Free Republic

President Obama made a vigorous effort after the election to court Sen. John McCain, hoping his campaign rival would become a Senate advocate for his ambitious agenda. Instead, McCain (R-Ariz.) has emerged as one of the chief gadflies leading Republican opposition to Obama’s biggest legislative initiatives. Nevertheless, Obama and other Democrats still cling to the hope that McCain can be persuaded to help advance their priorities.

Elections have consequences. Like a stand-up comedian trying to push a catchphrase, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., kept coming back to that statement during an hour-long town hall gathering Tuesday in Marana. Whether it was efforts being made to turn around the economy, President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court or U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi's CIA allegations, McCain told the crowd of more than 200 people at the Marana Municipal Complex that today's America is a direct result of last November's voting. But rather than place all the blame on the ruling Democratic Party, McCain said Republicans were...

To the surprise of no one, Sen. John McCain , the Republican Party’s frequent goad and sometimes hero, continues to go his own way. On Thursday, for instance, McCain broke with his party’s strategy on the fiscal 2010 budget resolution and offered a full substitute proposal. House Republicans were pressing a comprehensive, leadership-blessed alternative to the Democrats’ budget in that chamber, but Senate GOP leaders had decided to attack the Democrats’ proposal amendment by amendment. That didn’t suit McCain. He argued that an alternative should be offered to show the public that Republicans have a vision for the country. His...

Republican leaders in the Senate are clashing with John McCain, their party’s 2008 presidential nominee. He wants to offer an alternative to the Democratic budget and they don’t. The behind-the-scenes battle is part of a larger split in the Republican Party. Some in the GOP believe their best strategy is to resist President Obama’s agenda and take carefully chosen shots through amendments they all agree on; others want the party to do more to demonstrate how a Republican imprint would be different. As Congress works on setting broad budget caps for fiscal 2010, McCain appears to be in the minority...

Sen. John McCain's daughter continued her all-out media tour with a stop on CNN's "Larry King Live" Tuesday night, voicing support for her father's campaign opponent, President Obama, but none for her Republican critics. Meghan McCain, a columnist for TheDailyBeast.com, also tried to take the high road after conservative radio host Laura Ingraham had joked about the 24 year-old's weight last week. "As far as I'm concerned with what's going on with Laura Ingraham, on my end, it's over," McCain told King. "There are nine million women in this country suffering from eating disorders. And I'm not going to be...

Four months after he lost his bid for the White House, no one in the Senate really knows what to make of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). This week McCain tried to strip most of the earmarks from a pending $410 billion omnibus spending bill. The effort failed. While the former GOP presidential candidate managed to rally 30 of his Republican colleagues behind his amendment, once it was struck down, 27 of them were happy to abandon the stand and accept their millions of dollars in earmarks, now secure in the bill. The moment seemed to answer a question raised immediately...

The decision by New York Governor David Paterson to name a somewhat conservative replacement (by that state's democrat standards), Kirsten Gillibrand, to Hillary Clinton's U.S. Senate seat has already sent some liberals into a tizzy. They are upset over Gillibrand's support for the National Rifle Association as well as for extending the Bush tax cuts among the issues that disturb them. So when will the mainstream begin labeling Gillibrand as a "Maverick Democrat?" Or is the "maverick" label applied by the MSM only to Republicans who are liberals or "moderates" (really meaning liberal)?

When the news came that John McCain was poised to nominate a maverick female with executive experience in local government and as a governor to be his vice presidential running mate, I was hopeful. I knew and worked for such a woman: a county freeholder, then president of the State Board of Public Utilities, then a two-term governor of a major state, then a presidential cabinet member. More executive experience than anyone in the race. By a long stretch. I knew her to be tough, fair-minded, extremely independent, and courageous. I had seen her make the difficult, character-defining decisions only...

We know that Barack Obama and his allies identify themselves as "progressives," and that they aim to implement the big-government liberalism that originated in America's Progressive Era and was consummated in the New Deal. What remains a mystery is why some conservatives want to claim this progressive identity as their own -- particularly as it was manifested by Theodore Roosevelt. The fact that conservative politicians such as John McCain and writers like William Kristol and Karl Rove are attracted to our 26th president is strange because, if we want to understand where in the American political tradition the idea of...

