Free Republic

Arizona Republican voters don’t see Senator John McCain having much trouble winning the GOP Senate Primary next year, but 50% believe he has lost touch with his party’s base. Conservatives are even more critical of the longtime incumbent. Forty-three percent (43%) of Arizona Republican voters offer a more positive assessment and say McCain has done a good job representing GOP values, according to a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state. Nationally, 69% of GOP voters believe that Republicans in Congress are out of touch with the party’s base. A recent analysis by Scott Rasmussen suggested that the Beltway...

It used to just be Democrats who had no use for their losers (see Carter, Jimmy), but evidently some Republicans like that idea, too. Chris Simcox, founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, is challenging John McCain in the GOP Senate primary next year. Not that this is particularly surprising. The Arizona GOP didn't even back McCain in the GOP presidential primary last year. While McCain certainly has an appeal to moderates and independents like me, working across the aisle on immigration and campaign finance reform, he is a conservative. He's been a vocal critic of President Obama on the...

Some of the thousands of people who were at the tea parties Wednesday probably voted for Obama because of the deceptions of his campaign and also because they saw little difference between him and Senator McCain. The fact that in mid-September a secret group started a massive run on bank money-market deposits that would have crashed our banking system if it were not stopped did not help McCain either. Let’s face it, Senator McCain is not a conservative. The one thing that came through loud and clear Wednesday was that Tea Party protesters want a return to conservative values in...

Q: What do these four things have in common? Aliens from Outer Space Abominable Snowman Boogeyman in the Closet Barack Obama's Certification of Live Birth A: All of them are imaginary!   People say that Obama released a genuine copy of his actual Certification of Live Birth. He never did, and they are mistaken, misinformed, or misleading others if they do. People say that Hawaii confirmed this copy to be Obama's actual Certification of Live Birth. Hawaii never confirmed a request for, nor the printing of, this Certification of Live Birth. People say that Factcheck verified this image as...

I'm sorry if this is off-topic, but I'm finishing a documentary on the sinking of the USS Princeton (CVL-23) during the battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944. John S. "Slew" McCain, John McCain's grandfather, was instrumental in the idea of Independence-class light carriers and I have a spoken voiceover from a report he wrote in 1939. However, I can't find any sound film of him (he died a few days after the signing of the Japanese surrender in September 1945.) He was from Mississippi. Anybody know what he sounded like? I'm looking for a voiceover actor and the WWII...

Politico is apparently hatching up some story about "wounded" McCain staffers who were Palin "loyalists" and are upset by her innocent joke about praying with her seven-year-old daughter before the vice presidential debate. I don't buy it myself. No one with half a brain would be offended by that cute little anecdote from Palin's Lincoln Day speech -- certainly not a self-proclaimed Palin "loyalist." In fact, I predict that next week Jim Geraghty will call up Randy Scheunemann and Steve Biegun and get them on the record saying that they don't feel slighted in the least. (And those are the...

Meghan McCain, daughter of John, has written a column critical of Ann Coulter. Tonight she appeared on Rachel Maddow’s show to discuss the column and her efforts to push the Republican party in a more moderate direction. I don’t want to be too critical of Meghan. She’s 24, seems sincere and likable, and has the moxie to put herself out there. So let me offer a constructive suggestion: instead of telling us what you don’t like about Republicans, tell us what you do. Meghan did say that she loves the Republican party. But why? If Republicans are going to listen...

Here is video of Sen. John McCain yesterday on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, where he said the best thing would be to allow General Motors to go into Chapter 11 Bankruptcy where it could reorganize and come out with a different union contract and a become a viable company. He talks about GM at the 8:00 remaining mark of the video. McCain also opened the discussion by saying President Obama should veto the Omnibus Spending Bill before the Senate right now, that has 9,000 earmarks in it, something Obama pledged to do during the campaign. McCain was asked...

U.S. Senate at deadlock over earmarks for Weslaco agricultural center, others No one knows yet what causes the bees to disappear. One day the beehive is humming along; the next day the bees are just gone. Pesticides, bee diet and environmental stresses are factors believed to contribute to what's known as "colony collapse disorder," said Sandy Miller Hays, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief research agency. Bees are used to pollinate much of the nation's crops, she said, and yet questions persist about the phenomenon. Scientists are investigating bee disappearance and related topics at Weslaco's Kika de...

