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Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) thinks that President Bush is "absolutely radioactive" and that any Republicans close to the him will suffer electoral consequences. Davis, who made waves for a shockingly bleak memo about the electoral outlook for the GOP this fall, tells Bloomberg TV in an interview that will air tonight that GOP members have "got to get some separation from the president." "Republicans, I think, have time to turn it around to some extent," Davis tells the network. "But, if they don't, we're cruising for a bruising." Davis is not seeking reelection.

Contact: Press Office, 703-650-5550; www.JohnMcCain.com ARLINGTON, Virginia, May 16 /Standard Newswire/ -- U.S. Senator John McCain will deliver the following remarks as prepared for delivery at the National Rifle Association of America Annual Meeting, in Louisville, KY, today at 4:30 p.m. EDT: It is a pleasure to be here this afternoon. I know you have heard from a number of my friends and colleagues today -- Governors Huckabee and Romney, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Ambassador John Bolton, and Kentucky's own, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. And you have heard from an American hero, Greg Stubbe, who sacrificed greatly so that...

I must admit that I had just about given up on the notion that a Republican could win the White House this year. With an unpopular war in its sixth year and an economy heading into a recession, the political landscape had all the earmarks (excuse the expression) of a country that was ready to put another party in power. Additionally, with the history-making candidacies of the first woman and the first African-American with a serious chance to become the nation’s Chief Executive, it looked like curtains for the GOP. Add to that scenario the fact that conservative groups were...

Recently on a talk radio show, the guest, a Democrat, said there was little difference in policy between John McCain and the two Democrats running for President. Many of those calling in agreed. Considering McCain’s recent comments on global climate change and his position on some other issues I can understand why some might have that impression. If voters are convinced there would not be much difference in policy between a McCain and an Obama presidency, it is likely the majority will go for the young, charismatic candidate who would make history as the first black President. If they vote...

Date: May 15, 2008 Listening this morning to Sen. John McCain outlining his plans as president, should he win the November election, I wanted to shout things like, “Drill in Anwar, you moron!” and “Liberals are liars – we don’t want you to work with these leftist lunatics!” It has become clear that, like President George W. Bush, instead of leading the country into true conservative policies, Sen. McCain is another wimpy Republican who tries to combine radical social engineering politics from the left with a few watered-down Republican, conservative principles. Some Republicans have been calling people like Bush and...

This is a serious question and I respectfully ask for serious, thoughtful responses from the most ardent McCain detractors and not the casually disgusted. If you are only casually disgusted, please refrain from mucking up the thread and allow only the truly bulemic to air their rationale. I am not a McCain supporter, never have been probably never will be. That he will be the eventual GOP nominee is all but assured and that I might find I must vote for him if only to counter an Obama or Clinton administration, well, that's my decision and one I hope you...

I just got off of another teleconference with John McCain. Here are my notes, not quotes, from the teleconference. McCain's Opening Statement I gave a speech this morning about how I would want America to look after my first term in office in 2013. I want people to see what I want to do. By 2013, I think we will have won in Iraq. There may be sporadic fighting or attacks by Jihadists, but the Iraqi military would have control of the country and American troops would be out of harm's way, even though we may still have our troops...

[snip] ....The sales job is a myth. In reality, a McCain presidency would promise an entirely conventional, center-left, multilateralism. If you liked the second Bush term, if you liked Clintonian foreign policy, you will find much to admire in a Commander-in-Chief McCain. There would be the same agonizing over European and Islamic perceptions of America; the same doctrinaire commitment to the alchemy of democracy promotion; and the same fondness for heaping more unaccountable bureaucratic sprawl atop the already counter-productive agencies and multinational institutions that frustrate the United States at every turn. Don’t take my word for it. Read McCain’s own...