Remember the John McCain that many Arizonans grew to like over the years - the one who stuck by his principles but was not politically dogmatic or doctrinaire, and instead tried to represent the interests of people in general? Well, that John McCain seems to be back after a long journey into the dark jungle of presidential politics where he seemed to veer from his familiar middle-of-the-road approach to politics - an approach that a lot of Arizonans prefer, based on their long support for him.

Remember the days when Sen. John McCain was the Democratic Party’s best friend? And a BFF, as well, to the Mainstream Media? Well, they’re ba-a-a-ck.

Sen. John McCain avoided reporters during the lame-duck session of Congress last week. But Tuesday, shortly after President-elect Obama had his own news conference about the economy, McCain broke his silence by speaking with reporters in Phoenix. This came after the two former contenders met last week, and Tuesday, McCain continued to make nice. When asked what advice he had for right-wing supporters who say the prospect of an Obama presidency terrifies them, he was categorical. "Respect this landmark election, respect the fact America faces great challenges, and Americans expect us to work together. That does not mean we won't...

At least John McCain is back to his old self. This assumes, of course, at some point he wasn't.Believe me, he was. (See the entire 2008 campaign).He's back to being the crotchety old Republicrat spitfire, Mac the Mav.That reach-across-the-aisle, strolling-down-the-median joie de vivre he possesses (and can beckon at will) is throttling up for the new administration.Goodie gumdrops.Since the time is just about right for McCain to ride the wave of ascendancy back into the good graces of the media (who, you'll recall, once upon a time, had rockets in their pockets for him when he was still their beloved...

U.S. Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain (R-AZ), with his wife Cindy at his side (lower R), greets the overflow crowd outside a town hall meeting in Peterborough, New Hampshire November 2, 2008. U.S. Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain (R-AZ) greets supporters at a campaign rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania November 2, 2008 U.S. Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain (R-AZ) arrives for a campaign rally in Tampa, Florida November 3, 2008. br>Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. reacts to the crowd at an airport rally in Blountville, Tenn., Monday, Nov. 3, 2008

Steve Helber/Associated Press Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del. speaks during a rally at the Woodbridge Community Center in Woodbridge, Va., yesterday. Republicans yesterday criticized Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joseph R. Biden Jr. over an overheard comment at odds with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's campaign pledge to support the development of clean coal plants in the United States. In the remarks, circulated on YouTube, the Delaware senator seems to reject the idea of building new coal-fired plants domestically, while suggesting that clean-coal technology, a goal that both campaigns have promised billions of dollars to develop, should be used to...

U.S. President Home mortgage relief Barack Obama Ninety-day foreclosure moratorium for homeowners living in their homes making good-faith efforts to pay mortgages. John McCain $300 billion to take bad mortgages off banks’ books and negotiate better mortgage rates for homeowners Taxes Barack Obama Businesses receive a $3,000 refundable tax credit for each additional full-time worker hired. John McCain Increase the tax write-off for stock losses to $15,000 from $3,000 for tax years 2008, 2009; reduce maximum tax rate on long-term capital gains to 7.5 percent in 2009, 2010. 401(k), IRA retirement plans Barack Obama Supports suspending 401(k), IRA tax rules...

"Since coming to Washington, I've believed that the right approach begins with the proposal put forward by Senator Lieberman and Senator McCain," Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said at Committee On Environment and Public Works hearing on January 30, 2007, "a proposal they've been pushing for years, and I thank them again for their leadership on this issue. The Lieberman-McCain Bill establishes limits for greenhouse gas emissions well into the 21st century. To remain below these limits, the bill encourages the market to determine how best to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, rewarding cost effective approaches using a system of tradable allowances."...

On a brief jump flight from Philadelphia to Scranton, McCain adviser Charlie Black and Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback came back to talk up the campaign's conviction that the glass if half full. "Four years ago at this point, George W. Bush was down five points in Iowa," Brownback said. "Today John McCain is down one point in Iowa." He was citing an unreleased internal McCain campaign poll of the state, which was completed last Thursday, said Black. (The campaign stopped doing its own polling after Thursday, he added, because television time through the election all had to be purchased by...