Yo Smerc: who’s “we”? You voted for Barack Obama . . . But let’s leave aside Michael Smerconish’s presidential preferences and focus on the substance of his remarks. On this evening’s Hardball, Smerconish claimed that Republicans need to “dilute the influence of the conservatives in the Republican presidential nominating process, because we are nominating people who can’t get elected.” Smerconish was responding to a clip of Rush Limbaugh calling on RNC Chairman Michael Steele to do just the opposite, and do something “about our open primary system and fixing it so that Democrats do not nominate our candidates.” If you...

In the hours after President Obama's not-the-state-of-the-union address, the Networks rounded up the usual suspects to give reply to the speech. CBS, for its part, found the always smiling John McCain asking for his reaction to Obama's starry-eyed rhetoric and long list of promises. The prosaic, yet perky, Katie Couric asked McCain if Obama "convinced him at all" with the rhetoric? McCain, after saying Obama's was "a very effective speech," seemed, though, to call the president a liar -- though certainly in the nicest way possible. Still, McCain said, "now I would like to know how we are going to...

So much for any pretention to balance. Looks like David Shuster has taken a page from his mentor Keith Olbermann's playbook: play exclusively to your crowd; exclude any alternative voices. Announcing this evening a new regular feature focusing on the blogosphere on his 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue show, Shuster made it clear that conservatives need not apply. DAVID SHUSTER: Every day at this time, we're going to bring you a key issue in the progressive blogosphere. View video.

A lawsuit that accuses Congress of failing to investigate President Obama's birthplace before approving the Electoral College vote giving him the presidency has been amended to include additional claims of rights violations, including unequal treatment, because Congress did such an investigation into GOP candidate Sen. John McCain. That word comes from Mario Apuzzo, the lawyer handling the case on which WND previously has reported. The case raises many of the same arguments as dozens of other cases that have flooded into courtrooms around the nation since the November election. The case was brought by Apuzzo on behalf of Charles F....

Here at The Conservative Comeback we have a very open mind and we're going to prove it with this post today. Last week we named this person the NY Times Republican of the Week. He seemed like he was reverting back to the guy who loved being the medias best friend and seemed much more at ease ripping conservatives than he was criticizing liberals. Well, this guy has bounced back in a big way this week.

What About Bob? by: Daniel Allen, February 06, 2009 One of the most respected men in his field, veteran broadcaster Bob Schieffer, who is known for his intimate knowledge of Washington D.C., offered an insightful address to the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) on Monday. Schieffer spoke about his role in the political world over the last several decades as a reporter, and about the changing nature of politics. Journalism is also changing, he explained. Though he deeply admires both Barack Obama and John McCain, Schieffer believes that both positives and negatives came from the 2008 election....

John McCain launched a petition and sent it to the mail box of almost every Republican and John McCain supporter in the country. John McCain takes a final stand for fiscal conservatism and encourages the government to be responsible--to protect the consumers and keep competition balanced.

When Diane Sawyer went to the zoo as a kid, did she used to take a stick and poke the old lion between the bars? I ask because the GMA co-anchor did the political equivalent this morning, repeatedly trying to provoke John McCain into taking a rhetorical swing at Rush Limbaugh. It was Sawyer’s first interview of McCain since the election. One attempt to get McCain to criticize Rush over his much-misinterpreted “I want Pres. Obama to fail” line? OK. Two attempts? Pushing it. Three tries? This ceases to be journalism and enters into Jerry Springer territory of trying to...

No rush to repeal 'don't ask, don't tell' BY BRYAN BENDER WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is telling the Pentagon and gay-rights advocates that it will have to study the implications for national security and enlist more support in Congress before trying to overturn the so-called "don't ask, don't tell" law and allow gays to serve openly in the military, according to people involved in the discussions. They said Obama, who pledged during the campaign to overturn the law, does not want to ask lawmakers to do so until the military has completed a comprehensive assessment of the impact that...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former presidential rival John McCain expressed disappointment on Friday that President Barack Obama has not negotiated with Republicans over a huge economic stimulus plan and said he is working on an alternative package. Speaking to Reuters, Arizona Sen. McCain said the alternative plan would include what he described as "more effective tax cuts, such as a payroll tax cut" and spending on projects aimed at immediately creating jobs. "A group of us Republican senators are working on coming up with an alternative package that I would hope would have some elements to it that Americans would support,"...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - John McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, is seeking details on how William Lynn, a former Raytheon Co lobbyist, would meet conflict-of-interest rules if confirmed as deputy secretary of defense. McCain, President Barack Obama's opponent in the November election, asked Lynn to spell out what impact, if any, Executive-branch ethics requirements might have on his ability "to discharge fully your responsibilities as deputy secretary." In a letter dated on Monday, the senator from Arizona said Lynn, if confirmed by the Senate, likely would face decisions affecting many matters in which Raytheon, one of...

