haaretz that as president, he would "micromanage" US policy toward Israel... would dispatch "the smartest guy I know" to the region.... Asked who that "smartest...

The Say-Town Lowdown MATT.org, Mexicans and Americans Thinking Together, is based in the Alamo City where Tejanos and Mexicanos once fought against each other. The non-profit describes its mission in the following manner: “To encourage Mexicans and Americans to come together to bridge the gaps in understanding and quality of life so that we may truly prosper together.” Legendary marketer and advisor to GOP presidents Lionel Sosa enthusiastically leads the organization. The group is passionate about immigration reform; the issue is at the center of everything it does. The organization launched a massive billboard and PR blitz during the 2006...

The Second Battle of NAFTA By Patrick J. Buchanan If Canada and Mexico do not renegotiate NAFTA, said Hillary Clinton in the Cleveland debate, she would "opt out" of the trade treaty that was the legislative altarpiece of Bill Clinton's presidency. Barack agreed. NAFTA is renegotiated, or NAFTA is gone. Barack went further. He has denounced "open trucking," the feature of NAFTA whereby Mexican trucks are to be free to roam the United States and compete with the Teamsters of Jim Hoffa's union, which just endorsed him. The trade issue is back, big-time. For to blue-collar workers in industrial states...

“He did everything that we asked of him, including arming the KLA�, said Albanian lobbyist Joe DioGuardi. The Albanians collected one million dollars for the presidential campaign of this senator. Americans of Albanian heritage collected a million dollars in one evening for the presidential campaign of Republican Senator John McCain, said the Albanian American Civic League yesterday, the lobby group headed by former Congressman Joe DioGuardi. A reception for McCain was held January 22 at the Saint Regis Hotel in Manhatten, and the senator, who is now leading in the runoff for the Republican party candidacy in the November elections,...

... 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...

For the most part, the Republican presidential candidates tried to play the "immigration" card — one that may backfire come November. Only John McCain was willing to take a gentler approach to immigration and thank God he’s the last man standing. CNN and the liberal media were all too willing to let the Republicans continue their suicidal plunge on immigration. Meanwhile, the New York Post recently featured a column by Geraldo Rivera decrying the impact of the immigration debate on the Republican Party: freefall in the polls among Latino voters. President Bush carried 45 percent of the Latino vote in...

"I am a proud conservative liberal Republican." http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4363279

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...

Florida Sen. Mel Martinez will endorse John McCain on Friday, The Associated Press has learned, a move likely to give the Republican presidential candidate a crucial boost with the state's Cuban-Americans just days before the primary. The decision is a blow to Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor in a close fight with McCain for support of voters in the Cuban-American community _ and to keep his candidacy alive. Two Republican officials disclosed the upcoming endorsement on the condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting the announcement. As recently as Thursday night, Martinez indicated he would remain neutral in the...

MIAMI (AP) - Florida Sen. Mel Martinez will endorse John McCain on Friday, The Associated Press has learned, a move likely to give the Republican presidential candidate a crucial boost with the state's Cuban- Americans just days before the primary. The decision is a blow to Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor in a close fight with McCain for support of voters in the Cuban-American community—and to keep his candidacy alive. Two Republican officials disclosed the upcoming endorsement on the condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting the announcement. As recently as Thursday night, Martinez indicated he would remain neutral...

Those following the proceedings during the past year of the Senate Select Committee on POW and MIA Affairs have been mystified by the rabid actions of the one man on the committee who should be grateful that for the nearly three decades there have been activists in America who have refused to let die the issue of the fate of Americans lost and missing in Southeast Asia from the Vietnam War. I am speaking of course of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). None of the Senators on the Select Committee have been as vicious in their attacks on POW/MIA family members...

www.gunowners.org/op0808.htmMcCain? No Way! by Sen. HL "Bill" Richardson (ret.) Chairman of the Board, GOA Americans are being told by the mainstream media that conservatives have no other choice than to back the hypocrite from Arizona. All that is required is to pretend he is "really" a conservative. "So, crawl under the big Republican tent and vote for McCain," we are told. "Besides, what other choice do you have?" We have plenty of choices, none of which calls for casting our vote for the lesser of two presidential evils. First, the Republican race isn't over. Huckabee is still around and as...

http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnmccain.com/ Ted Sampley, a Vietnam Veteran and former Green Beret, issued a CHALLENGE to John McCain "If you can show us that the information presented in our mailer is untruthful . . . we will Stand Down" This CHALLENGE was issued during an interview with INSIDE EDITION on January 17, 2008. John, family members of Vietnam POW/MIA(s) have been waiting for more then 14 years for you to have the courage to face them eye to eye in front of the American Public - Here is your opportunity for some "STRAIGHT TALK." Stop hiding behind your fabricated "War Hero" persona....

