Free Republic

Sen. John McCain is not expected to return the Washington D.C. politics, according to several sources who are closely monitoring his health and medical treatments at his ranch in Arizona. In fact, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is already in the process of selecting a candidate to run for McCain’s senate seat in a special election after McCain’s expected retirement from the Senate, sources said. Candidates were contacted this week in fact as Democrats jockey to find new blood to oppose the GOP-held seat in Arizona. “At this point, we are coming to terms that McCain is done here (in...

End the 17th Amendment, and take away power from Washington DC The new class of United States Senators like John McCain, the ones taking on the Swamp in the Republican Party, want to put an end to the Third House, the special interests, the K and J Street lobbies which put their individual, perverse interests at the direct expense of the American citizenry. As a reminder, here is the text of the 17th Amendment:

After attending a fundraiser for John McCain’s Senate re-election — a campaign in which McCain is locked in a tight race with conservative primary challenger Kelli Ward — Kristol mused on Twitter if McCain would run as an independent candidate in the presidential election. But while Kristol was just speculating, McCain added intrigue to the Stop Trump movement with his surprise announcement that the delegates should be free to vote their conscience at the upcoming Republican Convention

Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., his wife, Jill, center, and Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., applaud during talk on the final night at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Donald Trump’s private meeting Thursday with Senate Republicans — designed to foster greater party unity ahead of the national convention in Cleveland — grew combative as the presumptive presidential nominee admonished three senators who have been critical of his candidacy and predicted they would lose their reelection bids, according to two Republican officials with direct knowledge of the exchanges. Trump’s most tense exchange was with Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who has been vocal in his concerns about the business mogul’s candidacy, especially his rhetoric and policies on immigration that the senator argues alienate many Latino voters and others in Arizona....

The chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees say they want answers from the Obama administration on its new transgenders-in-the-military policy. Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, is questioning whether transgender troops will meet military readiness requirements. And Sen. John McCain, his Senate counterpart, is promising hearings on the matter. “It’s very hard for me right now to make a judgment,” McCain told Fox News on Thursday. “I will be calling up the chiefs of the services, those men in uniform who are the heads of the military, and asking their views,...

Former State Senator Dr. Kelli Ward issued a statement targeting establishment Senator and “remain” supporter John McCain after the United Kingdom voted to “Brexit” the European Union on Thursday. Dr. Ward said in the statement: The fearmongering has failed, and the will of the British people has prevailed against elite opinion, causing heartburn for America’s ultimate establishment insider, John McCain. Just this week, John has voted to allow the federal government to prowl through our internet browsing histories without a court warrant and to deny self-defense rights based on secret lists without any judicial approval or oversight as required by...

An anti-Trump protester in Arizona held up a “Make America Mexico Again” sign as anti-Trump agitators demonstrated ahead of Trump’s Saturday visit to the Grand Canyon State.

An anti-Trump protester in Arizona held up a “Make America Mexico Again” sign as anti-Trump agitators demonstrated ahead of Trump’s Saturday visit to the Grand Canyon State. ... (snip) ... A Tuscon police officer who attended the event as a private citizen said though he felt safe around Trump’s supporters, he did not feel safe around the anti-Trump agitators, whom he called “the most hateful, evil people he has ever seen.”

Most of the time, major political figures try to stay on the good side of the nation’s leading veterans’ organizations, but Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is comfortable going in a different direction. The Republican senator appeared on his daughter’s radio show late last week – just a few days before Memorial Day – and Meghan McCain asked about the need for improvements in the VA system. The GOP lawmaker, facing a tough re-election fight this year, didn’t hold back. JOHN MCCAIN: I blame some of the old veterans’ service organizations like the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Disabled American...

SB 1266 allows for enforcement of the state preemption statutes.  Some local governments have been ignoring the preemption law because there were no penalties provided.  SB 1266 provides for penalties so that the preemption statute can be enforced.  The penalties are not insignificant, and has a provision for terminating employment of a person who ignores the preemption law.  Here is the change in the statute. From cqstatetrack.com: H. Any ordinance, regulation, tax or rule that is enacted by a political subdivision in violation of this section is invalid and subject to a permanent injunction against the political subdivision from...