Republican John McCain poked fun at his presidential campaign's financial shortcomings in an appearance on NBC's "Saturday Night Live." The presidential hopeful made a cameo appearance on the show with Tina Fey reprising her memorable impersonation of McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin

The Obama campaign, the DNC, the MSM, and others have gone to considerable length, including push polls, mistatements, lies, fraud, and deceit to convince Americans that Barack Hussein Obama has essentially already won the Presidency. But common, every-day Americans are not buying it. Meet the people who don't buy it and who will be the principle reason Barack Hussein Obama goes down to defeat on November 4th. The truth is that the left, the Obama campaign, the DNC, and the MSM will lie, fabricate, misquote, commit fruad, beg, borrow, or steal in their effort to slow down what is...

Post Your Best Links & Sites for Undecided Voters Here! 1 in 7 Undecided--GET OUT THE TRUTH! ----------------------- As we approach the big finish line, now is time to intensify! Do not relax or be fearful. WE HAVE THE TRUTH ON OUR SIDE! The consciences of those who are undecided or even presently committed to Obama--desperately need the truth. PRAY. Print. Forward. Telephone. DON'T make this a discussion thread, use it as a front-line information arsenal against the powers of darkness. Their ONLY power is based in lies and deceit. AP poll: 1 in 7 voters still persuadable ONE IN...

(Jose Rodriguez, 87. I be he remembers the 'change' Cuba got in 1959.)

Men at a rally in Indiana for Sarah Palin on Friday. (Michael Conroy/The Associated Press) BANGOR, Maine: It is not unusual for fans of Sarah Palin to shout out to the Alaska governor in the midst of her stump speeches. It is noteworthy that the crowds are heavily male. "You rock me out, Sarah," yelled one man, wearing a red-checked hunting jacket as Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, strode into an airplane hangar here on Thursday. He held a homemade "Dudes for Sarah" sign and wore a National Rifle Association hat. Kenny Loggins's "Danger Zone" blared over the loudspeakers, and...

I just added my donation, so I don't feel so guilty cluttering up the boards with yet another vanity. Go donate and write a vanity! Here's why I think we should ignore the polls and continue with our efforts to elect McPalin: 1) I think some of FR's gloom and doomers just might be shills. With the kind of crooked dough that Obama's amassing, ACORN, and Soros has bought in the past, it's not so far fetched that the #1 conservative site would get "seminar callers." That they have senior dates on their page doesn't mean they're not seminar callers--it...

Watch Sarah and john Live! Hoping for some red meat or perhaps a calf sluaghtered on stage. Go Sarah! I am voting for you.

There’s that word again: maverick. In Thursday’s vice-presidential debate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, the Republican candidate, used it to describe herself and her running mate, Senator John McCain, no fewer than six times, at one point calling him “the consummate maverick.”

When it comes to fiscal conservatism, George W. Bush failed us. He has angered fiscal conservatives in both parties. I don't spend much time defending Bush's fiscal record because there's really very little worth defending.   But Bush's failure wasn't because he cut taxes. Bush failed because he failed to cut spending.   P.J. O'Rourke defined fiscal conservatism as follows: "To a true fiscal conservative, tax cuts don't matter much, and neither does the national debt. That is because the real problem is spending. Even the best and most necessary public spending comes with a harrowing price: the percentage of...

You know, I was going to call it a night. And then I saw the story about John McCain’s appearance at the 9/11 Columbia University forum earlier this evening. Every time you grit your teeth and defend this guy, he pulls something like this. Hey, Maverick: Way to throw Sarah Palin, Rudy Giuliani, and your strategists who had the sense to seize on Obama’s abysmal, ineffectual record as a Chicago rabble-rouser under the bus! Criiiiiikey: Barack Obama and John McCain attempted to set their differences aside Thursday night, if only for a moment, as they encouraged Americans to volunteer in...

Jack Dittrick just laughs as he recalls how friends told him his old buddy John McCain was politically dead last year. "Listen, I know this guy," he told them. "You do not count this guy out. Ever." Dittrick and McCain's other classmates from the U.S. Naval Academy saw early signs that the hell-raising, risk-taking midshipman was a natural leader who could go far - even if he did finish five places from the bottom of his class of 899. Now, 50 years later, McCain is one big step from the presidency. They watched McCain challenge authority, demonstrate moral courage, flirt...