WASHINGTON, DC - After criticizing the economic stimulus plan, Republicans have chained themselves to doors of the Capital Building to block its passing. Currently no one can enter or exit the Capital as Republican leaders have chained themselves to every major entryway. The audacious demonstration was led by John McCain who shouted to reporters, “I’m still relevant! See!? I’m still relevant!!!”

There’s a reason John McCain married a younger woman. Not only can she spoonfeed the deluded old codger and wipe up his drool, but she’s rational enough to comprehend what the media did to her husband throughout the last election cycle. “I do believe there was a media bias,” Cindy said. “I do believe that the media had a specific agenda…There is very little difference now between journalism and gossip.” “The New York Times profile of me is being used as an example of the bias in reporting in journalism classes at Columbia’s journalism school.” Our sources inside the McCain...

Former GOP presidential nominee John McCain on Thursday named fellow Arizona Senator Jon Kyl as a potential 2012 presidential candidate. Asked on CNN’s “Larry King Live” if he plans to support Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in the Republican presidential primaries, McCain said it would be “improper” to commit now because “I don’t know who’s running, for one thing, because, for example, my friend Jon Kyl, my colleague from Arizona.” McCain then trailed off, appearing as if he had accidentally floated Kyl’s name.

As President-elect, Barack Obama honored John McCain at a dinner last night. But as President, did Barack Obama diss McCain today? Consider these words from his inaugural address: BARACK OBAMA: On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear. Unity of purpose over conflict and discord. It can’t be reasonably argued that Pres. Obama was referring to the last eight years under George Bush. George Bush wasn’t on the ballot this past November. Americans had no chance to choose him. View video.

Lawmakers used the meeting of President-elect Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon today to file legislation in the Senate and House to reduce drug-related violence on the U.S.-Mexico border. The bill, introduced by Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, would provide $30 million over two years to expand the Justice Department’s "Project Gunrunner Initiative" that targets gun-smuggling networks. "The increasing violence in Mexico is now a U.S. national security issue," Hutchison said. In addition to Bingaman and Hutchison, Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl, both Republicans, also signed on to the legislation . A...

Mistake That is Fake by: Cliff Kincaid, June 24, 2008 If Barack Obama wanted to dispel doubts about his national security credentials, he hasn’t done so with the announcement of a new “Senior Working Group on National Security” that includes Dr. Tony Lake, a former national security adviser to Bill Clinton. Lake became a laughingstock for expressing doubts as to whether Alger Hiss, the founder of the United Nations and a top State Department official, was a communist spy. Lake’s doubts led to a controversy that caused him to withdraw his nomination as Clinton’s CIA director. Interestingly, Lake had expressed...

Jan 3 (Reuters) - With a close Minnesota race still undecided, Democrats will hold no more than 59 seats in the new 100-member U.S. Senate that convenes on Jan. 6. That means Democrats will need the help of at least a few Republicans to hit the 60 votes required to clear procedural roadblocks known as filibusters.

Washington lobbyist Vicki L. Iseman has filed a $27 million defamation lawsuit against The New York Times for a February article about Iseman and her relationship with Sen. John McCain. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Richmond on Tuesday, alleges the article falsely communicated that Iseman and McCain had an illicit “romantic” relationship in 1999 when he was chair of the Senate Commerce Committee and she was a lobbyist representing clients before Congress. The suit also names the executive editor of the Times, its Washington bureau chief and four reporters who wrote the story as defendants. William Keller,...

Vicki L. Iseman The NY Times "Chickens Have Come To Roost." Last February the NY Times wrote a smear piece which said in part that Lobbyist Viki Iseman's relationship with Senator John McCain was not exactly professional. The Times article was so bogus that its own public editor, Clark Hoyt wrote a piece bashing the story. The Suit charges that the Times trashed MS Iseman's reputation just to damage McCain's political aspirations. She is asking for $27 Million. Here's hoping that she gets that and much more. Full story below:

Don’t Tread on Bill by: Malcolm A. Kline, December 22, 2008 American academics have mustered more support for Weather Underground alum and tenured professor Bill Ayers than they ever have for the country which they work in. Perhaps this should not surprise. The man whom failed presidential candidate John McCain dubbed “some old terrorist” and the land of his birth and residence have frequently been at cross purposes, although his intellectual fans do not see it that way. “Any person with basic knowledge of American history in the 1960s and 1970s knows that the Weather Underground did not kill anyone...

