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Like a proud father looking to relinquish control of the family business, Sen. John McCain is pushing soft-spoken Sen. Rob Portman to take a more assertive leadership role on Capitol Hill. Long impressed with Portman’s policy expertise and agreeable demeanor — “It’s a trait I wish I had more of,” the often-prickly Arizona Republican said — McCain strongly urged Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to appoint the Ohioan to the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction and continues to encourage his freshman GOP colleague, at times rather strongly, to be more aggressive. This isn’t the first time that McCain, his...

On the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) appeared separately on “Fox News Sunday” to warn that the United States needs to stay active in the Middle East in order to fight the War on Terror. McCain said that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were correct, but also talked about mistakes that were made. “I don't think we should ever forget that those [Sept. 11, 2001] attacks originated in Afghanistan. I think we did the right thing there, but I also think we've learned a lot of lessons,” McCain said. McCain...

Sen. John McCain, a critic of President George W. Bush's use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” in the war on terror, reflected on the “issue of torture” a decade after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. “Abu Ghraib and the torture of prisoners hurt us a great deal and did provide a propaganda tool for our enemies including Al Qaeda,” the Arizona Republican said on "Fox News Sunday." Noting that on the 10th anniversary of those attacks he did not want to dwell on his differences with the current and previous administration, McCain applauded both Bush and President Barack Obama for...

Sen. John McCain on Monday strongly disputed a U.S. diplomatic cable that said he pushed to help Muammar Qadhafi’s regime obtain military hardware two years ago, calling the notion “outrageous.” The 2009 cable, released by the open information group WikiLeaks and written by staff at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, said in particular that McCain, at a meeting with Qadhafi and one of his sons, promised to help Libya obtain C-130 Hercules military cargo aircraft. (snip) On Monday, McCain told Foreign Policy magazine that the diplomatic cable was incorrect, and that he had never pledged any help to Libya in...

<p>Cheney writes that in 2008 he was puzzled about GOP presidential nominee John McCain’s decision to suspend his campaign and request a meeting with congressional leaders to discuss the financial crisis at the White House.</p> <p>“Senator McCain added nothing of substance,” Cheney writes about the now-famous meeting. “It was entirely unclear why he’d returned to Washington and why he’d wanted the congressional leadership called together. I left the Cabinet Room when the meeting was over thinking the Republican presidential ticket was in trouble.”</p>

A leaked U.S. diplomatic cable shows that Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain promised to help Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi obtain U.S. military hardware in 2009. The cable, released by the open information group WikiLeaks, reveals the pledge came at meeting that was attended by other prominent members of Congress, including Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.).In the meeting, Muatassim Qadhafi, the Libyan leader’s fifth son and national security adviser, requested U.S. assistance in obtaining military supplies, both lethal and non-lethal. The cable indicates that McCain was the dominant voice among the congressional delegation in a...

US Senator and former presidential candidate John McCain has lashed out at Russia, saying it could be the next country to experience a Libya-style uprising. ­But Senator McCain has a very far-fetched outlook, believes RT's Washington correspondent Gayane Chichikyan. McCain is sure that the Arab Spring will rage on and will make it to countries like China and Russia, which according to him “need democracy” just as Libya does. At some point he even said that Libya has already achieved democracy, which is far from reality according to the situation on the ground.

(snip) McCain said he is aware of the perception of Congress at the moment, noting the current approval rating of 10 percent and adding, “I’ve yet to meet anyone in that 10 percent at these meetings.” He said he has heard time and again from people who want him to reach compromises with the other side of the aisle, that Washington is polarized and unproductive. “Folks, I’m ready to compromise,” he said. “But not on principle.” (snip)

Sen. John McCain disagreed with Fox News hosts who said President Barack Obama’s announcement of the end of Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s reign over Libya was premature. “He’s on his way out,” the Arizona Republican said Tuesday on “Fox & Friends.” “We’ve got to concentrate on making sure there’s not the kind of Baghdad experience we had [after the liberation of Iraq]. We need reconciliation to get the arms depots under control . . . and get in there and help them set up a functioning government. That’s what we should be focusing on.”