Today, John McCain detailed what he envisions achieving as President by the end of his first term in 2013. John McCain will put the national interest ahead of partisanship to build an America that is safer, freer and more prosperous than when he was elected. When John McCain is President, the era of the permanent campaign will end. He will work with anyone who wants to get this country moving again and will listen to any idea intended to solve our problems, not make them worse. In forming government policy, John McCain will work with members of Congress from both...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Republican John McCain declared for the first time Thursday he believes the Iraq war can be won by 2013, although he rejected suggestions that his talk of a timetable put him on the same side as Democrats clamoring for full-scale troop withdrawals. The Republican presidential contender, in a mystical speech that also envisioned Osama bin Laden dead or captured, and Americans with the choice of paying a simple flat tax or following their standard 1040 form, said only a small number of troops would remain in Iraq by the end of a prospective first term because al-Qaida...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has now abandoned his goal of fixing the problem that led to his historic election in 2003. With the revised budget proposal he released Wednesday, the governor has effectively conceded that California's era of perpetual budget deficits will not end on his watch. --snip-- His trouble started early, when he proposed spending cuts that were politically unpalatable while failing to follow through on a fundamental, top-to-bottom rethinking of the way the state does business. When the economy briefly surged and brought in billions of dollars in unexpected tax revenue, Schwarzenegger lost his zeal for fiscal discipline and...

Soul searching Republicans are turning to an unlikely savior, one-time party heretic and now presumptive White House nominee John McCain, as they try to stave off an electoral disaster. Stung by the Democratic seizure of three staunch conservative seats in Congress, Republican lawmakers fear a shellacking in November's general election, after losing control of both chambers of Congress in 2006. The rise of McCain as their champion is not without irony, since the 71-year-old Arizona senator has quarreled with his own party for years on issues as diverse as immigration, campaign finance reform and global warming. But it is precisely...

In an effort to win over those "moderates" who believe that global warming is about to destroy the planet, Republican presidential candidate John McCain spoke Monday at a Portland, Ore., training facility for Vestas Wind Technology. He claimed, "The facts of global warming demand our urgent attention, especially in Washington." There certainly is more "hot air" on this and a lot of other subjects in Washington, but that isn't what he meant. The era of big government is so not over, as Bill Clinton claimed it was in 1996. It is just beginning and increasingly the political contests seem to...

The last couple of months have been springtime in paradise for Republicans: the loveliest of all possible seasons. They have been watching two Democratic presidential candidates in an endless battle to destroy each other—a process that does not appear to enhance the chance that the eventual nominee will win in November. A recent Gallup poll showed John McCain leading both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in a head-to-head matchup. All this before Republicans even begin publicizing the worst that can be said about either of two candidates whose alleged defects provide a supremely target-rich environment. But it's easy to let...

The political “hot button” issues of guns and judges have become intertwined in this election year. The fate of both issues will be decided by the candidate we elect as president. Why? Because over a four-year term, that president will likely appoint at least two and possibly three justices to the United States Supreme Court. Simply stated, this year when we elect a president, we will also cast our ballot for the next Supreme Court. Everyone concerned about the Second Amendment and judicial accountability should heed John McCain’s speech to the NRA on May 16. The presumptive Republican nominee will...

Today, In Florida, John McCain Outlined His Plan For Health Care Reform. John McCain believes we can and must provide access to health care for every American. He has proposed a comprehensive vision for achieving that. For too long, our nation's leaders have talked about reforming health care. Now is the time to act. Americans Are Worried About Health Care Costs.The problems with health care are well known: it is too expensive and 47 million people living in the United States lack health insurance. John McCain Believes The Key To Health Care Reform Is To Restore Control To The Patients...

One of the most important figures in the presidential campaign this fall is a controversial, hypercompetent blonde. She has blazed new paths, is always on message, and has written a best-selling memoir. Friends and foes alike refer to her by her first name only. And she'll play a significant role shoring up the bona fides of her party's candidate among a core constituency that might be wavering. No, I'm not talking about the Democrats sending out Hillary Clinton on behalf of Barack Obama to reassure white working-class voters. I'm talking about Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard,...