SAMUEL Augustus Maverick, Texas rancher of the 1840s, is proudly sitting up in his grave. His name, which has become an eponymous American word, was cited repeatedly at last week’s unexpectedly enthusiastic Republican convention. “I’ve been called a maverick,” John McCain told his rounded-up party. “Sometimes it’s meant as a compliment; sometimes it’s not.” True enough: old Sam Maverick’s friends said he refused to brand his cattle because it was cruel to animals; competing ranchers said it let him round up and claim all the unbranded cattle in the neighborhood. In an era that has sophisticates displaying designers’ initials, the...

Folks--I was trying to put into words the chemistry I see between John McCain and Sarah Palin when they are together. And it just came to me. Sarah is John's wingman. She flies next to him and protects him. He fights for her, and she fights for him. She does what is necessary for him to successfully complete his mission. As a former Naval Aviator, McCain knows the importance of an excellent wingman. As a novice pilot, Palin has shown that she is a natural.

In this election year, "change" has been the catnip of the liberals. It renders them blissful. Change will put an end to the dominance of American politics by the "Washington insiders." And the instrumentality of that "change" will be a first-term senator of unassailable probity, Sen. Barack H. Obama, who curiously enough began his career a decade ago in Chicago as a cog in the political machine of Mayor Richard Daley. To the critics' charges that Prophet Obama is short on experience, his supporters respond that he has enormous experience, which is obviously untrue. Also, he has chosen as his...

John MCain intoned some things in his speech last night conservatives need to be very weary of. His tone and talk about "not working for any party" was a little shot at republicans and conservatives alike. We all understand McCain is not a conservative, but he is within the party and if he doesn't think conservatives and the republican party work for the people of this county then he needs to be kicked out of this party! Partisanship is a boon to this country. You have to argue vehemently to get your points across and hopefully convince a majority of...

Surprisingly dull given the frenzy of Barracudamania, but then the point isn’t to build her up so much as it is to tear The One down. They’ve got a second contrast ad coming later today focusing on their comparative experience. The one virtue of having the media spin her as dangerously unqualified, of course, is that it leaves McCain wide open for ads like this, treating Barry to a little vicarious ridicule for his absurdly thin record. Something like 70 percent of voters say the VP candidates won’t affect their votes in November; if Palin is deemed too green to...

Here is the latest ad from the McCain camp. Pretty effective I think using the words of leading Dems to praise McCain. The best part comes at the end from Hillary, "I know Senator McCain has a life time of experience that he will bring to the White House and Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002." Ouch. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSpcxkKlEFA

WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain is so quick to pick up his gold-colored cellphone to solicit advice — from senators, campaign consultants, even the stray former deputy press secretary — that aides, concerned about his tendency to adopt the last opinion he has heard, have tried to cut back on the time he has to make calls.

The Democrats' acrimonious primary battle came back to haunt Hillary Clinton yesterday, a day before she sets off on her first solo campaign swing for Barack Obama, with John McCain using footage of her attacking the Democratic candidate in a new campaign ad. The ad, which was released on the internet, features a number of Democratic leaders - including Obama - offering praise for McCain. But only Clinton, who is the closing speaker, goes so far as to take a jab at Obama, in footage culled from one of her primary rallies. The ad surfaced a day before Clinton is...

Enjoy!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBsRbMimtlA

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry blasted presumed Republican presidential nominee John McCain for using video clips of Democrats’ past praise of McCain in a web-only campaign commercial released Thursday morning. Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, called the Arizona senator “unrecognizable” and said he had “changed overnight.” In painting McCain as a maverick, the ad features a series of Democrats — Kerry, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, Sen. Russell Feingold and Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. — talking up the Republican nominee as a bipartisan deal-maker and all-around good guy. Daschle: “He can work...

In an effort to highlight his "maverick" history of bipartisianship, John McCain has released this campaign ad. The ad features prominent democratic leaders praising McCain for his courage, honesty, and ability to reach across the aisle. http://election.newsmax.com/mccain_praise.html?s=al&promo_code=6772-1

John McCain's message machine shifted gears today -- after a week or so of offbeat efforts to annoy and exasperate Barack Obama, the Republican's campaign launched a new bid to distance himself from the titular head of his own party. A 60-second McCain television ad airing in several of this year's key battleground states seeks to both remind voters of the "maverick" image that gained him national prominence and undercut arguments that he's a President Bush clone. Indeed, the spot's third sentence offers this starkly negative assessment of the incumbent's second term: "We’re worse off than we were four years...

