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John McCain has extended a hand to his old rival. Writing in the pages of the Washington Post, McCain praises President Obama for his remarks at the Tucson memorial on Wednesday and makes his own commitment to not let his passion get the best of him. He also bears witness. Referring to the president, McCain writes: "He is a patriot sincerely intent on using his time in office to advance our country's cause. I reject accusations that his policies and beliefs make him unworthy to lead America or opposed to its founding ideals." McCain also defends Sarah Palin, though he...

(snip) Woods said McCain would be more helpful if the White House reached out to him, but "they haven't talked to him at all."McCain also voted no Saturday on the Dream Act, which would have granted citizenship to thousands of foreign-born college students. He initially sponsored the legislation. Gullett said McCain constantly faced voters on the campaign trail last year asking about border security and that affected his stance. His communications director, Brooke Buchanan, explained that on immigration, McCain believes the border needs to be secured above all else, citing the increasing border violence over the last four years. "His...

Charles Town, WV (CNN) - As he stumps for a string of Republicans in increasingly bitter races, Sen. John McCain warned candidates against overconfidence and defended recent searing attacks on his Democratic colleagues. "These are harsh times," he said, in response to a reporter's question about his criticism of Sen. Barbara Boxer and a conference call in which he slammed Sen. Patty Murray over the use of earmarks.

(snip) Yet months earlier, according to Ryan Lizza’s New Yorker piece about the failure of climate-change legislation this year, McCain became "enraged" when a December 2009 article on Time's Web site passed the nickname on to Sen. Lindsay Graham, whom the headline called the NEW GOP MAVERICK IN THE SENATE. Writes Lizza: Graham told colleagues that McCain had called him and yelled at him, incensed that he was stealing the maverick mantle. “After that Graham story came out, McCain completely stopped talking to me,” Jay Newton-Small, the author of the Time piece, said. With that, McCain’s statement to NEWSWEEK in...

Meghan McCain apparently thinks there will be a "bloodletting" in the GOP in the next election, because the party has no room for controversial socially liberal figures like her. Appearing on CNN's "American Morning" Thursday, McCain criticized the current state of the Republican Party, which she believes is too conservative and narrow-minded... (snip) When the subject of "RINOs" (Republican-In-Name-Only) surfaced, McCain asserted that conservative icons Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan "would both be called that today." In addition, McCain had dark predictions for the GOP in the "next election," predicting a party purge of sorts. (snip) CNN co-anchor Kiran Chetry...

Results TBD 08/24/2010 Late PM PDT/MST.

A Senator’s journey from bipartisan maverick to right-wing ideologue—one flip-flop at a time. In theory, John McCain's right-wing madness could come to an end on Tuesday, when he is expected to prevail over former Rep. JD Hayworth in Arizona’s Senate primary. Faced with a stiff conservative challenge, McCain has spent this election cycle defying many of his long-held moderate positions. In fact, his transformation from aisle-crossing, party-bucking maverick (see this 1998 Mother Jones interview) to cookie-cutter conservative has been years in the making. During his 2008 presidential bid, he began to lurch rightward on a litany of issues in his...

John McCain holds a comfortable lead in the contentious Arizona Republican Senate primary, according to the most recent public polling, making him the strong favorite against former Rep. J.D. Hayworth on Tuesday. But it’s been a costly road to a fifth term for the 2008 GOP presidential nominee, and the experience is likely to leave a lasting and unsightly stain on his legacy. It’s not just the $20 million he’s spent already this election or the scorched earth campaign that he’s run. Rather, it’s the choices he’s made and the positions he’s embraced — and what it reveals about him...

PHOENIX (AP) - Arizona Sen. John McCain spent another $3.6 million last month in his bid to secure re-election. He's now spent almost $20 million on the race, nearly all of it since former Congressman J.D. Hayworth began challenging him in the Republican primary earlier this year.

PHOENIX (AP) - John McCain's Republican primary challenger suggests the country would be worse off had McCain won the 2008 presidential election. (snip) Responding to a question from the audience at a Phoenix tea party meeting Monday, Hayworth says he doesn't like President Barack Obama, but a moderate Republican would be even worse than the Democrat. Speaking of the Arizona senator, Hayworth says: "I think the last thing we needed was a progressive trying to wear a Republican cloth coat as president of the United States."