NORTH BEND, Wash. - John McCain on Tuesday cast Democratic rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton as latecomers to the environmental battle, saying he would be willing to debate the issue with either of them in the general election to underscore his experience with the issue. "People will trust my stewardship not only because of my background and knowledge, but also my vision for the future," he told reporters during a news conference at a nature center in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. "They have never, to my knowledge, been involved in legislation nor hearings nor engagement on...

Janesville Congressman Paul Ryan continues to attract serious attention as a prospective Republican nominee for vice president. And rightly so. One need not agree with Ryan's sincere-if-frequently-myopic conservatism to recognize the strengths he would bring to John McCain's ticket. Where McCain is ancient -- older than Ronald Reagan or Dwight Eisenhower when they attained the presidency -- and looks it, Ryan is so fresh-faced, upbeat and energetic that he sometimes seems a good deal younger than his 38 years. At that age, the Wisconsin Republican is almost young enough to be not McCain's son but the Arizona senator's grandson. Yet...

On Tuesday night, Republicans lost a Republican congressional district in a special election in Mississippi. Party insiders fear the loss may be just another sign of a coming bloodbath for congressional Republicans this November. Democrat Travis Childers’ victory over Republican Greg Davis in Mississippi’s 1st Congressional District yesterday dealt the GOP its third straight loss of a solid Republican district to insurgent Democrats in this year’s special elections. With nearly all precincts reporting, Prentiss County Chancery Clerk Childers held a 54 percent to 46 percent lead over Southaven Mayor Davis. The seat was vacated by Republican Roger Wicker when he...

For many conservatives, John McCain is not their favorite Republican. They think he's built a career at their expense, painting them as fools and bigots. They resent his holier-than-thou attitude. And they're not inclined to trust anyone who has been so fawned over by the national media. Curiously, a lot of liberal Democrats feel the same way about McCain. He isn't their favorite Republican either -- but it's because they know he'll be tough to beat in November. They would have preferred to run against someone more extreme and easier to demonize. That's not John McCain. first met McCain 10...

My wife just turned on Regis in the other room. McCain is on, bragging about how he works with Feingold, Kennedy, et. al.

"Me? I'm just hangin' out, listening for McCain's phone call and waiting for reporters..." Mike "The Huckster" Huckabee, is at the top of the short list of John McCain's vice presidential candidates. At least according to a top McCain fundraiser. Economic conservatives are likely to oppose the choice of Huckabee as McCain’s vice presidential candidate, given the populist tone of his campaign and his tax record as governor of Arkansas. But in his “Capital Commerce” column for U.S. News & World Report, James Pethokoukis points to the fundraiser’s disclosure and cites several factors that could make Huckabee a strong asset...

So many FReepers lately are insistent on saying they won't vote for John McCain for President, and love to give their laundry list of why. OK, so you've said who you WON'T vote for. How about now saying who you WOULD vote for? What do you plan to do with your Presidential vote this November?

If the McCain campaign is still trying out songs, there's one by a couple of Brits, W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, that it should consider. We have to change the words "an Englishman" to "American" to get it to work, but, that done, the song expresses succinctly and entirely the case for John McCain and, by implication, against Barack Obama: For he himself has said it, And it's greatly to his credit, That he is American! That he is American! And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the sum total of the Republican message this year. That is why McCain's first...

IN A SPEECH on the federal judiciary last week, John McCain sounded the familiar conservative call for judges who know their place. "My nominees," he promised, "will understand that there are clear limits to the scope of judicial power, and clear limits to the scope of federal power." The judiciary's moral authority depends on self-restraint, said McCain, and "this authority quickly vanishes when a court presumes to make law instead of apply it." The senator emphasized the importance of judicial modesty and deference to the elected branches of government, lamenting that "federal judges today issue rulings and opinions on policy...