KANSAS CITY, Mo., July 30 -- Sen. John McCain last week delivered one of his sharpest critiques yet of Sen. Barack Obama's Iraq policies, carefully reading a prepared speech that accused his Democratic rival of failing the commander-in-chief test and promoting ideas that would force American troops to "retreat under fire." But just hours after his crisp performance, the Republican presidential candidate blurred his own message with an offhand comment to a television interviewer that Obama's proposal for a 16-month time frame for removing combat troops from Iraq might be a "pretty good timetable." That seemed to run counter to...

Maverick discovers that MSM libs are not his “friends” By Michelle Malkin • July 21, 2008 02:50 PM You know, there’s only one word that describes the proper reaction to the McCain camp feeling aggrieved about the NYTimes’ rejection of The Maverick’s op-ed piece: Snort. Now, now, now–after years of chumming it up with the lib journalists and basking in the “maverick” designation–does Sen. McCain finally realize that these people are not his “friends?”

Senator John McCain was all but a sworn enemy of Senator Trent Lott, the former Republican leader. Mr. Lott had quashed Mr. McCain’s most cherished legislative goals. And, worse, Mr. McCain believed that in the 2000 Republican primaries, Mr. Lott had spread rumors about his colleague’s mental stability on behalf of his rival for the nomination, George W. Bush. --snip-- Over the next eight years, he mastered the art of political triangulation — variously teaming up with Mr. Lott against the president or the new Republican leaders, with Democrats against Republicans, and with the president against the Democrats — to...

Stop sending me stuff. It's because of your "maverick" behavior that we are in the condition we are in. You stabbed a great President in the back on numerous occassions. You, and the gang of 14 rendered our congressional majority into a bunch of eunuchs, singing soprano for the media and the beltway crowd. I'll probably be forced to vote for you, given the alternatives, however, just barely and only because you may not totally screw us on judges. Meanwhile, leave me alone.

This is a serious question and I respectfully ask for serious, thoughtful responses from the most ardent McCain detractors and not the casually disgusted. If you are only casually disgusted, please refrain from mucking up the thread and allow only the truly bulemic to air their rationale. I am not a McCain supporter, never have been probably never will be. That he will be the eventual GOP nominee is all but assured and that I might find I must vote for him if only to counter an Obama or Clinton administration, well, that's my decision and one I hope you...

Excerpt - LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor James Garner, best known for starring in the classic television series "Maverick" and "The Rockford Files," underwent surgery this week after suffering a minor stroke, his spokeswoman said on Tuesday. Garner, 80, who built a six-decade career playing ruggedly charming, good-natured anti-heroes, suffered a stroke at home last Friday and was admitted to a Los Angeles-area hospital, publicist Jennifer Allen said. The actor underwent surgery on Sunday, and his prognosis following the operation was described as "very positive," Allen said, adding that Garner's vital signs were good and that he was conscious and...

Republicans in the U.S. Congress are petrified about a November debacle, a fear stoked on May 3, when they lost their second straight special election in a district held by Republicans. The party's fundamental situation is terrible: Republicans are saddled with an enormously unpopular president, a war, a troubled economy and a Democratic opposition that's being energized by important constituent groups. "The generics are as bad as anytime since I have been here," said Representative Tom Davis, a Virginia Republican and one of the most politically astute members of Congress in either party. Davis, a 14-year veteran, is retiring this...

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., faces enormous pressure from social conservatives to ignore his repeated commitment to change the GOP's platform on abortion. "If he were to change the party platform," to account for exceptions such as rape, incest or risk to the mother's life, "I think that would be political suicide," said Tony Perkins, the president of the conservative Family Research Council, to ABC News. "I think he would be aborting his own campaign because that is such a critical issue to so many Republican voters and the Republican brand is already in trouble." A senior Republican close to McCain...

Neither did Glenn, neither did I. (I didn’t vote.) Granted, she’s a buffoon and a completely unreliable witness, but … do we maybe want to force ourselves to believe this one?"At a dinner party in Los Angeles not long after the 2000 election, I was talking to a man and his wife, both prominent Republicans. The conversation soon turned to the new president. “I didn’t vote for George Bush” the man confessed. “I didn’t either,” his wife added. Their names: John and Cindy McCain (Cindy told me she had cast a write-in vote for her husband). "The fact that this...