Speaking in Washington, the former Republican presidential nominee pushed back at Trump’s criticism of Nato by praising the alliance’s response to 9/11 Senator John McCain, the former Republican presidential nominee, has taken a swipe at Donald Trump’s hostility to Nato by praising the alliance’s response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. “I agree with him to this extent, that our Nato allies should pay more and I’ve been urging all of that, all of us have, for years and years. But let’s not forget that after 9/11, the United States of America was attacked, Europeans weren’t attacked, and yet we invoked...

Ted Cruz and his allies are preparing for the coming National GOP Convention. According to NBC News, Cruz who recently attended a GOP convention in Texas told his supporters that the days ahead will be "challenging" for the Republican Party. He, however, expressed hope that those who remain loyal to him and the party "will be the remnant, will be the core of pulling this country back from the abyss." Aside from this pronouncement, [he] has remained mum about whether he will throw his support for presumptive nominee Donald Trump. According to the NBC report, the support of Cruz and...

The Arizona law increases penalties against protesters who block access to a political rally. Is blocking access to a political event a political statement in itself? In a Phoenix suburb in March, protesters parked about two-dozen cars in the middle of the highway to stop drivers on their way to an outdoor rally for Donald Trump and Joe Arpaio, the controversial Arizona sheriff. With posters that read "Dump Trump" and "Must Stop Trump," the protesters, in one sense, acted on their right to demonstrate against the Republican frontrunner and the sheriff who was sanctioned for refusing a judge's order to...

PPP's new Arizona poll finds that John McCain has a negative approval rating with Republican primary voters, and is at pretty serious risk of losing nomination for another term. Only 35% of GOP voters approve of the job McCain is doing to 50% who disapprove. He's in particularly poor standing with conservative voters. Among 'somewhat conservative' voters his approval spread is 33/52, and among 'very conservative' voters it drops all the way down to 18/67.

Pregnant, female, Navy SEALs was something many of us used to joke about as a way of exaggerating the absurd social engineering in the military. Yet, placing women in special operations and direct combat units has now become a reality under the Obama-led Pentagon. Sadly, not only have Republicans like John McCain refused to use their perches on the Armed Services Committees in the House and Senate to block this social engineering, they are now codifying it with a provision that could lead to a mandatory draft of all women. Earlier this week, I noted that the final House version...

Sen. Lindsey Graham paused for five full seconds and stumbled over his words pondering the question: When is the last time he split with fellow Republican Sen. John McCain on a major issue? “I don’t know, let me think about it,” Graham (S.C.) finally said of his closest Senate friend. “There have been several. I just can’t recall right now, right off the top of my head.” Yet that’s what has happened in the wake of Donald Trump’s ascendancy to presumptive Republican nominee for president. In the Republican civil war over Trump, this is perhaps the most glaring example of...

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin announced on Sunday she will work to defeat Paul Ryan in his Republican primary. This came after Ryan would not endorse the Republican nominee Donald Trump for president. On Thursday Republican Speaker Paul Ryan told Jake Tapper on CNN he was “not ready” to endorse Donald Trump yet. Donald Trump won the GOP nomination on Tuesday after his landslide victory in Indiana. Palin told Jake Tapper she believes Ryan will soon be “Cantored.” ** Republican businessman Paul Nehlen is running against Paul Ryan in the Wisconsin primary. paul ryan challenger paul nehlen CNN reported: Sarah...

(Trump) used the term "lightweight" to describe Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., once in the presidential race, and suggested former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, another former rival, was still licking his wounds from the vicious campaign. The party's 2012 nominee Mitt Romney, Trump said, "blew the election" that year and never even thanked Trump for his work on Romney's behalf. Arizona Sen. John McCain, the 2008 nominee, said it would take a lot for him to ever stand on stage next to Trump, even though McCain has agreed to support the party's nominee.

Sen. John McCain is chastising GOP leaders for failing to embrace Donald Trump as the choice of millions of voters, laying out his most extensive views to date about Trump at the top of the ticket. He's also repudiating some of the presumptive nominee's comments -- particularly about prisoners of war. In a wide-ranging "State of the Union" interview in his campaign office in Phoenix, McCain criticized party leaders who are reluctant to back Trump, saying they are "out of step" with voters who have chosen the controversial businessman as the GOP standard-bearer. He defended Trump for being a strong...