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain (Ariz.) told a campaign audience that charges he has a bad temper make him angry. “In fact, I had to deck one of my senate colleagues for calling me ‘Senator Hothead,’” McCain announced. “For me, fighting for this country and my beliefs isn’t just a figure-of-speech.” McCain argued that he is “the perfect candidate for those bitter Americans who cling to guns and religion and have antipathy toward those who hate our country.” Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) called McCain’s remarks “a vindication of my plan to rejuvenate America by sweeping aside the angry...

NORTH BEND, Wash. — Senator John McCain intensified his criticism of President Bush and the administration’s environmental polices on Tuesday, taking a walk in the cold, rain-drenched foothills of the Cascade Mountains and asserting that in the effort to stem climate change, “America can lead and not obstruct.” At an outdoor news conference in the Cedar River Watershed east of Seattle, Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, declared that “the president and I have disagreed on this issue for many years — it isn’t a recent disagreement.” He added, “There is a longstanding, significant, deep, strong difference on this...

A string of polls conducted by the Suffolk University Political Research Center over the past month--in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and, now, West Virginia--show that roughly 20 percent of Democratic primary voters are ready to vote for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in November if their choice candidate isn't the nominee. The latest survey, which questioned 600 likely voters in Tuesday's West Virginia Democratic presidential primary, shows Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) trouncing Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the national front-runner, by 36 points in West Virginia, 60 percent to 24 percent. Obama may be his party's presumptive nominee, but the Suffolk University poll...

W hether or not his goals are ambitious enough, John McCain made it clear Monday in Portland that he will be the anti-George W. Bush when it comes to global warming and alternative energy policy. "I will not shirk the mantle of leadership that the United States bears," the presumptive Republican nominee said to an audience of journalists and Vestas employees. "I will not accept the same dead-end of failed diplomacy that claimed Kyoto." If he is elected president, McCain promised to propose a cap-and-trade system designed to ratchet down the volume of carbon emissions, which contribute to greenhouse gases....

Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is at the top of the list of John McCain’s possible running mates, according to a top McCain fundraiser with ties to his inner circle. Economic conservatives are likely to oppose the choice of Huckabee as McCain’s vice presidential candidate, given the populist tone of his campaign and his tax record as governor of Arkansas. But in his “Capital Commerce” column for U.S. News & World Report, James Pethokoukis points to the fundraiser’s disclosure and cites several factors that could make Huckabee a strong asset for McCain. For one thing, the former Baptist minister...

May 13, 2008, 0:30 a.m. McCain’s Assault on ReasonAnother Al Gore for president. By Roy Spencer John McCain’s global-warming speech on Monday made it clear that there will be no presidential candidate this year willing to question the assertion that global warming (a.k.a. “climate change�) is manmade, or the assertion that we can fix global warming by passing a few laws. Along with Clinton and Obama, McCain’s proposal to attack global warming now gives voters three choices for a car color — as long as it is black. Like Clinton and Obama, McCain’s proposal involves a “cap and trade�...

Senator McCain gave a speech in Portland, Oregon Monday reiterating and explaining his longstanding support for a “cap-and-trade” approach to global warming. He proposes that the government require reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions but allow companies to trade emissions credits, supposedly creating an efficient, market-based distribution of the regulatory burden. Support for this policy is the biggest mistake his campaign has made so far. Early in this speech, Sen. McCain ran through a litany of woes that we can expect from global warming: “reduced water supplies, more forest fires than in previous decades, changes in crop production, more heat waves afflicting...

McCain Economic Plan Across America, families are facing economic challenges. Gas prices are rising, mortgages are threatened, and thousands have lost their jobs. Now is the time to act and John McCain has outlined several near-term, tangible plans to address some of the challenges confronting Americans today Helping Americans Confront Higher Living Costs: John McCain Will Help Americans Hurting From High Gasoline And Food Costs. Americans need relief right now from high gas prices. John McCain will act immediately to reduce the pain of high gas prices. John McCain Believes We Should Institute A Summer Gas Tax Holiday. Hard-working American...

