Free Republic

It almost seems like a political tradition: the great John McCain campaign-staff shake-up. As the Arizona Republic's Dan Nowicki first reported Sunday, the top two staffers in McCain's Senate re-election effort — campaign manager Shiree Verdone and her deputy, Mike Hellon — have decamped. The two will work for the Arizona Republican Party, overseeing strategy for a "victory" fundraising effort for statewide candidates, including McCain. The move comes on the heels of a recent TV ad meant to tout McCain's border security credentials, including a push for a stronger fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. "Complete the danged fence," McCain says...

DAMASCUS, Syria - Syria's president ordered a major Cabinet shake-up Saturday, signaling he has no plans to cave under growing U.S. and international pressure over the assassination of a former Lebanese leader and alleged failure to stop militants from crossing into Iraq. President Bashar Assad named his hard-line Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa as vice president and replace him with his deputy, Walid Moallem, a former ambassador to the United States and United Nations. Al-Sharaa was also put in charge of implementing Syrian "foreign and information policies." The U.N. investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has...