The Federal Election Commission has dismissed a complaint alleging that J.D. Hayworth improperly used his former Phoenix-area radio show in his bid to unseat Arizona Sen. John McCain. Former Attorney General Grant Woods, a McCain ally, filed the campaign finance complaint in December. Woods argued that Hayworth's use of his three-hour radio show on KFYI amounted to an illegal "in-kind" donation from the station. Hayworth hadn't yet announced that he would challenge McCain in the Aug. 24 Republican primary. His last broadcast was in late January. Elections authorities dismissed Woods' complaint on June 10. The commission found that Hayworth's radio...

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell will host his first fundraiser for Arizona Sen. John McCain, facing a tough primary battle against former congressman J.D. Hayworth, at a McLean home later this month, advisers to the governor say. The June 14 fundraiser will be at the home of Bobbie Kilberg, president and chief executive of the Northern Virginia Technology Council. Kilberg, an adviser to McDonnell, is a member of McDonnell's new government reform commission. Other hosts include businessman Fred Malek, the commission chairman who has been under fire in recent weeks because of questions that have been raised about his past, former...

TUCSON, AZ (KGUN - TV) - Arizona Senator John McCain now says soldiers sent to the border should be armed. This revelation comes one day after Senate democrats shot down McCain's border plan to send 6,000 soldiers to the border. At a town hall meeting in Tucson, McCain first told 60 of his supporters in attendance that President Obama's plan to send 1,200 soldiers would not work because the soldiers would only be assigned to "desk jobs." (snip) Nunez asked: "What do you say to the those who accuse you of throwing out numbers, sending 6,000 troops to the border,...

TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - Senator John McCain tells KGUN 9 News he sympathizes with the illegal immigrant students who put their residents in the United States on the line to show their support for the DREAM Act. The bill would grant students who are under the age of 16 and illegally in the country a path to citizenship if they meet certain requirements. The three undocumented students face deportation after a sit in demonstration inside McCain's Tucson office. The senator later met with the students to hear their side of the story. "Their situation is one that they're in jeopardy. They...

Sen. John McCain of Arizona has been called many things during his lengthy political career: maverick, straight-talker, the White Tornado. But "border hawk" isn't one of them. Until now. Facing the toughest primary challenge of his 24-year Senate tenure, Mr. McCain has shelved his advocacy of a pathway to citizenship, denounced by its critics as amnesty, and embraced a crackdown on border security that includes the state's new immigration law. The law allows police to question people who they suspect are not citizens and requires them to carry proof of their status. Mr. McCain announced his support for the legislation...

The real John McCain has been kidnapped and an impostor is running against J. D. Hayworth in the Arizona U.S. Senate primary. It does sound far-fetched, but stranger things have happened in American politics. It's actually quite clever when you think about it. John McCain realized quite early that he could not win re-election to the Senate if he campaigned on his actual record – that is, if he campaigned as who he is. So, he arranged to be kidnapped and secluded in a five-star resort in Fiji while a well-groomed look-alike, McCain 2.0, campaigns in his place. McCain 2.0...

I need a Dramamine to cover Sen. John McCain's reelection bid. With his desperate lurch to the right, he's inducing more motion sickness than a Disneyland teacup. McCain's campaign represents the same self-serving political cynicism that American voters have grown tired of stomaching from the current White House. We need choices, not carbon copies. After decades of embracing the liberal-media moniker "maverick," for his frequent derision of the conservative wing of the Republican party, McCain has now abandoned the label. He told Newsweek magazine earlier this month: "I never considered myself a maverick." But countless YouTube videos show McCain and...

Please help. I plan to keep this thread alive until McCain loses the primary. Let's NAIL THAT RINO! Please help scout for headlines to bring here. I will ping people here once a week with choice headlines and links. [Since it's the OPPOSITE of high volume, several have already signed on.] If you would like to be on this once-a-week ping list, please let me know. Any helpful links will be appreciated. "The most recent online scores from the American Conservative Union are from 2008. In that year, John McCain scored 63 and had a lifetime average of 81.43. ......

Sen. John McCain doesn’t want to talk about the presidential campaign, and he certainly doesn’t want to discuss Sarah Palin… During a GOP-senators retreat this week at the Library of Congress, McCain told his colleagues that Republicans need to reach out more to diverse groups, rather than just relying on Christian conservatives, if they want to regain majority status, according to sources who attended the event. “[McCain] talked about the lessons he learned on the campaign trial, and the ‘discussion’ he had with the American public and what he learned from it,” said one GOP insider. But the man who...

They got a statement from Sarah, of course she took the high road.