[Fax sent in CAPS] DEAR SENATOR MCCAIN: THANK YOU, FOR YOUR SERVICE IN VIETNAM AS WELL AS THE UNITED STATES SENATE. I WAS ALSO MEDEVACED OUT OF VIETNAM AND SPENT MANY MONTHS IN MILITARY AND VA HOSPITALS. IF I MAY, SENATOR, I WOULD LIKE TO STRONGLY SUGGEST THAT YOU KEEP ONLY THE SLIGHTEST OPEN MIND TO THE INCREASING DATA THAT IS BEING RELEASED ON A DAILY BASIS SHOWING THAT MUCH OF THE CARBON SCARE IS BASED ON COMPUTER MODELS THAT ARE VERY, VERY SUSPECT, AT BEST. THIS IS AN EXTREMELY FRAGILE ECONOMIC TIME FOR AMERICA'S ENERGY NEEDS AND SO MUCH...

WASHINGTON – Sen. John McCain called Monday for reductions in carbon emissions and criticized the Bush administration for failing to lead the fight against climate change. "We have many advantages in the fight against global warming, but time is not one of them. … We stand warned by serious and credible scientists across the world that time is short and the dangers are great," the Arizona Republican said in a speech delivered at a wind-energy facility in Portland, Ore. "The most relevant question is whether our own government is equal to the challenge." McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, proposed...

• You say that even if global warming turns out to be no crisis (the World Meteorological Organization says global temperatures have not risen in a decade), even unnecessary measures taken to combat it will be beneficial because "then all we've done is give our kids a cleaner world." But what of the trillions of dollars those measures will cost in direct expenditures and diminished economic growth—hence diminished medical research, cultural investment, etc.? Given that Earth is always warming or cooling, what is its proper temperature, and how do you know? ..excerpted...

GOP presidential nominee John McCain is using the idea of global togetherness to promote “a cap-and-trade system” to battle climate change. He said “Americans and Europeans need to get serious about substantially reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years or we will hand over a much-diminished world to our grandchildren.” According to the Arizona senator, whose opinion column appeared in the March 19 Financial Times, the United States needs to work with Europe to create a replacement for the Kyoto treaty. “We need a successor to Kyoto, a cap-and-trade system that delivers the necessary environmental impact in an economically...

The Supreme Court. If you want us to be screwed for the next 30 years, please by all means sit out this election

(CNN) -- Kicking off a week-long push seen as outreach to independent and Democratic voters in crucial swing states, John McCain on Monday will deliver a speech outlining his vision for combating global warming. "We stand warned by serious and credible scientists across the world that time is short and the dangers are great," McCain will say in Portland, Oregon, according to prepared remarks. "The most relevant question now is whether our own government is equal to the challenge." McCain's commitment to fight global warming puts him at odds with some Republicans in Congress and with the Bush administration, which...

Such is the case when it comes to John McCain's general election strategy for defeating Barack Obama. For weeks now, the Arizona senator's campaign has been laying its cards on the table, spelling out a strategy for November. Here's a look at seven of their key strategies. 1. Paint Obama as a False MessiahThe big debut for this message came on the night of the Virginia and Maryland primaries. Mike Huckabee was still in the race, but the McCain campaign wanted to pivot towards the general election. So at an Alexandria Holiday Inn, McCain offered these words: "I do not...

McCain Breaks with Bush on Climate Change Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) speaks to employees about alternative energy sources at the Vestas Wind Technology plant in Portland, Oregon May 12, 2008. (Reuters) Updated 4:40 p.m. By Juliet Eilperin PORTLAND, Ore. -- Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) outlined his proposal to address climate change this morning, offering plans that would go beyond President Bush's but fall short of the bipartisan bill headed for a Senate vote next month.