McCain Slams Swiftboat Vets Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 1:19:32 pm PST Has anyone ever really shown that the allegations made by the Swift Boat Veterans against John F. Kerry were false? If someone has refuted the charges conclusively, I’ve never seen it—which makes John McCain’s continuing antipathy toward the Swiftboaters inexplicable: McCain Scrambles to Control Backers. Speaking to reporters aboard his campaign tour bus late Tuesday, McCain acknowledged that conservative independent groups pursuing a similar line to Cunningham’s could be impossible to control. “I think you have to worry about that, particularly the 527s,� McCain said, referring to the...

Cannot be posted due to copyright issues, link only: http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080131/BLOGS15/80131010

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.”...

WASHINGTON -- President Bush pledged Sunday to assist Sen. John McCain's campaign for the presidency assuming he wins the Republican Party nomination -- but acknowledged that the Arizona senator has "got some convincing to do" among the party's conservatives. In an interview with "Fox News Sunday" at his retreat at Camp David, Md., Bush was careful to note that two Republicans are still competing for the nomination, and he did not express a preference. But Bush made clear that he was willing to set aside the tensions he has had with McCain in the past, and he praised the front-runner...

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...

Governor Mitt Romney: "Well, he's spoken several times about it. He actually said that if he was going to select a Vice President, it would have to be somebody who understood the economy because that wasn't something he was terribly familiar with. "He spoke both in '05 and again in '07, both times saying that he was not terribly familiar with how the economy worked, and I think he's right. Frankly, I think the pieces of legislation he's noted for suggest a lack of understanding of how the economy works. "In particular, McCain–Lieberman, this is a bill that would add...

Arizona Sen. John McCain will visit Greenland, Turkey, Georgia, Montenegro and Italy as part of a Senate delegation headed overseas during Congress' summer break. McCain and the other Republican senators want to observe the effects of global warming while in Greenland. They also will attend an A-list economic and political conference at a swanky northern Italian resort. McCain and U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., favor legislation to cap industrial emissions in an effort to curtail global warming. Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Mel Martinez, R-Fla., Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., Richard Burr, R-N.C., and John Sununu, R-N.H., are slated to go on the...

McCain Sides With Leading Dems on Global Warming By Nathan Burchfiel CNSNews.com Staff Writer May 23, 2007 (CNSNews.com) - A panel discussion on global climate change Tuesday found Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) staff agreeing with representatives for the leading Democratic presidential contenders. A cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions, they agreed, is the most promising solution to "global warming." A cap and trade system would involve limits or caps (lower than current levels) on the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions produced by polluters like power plants. But companies able to cut their CO2 output at a low cost would be...

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...

When searching for answers as to how we got here in America - here being a steadily accelerating march into Democratic Socialism - there is plenty of blame to go around. Personally, I don’t see an innocent individual in the lot. Those who consider themselves to be the most politically astute people in America, conservatives, have once again been out-foxed by those they call ignorant. Forest Gump’s momma was right; stupid is as stupid does! Steeped in worthy principles, yes. Politically astute? You must be kidding… America has exactly the mess of a government it deserves because it always has...

Two years ago, Republicans fought over immigration and hemorrhaged Hispanic voters. Now they are poised to nominate the one man who can rebuild the Hispanic voter coalition that pushed President Bush twice to victory, the architects of that coalition say. "I think the only candidate that Republicans have running for president who could retain those votes is in fact Senator McCain," said the Rev. Luis Cortes Jr., president of Esperanza USA, founder of the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast and a key player in helping Mr. Bush connect with Hispanic voters during his two runs for office. Democrats have traditionally enjoyed...

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...

Senator John McRINO aka John McCain is seeking the conservative base to unite with him. Many of us haven't forgotten that he never united with us. Whether it be on his kneepads courting Ted Kennedy or spearheading the ramming of amnesty down our throats, we haven't forgotten. This election offers little or no choice. In the words of Billy Preston "Nothing from Nothing Leaves Nothing."