Removing All Doubt Obama Would Cede Southwest to Mexico American Patrol Report -- December 19 "We are all Americans, whether you are legalized or not" Anyone who still doubts that Barack Obama is determined to grant de-facto amnesty to millions of illegal aliens should explain to the rest of us why he picked Hilda Solis to be Secretary of Labor. A long-time supporter of la Reconquista, the Mexican takeover of the American Southwest, Solis is also a leader in the movement to silence Americans who speaks out against the invasion, specifically Lou Dobbs, Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly. At a...

Today on ABC’s This Week, when asked by host George Stephanopoulos whether he would support Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin if she runs for president, Sen. John McCain punted: “Oh no. Listen I have the greatest appreciation for Gov. Palin and her family and it was a great joy to know them,” McCain said. “She invigorated our campaign and she was just down in Georgia and she invigorated their campaign.” “But I can’t say something like that,” McCain said, “We’ve got some great other young governors… Pawlenty, Huntsman.” Pressed by Stephanopoulos that McCain had considered Palin to be the best person...

Hey, Joe the Plumber is back. And just like Bruce Willis — with a vengeance. You remember Joe the Plumber, aka: Joe Wurzelbacher, the unlicensed plumber who John McCain used as a prop in the waning days of his campaign. Well, he’s got a book out (who doesn’t?). And in the fine tradition of Scott McClellan, he’s biting the hand that fed him. Or perhaps snarking down the whole arm. We don’t know. The book’s not quite out yet. He’s just promoting it.

Essence of the case By this case, Barack Obama, John McCain, and Roger Calero (of the Socialist Workers Party, on the New Jersey ballot) do not qualify as "natural born Citizens" under Article 2, Section 1, Clause 5 of the Constitution, which states the following: No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years...

Volume 107, No. 1 (September 2008) An Online Symposium on Senator John McCain and Natural Born Citizenship Senator John McCain, the current Republican Party nominee for President, was born in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936. The circumstances of his birth raise the question of whether he is a "natural born citizen" as required by Article II, section 1 of the Constitution. The symposium contributors explore both the substance of this issue and the methods used to resolve it. Why Senator John McCain Cannot be President: Eleven Months and a Hundred Yards Short of Citizenship [HTML] [PDF] Gabriel J. Chin,...

Tom Brokaw: talk show host or DNC enforcer? Barack Obama and Harry Reid were willing to let bygones be bygones, letting Joe Lieberman keep his Homeland Security Committee chairmanship. But Lieberman's professed "regret" for statements he made in the course of supporting John McCain for president wasn't good enough for Brokaw. Interviewing Lieberman on Meet The Press today, Brokaw pointedly observed that he hadn't heard the word "apology" for the senator's lèse majesté. Brokaw broached the subject by asserting Lieberman needed to be held "accountable."

EXCLUSIVE: CINDY MCCAIN'S SECRET LOVER REVEALED Photo by: Splash News Online The ENQUIRER's bombshell revelation of the man that insiders say Cindy's been canoodling behind J-Mac's back! We now reveal the true identity of the man in the ENQUIRER photos that sources say show John McCain's wife, Cindy, lip locking a man. The sources now reveal the "mystery man" as Dino Castelli, 56, a used car dealer! Not only that but Cindy prolonged her steamy three-year fling with Dino even while John McCain was running for president, sources told The ENQUIRER. Cindy's and Dino had been meeting at Cindy's Phoenix,...

If someone had told me last year that, come the fall of 2008, I would be praying for John McCain to become the next President Of The United States, I would have had three words for him – seek psychiatric help. (McCain is my kind of Republican the way “rap” is my kind of music.) But, in the last four months of the campaign, that’s exactly what I was doing – praying for a McCain victory -- – not because McCain is so good (any resemblance between the Arizona Senator and a conservative is purely coincidental), but because I would...

Sarah Palin has more moxy than most star systems. Video here. Cool interview from the Spring of 2008.