If John McCain were truly a maverick, he would publicly break from the politically correct culture that demands obedience to its global warming narrative. But sadly, he continues to do the opposite. Liberals have denominated McCain a maverick because he has taken so many positions contradictory to his party's platform and to the conservative ideology that undergirds it. Now that he is the putative Republican nominee, you don't hear much about his maverick nature, but it's certainly not because he's changed his ways in opposing his party. Last week, he affirmed his commitment to comprehensive immigration reform, even though earlier...

LINCOLN, Neb. — Former Colorado senator and two-time presidential candidate Gary Hart told Nebraska Democrats that Barack Obama will heal the national party, while John McCain's nomination may cause a rift among Republicans. "There's a real struggle for the soul of the Republican Party under way," Hart said Saturday before the state Democratic Party's annual Morrison-Exon Day Dinner. About 450 people attended the party's largest fundraising event. Hart, 71, sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, and was a U.S. senator from 1975 to 1987. Hart said the Republican Party is going to find its ties to religious...

Republicans in the U.S. Congress are petrified about a November debacle, a fear stoked on May 3, when they lost their second straight special election in a district held by Republicans. The party's fundamental situation is terrible: Republicans are saddled with an enormously unpopular president, a war, a troubled economy and a Democratic opposition that's being energized by important constituent groups. "The generics are as bad as anytime since I have been here," said Representative Tom Davis, a Virginia Republican and one of the most politically astute members of Congress in either party. Davis, a 14-year veteran, is retiring this...

Washington - If you ranked all of the TV markets in "blue-state" America according to how much advertising they saw from the 2004 Bush campaign and its allies, the list would begin like this: Milwaukee. Green Bay. Wausau. Pittsburgh, Pa. Scranton-Wilkes Barre, Pa. Madison. La Crosse-Eau Claire. That pretty much says it all about Wisconsin's place on the electoral map. Few blue states are fatter targets for Republicans.That was true for George W. Bush, who lost the state twice by an average of three-tenths of a percentage point. And it will be true again for John McCain, now busy crafting...

The open-borders media has been AWOL on John McCain’s decision to speak to the radical racialist group, La Raza/The Race in July. He has been allowed to skate on the issue in several recent sit-down interviews. Many of the same pundits who blasted Barack Obama for his ties to the radical racialist Jeremiah Wright have nothing to say about McCain’s longtime association with the shamnesty-pushing, sovereignty-undermining, publicly-subsidized shakedown artists of La Raza/The Race. Not everyone’s looking the other way. Editorial page editor Colin McNickle at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review warned today: “McCain had made significant progress in reaching out to conservatives...

We are part of the many Democrats that will definitely vote for John McCain if Barack Obama wins the Democratic nomination to run for president. We would love to have our economy and national image restored to at least what it was during the Clinton years of presidency, but Barack Obama is not the answer. Obama speaks politics and not what he believes. He only says what he must to win. Actions speak louder than words. He does not respect America -- won't wear a flag on his lapel, won't put his hand over his heart during the pledge of...

You'll want to right click view on a few of these... * John McCain's Road the the White House In his natural habitat... Liberalism's Heritage Preserve. * John's ten Maverick years. Has anyone forgotten them? * The Republican Primaries 2008. * Cabin boy McQueeg to lead... Conservatism's darkest hour. * Oh my God, I did that? Anyone got a barf bag? Pale white, this year's new green. * Just so you know, John is willing to sacrifice himself... for the good of the nation. * In answer to your question John, zero votes.  Nice try though. * Springtime in D.C....

WASHINGTON (AFP) - While John McCain is practically assured the Republican presidential nomination, many party members are having a hard time accepting him -- and showing it with symbolic votes against him in primary contests. The Republican nomination battle has been all but decided for over two months. Still, some Republicans used the April 22 Pennsylvania primary and last week's votes in Indiana and North Carolina to register their unhappiness with the de facto victor. Some vote for libertarian Texan Ron Paul, who has refused to quit the race and has racked up more than one million votes, according to...