Sen. John McCain said that as Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi faces an "inevitable" end, the U.S. should concern itself with helping contain weapons from Qaddafi's arsenal. "We've got to secure these weapons depots," the Arizona Republican said on CBS' "The Early Show" Tuesday. "that have huge, huge numbers of weapons, and apparently mustard gas and other weapons of mass destruction."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. John McCain says popular uprisings across the Arab world signal "a much brighter day" for people who have never known democracy and freedom.

Arizona Sen. John McCain said the United States must lead the world in providing support to Libya as they begin their post-Gadhafi era. "I think we would be well-served if we make sure that there is not an extremist takeover or hijacking of this revolution," McCain said. McCain appeared on CNN's "The Situation Room", where he said an earlier and stronger showing of power by the U.S. in the air could have shortened the conflict significantly. "The only thing that was holding [Gadhafi] in power was money and fear," McCain said. "Once those are dissipated by military strength, it is...

Sen. John McCain was put on the defensive Sunday for comparing some of his GOP colleagues to hobbits during the debt ceiling debate. The Arizona Republican had taken to the Senate floor in July to admonish conservatives for “unrealistic” expectations and quoted a Wall Street Journal editorial that compared them to the characters from J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings.” “What I was talking about, quoting from a Wall Street Journal editorial, was that there was a segment of the Republicans in the Senate — Republican Senators — that said we cannot raise the debt limit until we pass...

Sen. John McCain predicted that Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi would quickly lose his grip on power amid reports rebel fighters had entered the capital Tripoli. Speaking on CBS’s Face the Nation, McCain said it was a ‘matter of hours not days’ until Gadhafi’s downfall. The conflict was “nearing the end,” he predicted. McCain praised NATO forces for their role saying that once they “became more heavily engaged” it was only a matter of time until the Gadhafi regime fell. “We’ll be rid of a guy who has the blood of Americans on his hands,” he said. Looking ahead to a...

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) today released the following statement applauding President Obama for calling on Bashar al Assad to leave power in Syria, and urging other nations to also call for and take action to end the Assad regime: “We applaud President Obama for calling on Bashar al Assad to leave power, a position we have long argued should be the policy of the United States.(snip) “We urge other nations to join the United States in demanding an end to the Assad regime, whose legitimacy is clearly exhausted. We...

In the wake of the recent and raucous debt ceiling debate, The Daily Beast's Peter Beinart noted two important developments: The good news is that the Tea Party, more than Barack Obama, has now ended the neoconservative dream of an ever-expanding American empire. The bad news is that it has also ended whatever hopes liberals once entertained that roughly 100 years after Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, roughly 75 years after the New Deal and roughly 50 years after the Great Society, we were living in another great age of progressive reform. Beinart’s observations are generally-and hopefully-correct. They’re also even...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. John McCain called on Pakistan to remove travel restrictions on American citizens during a meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani. McCain met with Gilani at his home in Islamabad Saturday, Pakistan's The Nation reported. Relations between Pakistan and the United States have been strained and worsened after U.S. Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in May without notifying Pakistani officials. "Pakistan is a main ally of the United States in [the] war on terror so it should restore the old traveling system in mutual cooperation," said McCain, R-Ariz.

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Link only, per FR posting rules

TUCSON-U.S. Republican Senator John McCain was in Tucson Tuesday for a town hall meeting. And, boy did he get an earful from constituents. McCain expected a rough meeting and he got it. The meeting room at St. Mark's United Methodist Church, 1431 W. Magee Road, was packed. The crowd was mixed with people on all sides. There were Tea Party conservatives, moderate Republicans and liberal Democrats. All sides challenged McCain. Asked about entitlements, McCain said, "With Social Security we should be raising the retirement age gradually, not for present day beneficiaries." And some in the audience yelled back "no". The...