Recent polls and exit polls continue to show that a solid majority of Americans identify themselves with conservative values. A recent NBC poll indicated that more than 80% believe that God belongs in public life and discourse. Why, then, did the Democratic candidate, espousing radical views, such as support for infanticide and associations with hate-America types, win the election? Answer: 1. getting and keeping a good job is the most important single force in the lives of most people, if they do not feel threatened by external forces, and 2. strong conservatives did not accept John McCain as a conservative...

Spend six minutes with Sarah: video here. Wolf Blitzer never had a chance.

Right Wing News emailed more than 240 right-of-center bloggers and asked them to send us a list of whom they considered to be their "Least Favorite People On The Right." Representatives from the following 46 blogs responded... The Anchoress, AtlanticBlog, Axis of Right, BizzyBlog, Blonde Sagacity, Bookworm Room, Bull Moose Strikes Back, The Chronicles Of A Rogue Jew, Conservatism Today, Conservative Compendium, Conservative Grapevine, Conservative Punk, Copious Dissent, Dispatches from Blogblivion, Doubleplusundead, Fraters Libertas, Gateway Pundit, Girl On The Right, House of Eratosthenes, Paul Ibrahim, Jihad Watch, Keepin' It Rural, Likelihood of Success, Lotus Blog, Rachel Lucas, Mean Ol' Meany...

Video here: Sarah lets loose in an interview from her office on November 7, 2008, three days after the election. She deals with the clothes issue and then deals with the biased media coverage too!

Rahm Emanuel 'Do What You Got Elected to Do' The incoming chief of staff says expect a pragmatic White House. By JASON L. RILEY Detroit In Rahm Emanuel's telling, the Democratic victories on Tuesday were a continuum of what began in the 2006 midterm elections, when his party won majorities in the House and the Senate for the first time in 12 years. "After 2006, I said it was George Bush and the desire for change," the congressman from Chicago's North Side tells me. "And the same cocktail contributed to this turnout. You had Barack Obama's message of change and...

I am rethinking something I said earlier in anger, particularly at the sliming of Sarah Palin. While it is imperative to ward off the more damaging aspects of the radical policies that Senator Obama may wish to impose on us, like redistributing wealth, the “Fairness Doctrine” and senseless gun laws, the housing and mortgage crisis has so damaged the nation’s economy that all Americans have to come together to solve it. It is plunging our nation into a serious recession, and Americans of every political outlook and income situation may suffer. Of course, we Americans have short memories, both institutional...

An Excellent Editorial posted on City on a Hill Political Observer. The mainstream media and the Obama-Biden campaign made the political assassination of Governor Sarah Palin their number one goal during the 2008 election cycle. The agile and tough Alaskan moose-hunter was able to survive the attempt on her political life, but left this campaign field bloodied. In the past few days some second-rate hacks within the McCain campaign and establishment elites within the GOP have tried to finish the job. They must not and will not succeed. It is often quoted by some random Alaskan politician that, “the Alaskan...

Pre-election Time Capsule Uncorked by: Irene Warren, November 07, 2008 As pundits everywhere Monday-morning-quarterback the presidential election, the pre-game analysis of at least one analyst gives a startlingly accurate picture of what came to pass. With the 2008 Presidential Election drawing near to a close, the Brookings Institution hosted its ’08 Project with Princeton University last week. A group of undecided voters had Barack Obama and John McCain hard at work to pick up additional votes in battleground states, such as Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Iowa, explained Anthony Corarado, nonresident Senior Fellow of Governance Studies. “If...

I want to know how you run a presidential campaign with “factions” and “divisions” between nominee and running mate. Do you feign simpatico relations with the other, only to bitch and moan behind closed doors about one another and spread whatever message you feel, instead of one consistent, powerful voice? Is the race for the presidency now a friggin’ playground?

Obama supporter. Vile stuff! That teacher should be fired. What a moron! Obama supporters are a death cult as far as I am concerned. Come to think of it, the 30th anniversary of Jonestown Massacre is looming.

The McCain Campaign: Mistakes, But Hampered Ultimately By Both the Candidate and his Campaign Advisers--Not by Sarah Palin McCain Campaign is Responsible for McCain's Defeat Palin Was Attacked from the Inside from Almost the Moment She gave the McCain Campaign their First Realistic Chance at VictoryThe McCain Campaign Unnamed Aides vs. Sarah Palin UPDATES at end of post. FROM GOSSIP TO GOSPEL The McCain campaign made some shrewd moves, but it also was guilty of some moves that ultimately doomed its unlikely candidate--with the most momentous misstep coming from John McCain himself. Like any losing campaign, those in charge of...