Free Republic

It’s been a career filled with highs and lows, but when John McCain looks back on the closing months of 2014, the former Republican Party presidential nominee and current senator will probably remember the time as one of long-awaited and welcome returns. There were, of course, the results of last week’s midterms, which gave the GOP majority status in the Senate next year and put an end to eight long years of wandering. Once the new Congress convenes next year, McCain’s chairmanship of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee is all but guaranteed. In addition to the Senate majority, McCain...

Senator John McCain (R., Ariz.) touted former governor Jeb Bush (R., Fla.) as a potential contender in the 2016 presidential elections while discussing the merits of nominating a governor as opposed to a senator. “I think that governors who are successful obviously have a cachet that is probably helpful to them, particularly, since the Congress is held in low esteem,” McCain tells National Review Online. “I think there will be some who are very competitive, including Jeb Bush if he decides to run.” McCain says he hadn’t decided to back Bush. “I keep hearing that he may be considering a...

One bonus for Republicans in the trifecta of pseudo-scandals ensnaring the Obama White House this month is that it distracted the party from its looming civil war. It’s even possible that the Senate immigration reform got as far as it did partly because wingnut radio talkers and Tea Party xenophobes were consumed by their hatred of Obama, and paying less attention to GOP immigration sellouts. But with the easing of scandal fever on the Potomac, Republicans are back to fighting one another, and the week-long Senate clash between freshman Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. John McCain over the budget is...

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., had a warm meeting with Obama for America Organizing for Action volunteers in Arizona, as the senator and the members of President Obama’s former campaign apparatus thanked each other for their alliance in support of Obama’s desired gun legislation. “The speakers commended Senator McCain for showing leadership on this issue, and made it clear that we’re still hopeful that, with his help and support, we will get a bipartisan law to protect our country and our local community,” OFA’s Erin Kelly wrote in a blog post today. “We were shocked and excited to see Senator McCain...

At a time when there appears to be a burgeoning rift in Republican ranks over the government's use of drones, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on Friday argued that he, not Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), represents former President Ronald Reagan's true legacy in the party. In a tense interview on Fox News, anchor Shepard Smith brought up the emerging schism between hawks such as McCain and non-interventionists like Paul.McCain and his longtime ally Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) each blasted Paul earlier this week for the Kentucky libertarian's epic 13-hour filibuster over the nomination of John Brennan to lead the CIA. Smith...

Take any year and if it divides evenly by four, what you have is an American presidential election year. Add or subtract two years, and what you have is a mid-term election year such as 2010, something not quite as delicious as a presidential year, granted. But I love this year just the same. That’s because I love the smell of napalm in the morning. Smells like victory. And who is shaping up as the leader of the victory this time, who has been throwing the napalm? This is where the year does indeed start to get delicious. Sarah Palin...