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...

PHOENIX (AP) - Arizona Sen. John McCain is holding town hall meetings in the West Valley this weekend. The first town hall will be at the Goodyear Justice Center at 10 a.m. on Saturday. The second will be at Sun City West at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

For the last month, Arizona Sen. John McCain has been running his primary campaign against former Rep. J.D. Hayworth as if it was the final weekend of the 2008 presidential campaign. On a daily basis, McCain's team bashes Hayworth while simultaneously working to shore up the Senator's right flank through a series of symbolic acts ranging from the rejection of the "maverick" title he wore proudly during both of his presidential campaigns to his forceful support of Arizona's controversial new immigration law. (McCain released an ad recently in which he urges the federal government to "complete the danged fence", a...

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...

As we reported earlier, Senate hopeful J.D. Hayworth released his much-anticipated list of donors to his Freedom in Truth trust -- something John McCain has been requesting for months -- but the McCain campaign says the list only contains half of the information it requested. "We appreciate the fact that after 45 days and constant pressure, Congressman Hayworth has finally taken one step toward disclosing the activities of his FIT Trust," says McCain campaign spokesman Brian Rogers. "However, Congressman Hayworth has only revealed half of the pertinent information -- the money coming into the trust, but not the money going...

(snip) Elias and other observers say that the day of reckoning for possible McCain support is Aug. 24, when Arizona voters take to the polls to decide the 2008 GOP presidential nominee’s fate against his primary opponent, GOP former Rep. J.D. Hayworth. Many observers speculate that after the primary, McCain may pivot toward the middle and could ultimately back a Schumer-Van Hollen bill.“Perhaps he’s planning on voting for it, but because of political considerations or other things he just doesn’t want to be out front,” Elias said. “At the end of the day, it may very well be that he...

Campaign staff and volunteers of Sen. John McCain and his former vice presidential running mate Sarah Palin are preparing for the pair’s appearance at Mesa’s Dobson High School on Saturday. A spokesman for the camp offered a bit of advice for those wanting to get in: “Folks should get there early,” said Brian Rogers, McCain’s communications director.The event is free, on a first-come, first-served basis and does not require a ticket. (snip) Also speaking at a rally in Tucson on Friday, the appearances are McCain and Palin’s first ones together at a public event since their concession speech in the...

PHOENIX (AP) — John McCain and Sarah Palin are scheduled to campaign together in Arizona next week for the first time since they conceded the presidential election in Phoenix in 2008. Palin and McCain will be at a rally and picnic in Tucson on March 26, followed the next day by a rally in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa.

Hillary Clinton will not easily be mistaken for Sir Winston Churchill, but our nation’s Secretary of State borrowed a metaphor from old “Winnie” recently when lecturing on the importance of freedom on the Internet. As the former British Prime Minister warned of the communist “iron curtain” descending on Eastern Europe at the beginning of the Cold War, Secretary Clinton has warned of an “information curtain” falling in those nations where governments have used modern technology to suppress and plunder, rather than facilitate, the flow of information among peoples and nations. The Secretary made her comments in Washington on January 21,...

As the Republican presidential candidate in the fall of 2008, Arizona Sen. John McCain had more power than anyone to upend the Wall Street rescue package. But McCain now feels duped by former Republican Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. “We were all misled,” McCain said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” speaking of Paulson. “What did he do? He started pumping money into the financial institutions. Now the financial institutions are fine — Wall Street’s doing great. Main Street is in deep trouble.” Paulson and other former Bush administration officials told Congress at the time that the $700 billion lawmakers approved...

Backroom deals have marred the debate over health care reform and poisoned the public’s attitude toward the legislation, Sen. John McCain said Sunday. “Overwhelmingly, the American people are saying stop and start over,” McCain (R-Ariz.) said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “They don’t like these cynical deals.” (snip) McCain said he hoped last week’s health care summit at the Blair House could be “the basis for some good negotiations...” (snip) “Let’s start over,” McCain said, citing malpractice reform and allowing insurers to sell across state lines as reforms Republicans could support. “We want to sit down and have negotiations. We...

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. ......

When we conceived the RINO FREE AMERICA PROJECT ON FREE REPUBLIC, we envisioned Conservative activism that would send RINOs packing and replacing them with true Conservatives worthy of our support. NOW we need your help to defeat the biggest RINO of all. Many of us here on Free Republic have been cheering JD Hayworth on because John McCain is possibly the worst, (and most powerful,) RINO serving in the Senate today and he simply MUST be defeated lest he betray us again as he has so many times throughout his less than stellar tenure. While "the force" might be...

Enclosed are some excerpts from Senator John McCain's letter that he E-Mailed to his followers today. I'm pleased to see someone on Capital Hill who is standing up to Obama and the Democrats and their outrageous wasteful spending..... "My Friend, I have spent much of my career fighting against wasteful spending in Washington. I'm not afraid to speak out when I see taxpayer dollars wasted. And in all my years in public office, I have never seen spending as out of control as it is under the current Democratic leadership. Our national debt has reached an all-time high of $12.4...

Presidential nominee in 2008 faces GOP primary fight. BY JOSEPH WEBER Former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, Arizona Republican, said in an interview Monday that his planned primary challenge to Sen. John McCain will portray the four-term incumbent as a not-so-conservative Republican who has "enabled" President Obama and his failed economic and security policies. "I'm giving Arizona Republicans a clear choice between a consistent, common-sense conservative . . . or someone who describes himself as a maverick but is a moderate," the outspoken Mr. Hayworth told The Washington Times' "America's Morning News" radio show. Mr. Hayworth, 51, quit his job Friday as...

Hayworth faced ethical scrutiny during his unsuccessful reelection campaign for his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, whose Native-American clients contributed $100,000 to his campaigns. He is still paying off legal debt that he accumulated preparing for a possible federal investigation in connection with the Abramoff scandal.

Paul Streitz has decided to call Sarah Palin by her real name, because she endorsed John McCain (who is trying to win a fifth term as Senator) and said she will campaign for him. Fanatic Palinites, such as the editors of the misnamed „conservatives4palin.com” website (they should rename it „liberals4palin.com”), lambasted him and called him a “backstabber”. “If Paul Streitz’s support of Governor Palin is contingent upon his agreeing with every decision she makes or her selling out her deeply-held values, that’s unfortunate. While all support is appreciated, the governor has never been for sale. Ask the Alaska establishment, who...

Holy smokes! JD is telling us this is his last hour on the air! He is saying he will be heard from again in the public arena.

(snip) WALLACE: Some people are asking — and I know you know this because you read the papers; you're aware of what people say — "What's happened to John McCain?" You, for instance, were a big supporter of global warming legislation, and yet two of your closest friends in the Senate, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham, came out with a provision and you said it was horrendous. And on many issues observers say that you have become this year more combative and more conservative. MCCAIN: I, unfortunately, have always been combative. Second of all, I'm having... WALLACE: Have you always...

Barack Obama began his presidency with an open hand toward the man he had just defeated in a race that was at times bitter. "There are few Americans who understand this need for common purpose and common effort better than John McCain," said Obama at an inauguration-eve tribute dinner to his former foe. But in the year since that evening of comity and collegiality, McCain has emerged as one of the leading critics of the new president. On foreign policy, his traditional area of expertise, and domestic affairs, where McCain has shown new passion, the 72-year-old Arizonan is making it...