Free Republic

Social conservatives tolerated John McCain as the party's nominee, but never trusted him, and he now appears to be facing a serious primary from the right in Arizona next year. Chris Simcox, the founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and a prominent figure in the anti-immigration movement, is announcing today he's resigned from the group to run in the 2010 Senate primary. From a forthcoming release: "John McCain has failed miserably in his duty to secure this nation's borders and protect the people of Arizona from the escalating violence and lawlessness," Simcox said. "He has fought real efforts over...

This Way to the Apocalypse, Mr. McCain June 12, 2008 - by Rick Moran I sometimes feel a great deal of pity for John McCain. He really seems like a super guy — someone you could sit next to at a bar and toss back a few with while swapping amusing stories. He has served in Washington during some of the most consequential times in our nation’s history and been a leader of some stature among the small group of lawmakers who appear to take a realistic view of America and her role in the world. He has supported presidents...

WASHINGTON - Record high prices for gasoline probably won't drop before the November election, Republican John McCain said Wednesday.

He’s a highly effective fundraiser in an election cycle where Republicans are starved for cash, a hero to the wing of the party that views John McCain with the most suspicion. He has four decades of campaign experience, ranging from a short stint running Gerald Ford’s election bid in 1976 to two successful races on the presidential ticket. Yet despite that pedigree, Vice President Dick Cheney is unlikely to share a stage with McCain anytime soon’and may not be called on to play any role at all in the 2008 presidential campaign.In part, it’s a reflection of political expediency. Though...

Welcome to the party John McCain PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW By Salena Zito Spokesperson Jeff Sadosky said tonight that Sen. John McCain is not your typical Republican, which explains the non-traditional geographic pick of New Orleans for the launch of his general election campaign for president. "We believe Senator McCain's vision for reforming government is particularly meaningful for the people of Louisiana who know all too well the tragic cost of government's failure to act," said Sadosky. It's the same city where Democrat John Edwards launched and docked his candidacy for president. Sadosky said McCain's speech tonight on the occasion of the...

ABC News' Teddy Davis and James Gerber Report: The McCain campaign played up its differences with President Bush on nuclear security on a Tuesday conference call with reporters. "I think it's fair to characterize this as a significant departure from the nuclear security policies of the Bush administration," said McCain advisor Randy Scheunemann. Scheunemann said that the differences between McCain and Bush covered not only a discrepancy on the "ultimate goal" of a "nuclear-free world" but also McCain's openness to further testing limits, his openness to treaty-based discussions with Russia, his openness to talking with China, and his support for...

Union City -- Facing a pile of controversial campaign troubles - including incendiary comments by televangelist John Hagee that forced him to reject Hagee's endorsement - Sen. John McCain tried mightily to shift the focus to economic issues and his Democratic opponent Barack Obama on Thursday during a California campaign swing. McCain, speaking at a Silicon Valley forum on economic issues alongside Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, issued a renewed call for "comprehensive immigration reform" as a top agenda item for the next president. He called for a "temporary agricultural program," saying, "We need a way for an ordinary person to apply...

Columbus, Ohio (AP) -- Republican John McCain has been slow to take advantage of his potential head start for the presidency against Democrats, who are better organized and generate more excitement among voters. McCain enters a November-focused campaign with distinct disadvantages, his aides and advisers acknowledge: his party's unpopular incumbent president, his unwavering support for the war in Iraq and the Democrats' unmistakable fundraising potential. Yet the Arizona senator and his party have inched toward blunting the shortcomings instead of racing to erase them. "This has given us time," said Frank Donatelli, vice chairman of the Republican National Committee and...

America was founded in order to destroy Islam? Statements like that give the anti-jihad movement a wingnut patina that, of course, ABC is happy to perpetuate in this anti-McCain hit piece, which breezes by the fact that his campaign has strongly disavowed these statements. But when McCain's campaign strongly disavows these statements, is he disavowing them all -- including the manifestly true statement that some Muslims quite obviously intend to conquer and Islamize the world? Is McCain completely unaware of the 1991 Muslim Brotherhood document, An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Brotherhood in North America," in...

We can't tell if this is a barometer of how the fall general election might feel, but John McCain today compliments Barack Obama on his political acumen in a televised interview on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," a curious appearance for a candidate still trying to gather support from the Republican Party's social conservative base. Host Ellen DeGeneres asks McCain about Obama's contention that "a vote for you is basically a vote for" a third George W. Bush term. Says McCain: Good strategy. "I think it's a very intelligent campaign tactic. Obviously the president's popularity and approval ratings are low. So...

Prominent conservatives and activists are indicating they will put aside their differences with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain and rally their supporters to his side because of one issue: federal judgeships. In big gatherings and small, in e-mails and one-on-one conversations, conservative opinion leaders fear a Democratic president, especially Sen. Barack Obama, will use the presidential power to appoint federal judges who will remove references to God and religious symbols from public places. They predict the incoming president likely will fill more vacancies on the federal bench over the next four years than at any time in recent...

John McCain's campaign is using their campaign website to encourage supporters to post supportive comments on political blogs, including the most well-known liberal site in the blogosphere. And to make things easier, they're including talking points with which sympathizers can use to get out the McCain message. "Select from the numerous web, blog and news sites listed here, go there, and make your opinions supporting John McCain known," instructs the page. McCain supporters are asked to send the details of their comment to the campaign, which in turn will verify it and then reward the supporter with "points" (assumedly to...

Climate Change John McCain will establish a market-based system to curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, mobilize innovative technologies, and strengthen the economy. He will work with our international partners to secure our energy future, to create opportunities for American industry, and to leave a better future for our children. John McCain's Principles for Climate Policy • Climate Policy Should Be Built On Scientifically-Sound, Mandatory Emission Reduction Targets And Timetables. • Climate Policy Should Utilize A Market-Based Cap And Trade System. • Climate Policy Must Include Mechanisms To Minimize Costs And Work Effectively With Other Markets. • Climate Policy Must Spur...

ARLINGTON, VA -- U.S. Senator John McCain delivered the following remarks as prepared for delivery at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, in Columbus, OH, today at 10:00 a.m. EDT: Thank you. The hectic but repetitive routine of presidential campaigns often seems to consist entirely of back and forth charges between candidates, punctuated by photo ops, debates and the occasional policy speech, followed by another barrage of accusations and counter accusations, formulated into the soundbites preferred by cable news producers. It is a little hypocritical for candidates or reporters to criticize these deficiencies. They are our creation. Campaigns and the media...

  We all know John McCain is terrible on immigration. For years he held America’s sovereignty and security hostage to amnesty and increased immigration, and his newfound support for “enforcement first” is so insubstantial and transparently insincere that it insults our intelligence. He’s so bad that Americans for Better Immigration ranks his performance in office as the worst of all the presidential candidates — including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. (See the GOP grid here and the Democratic one here.) And as Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation has pointed out, passage of McCain’s bill “would represent the largest expansion...

ARLINGTON, VA -- U.S. Senator John McCain today gave the following remarks at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio. In it, he spells out how a McCain presidency will change America. *** Thank you. The hectic but repetitive routine of presidential campaigns often seems to consist entirely of back and forth charges between candidates, punctuated by photo ops, debates and the occasional policy speech, followed by another barrage of accusations and counter accusations, formulated into the soundbites preferred by cable news producers. It is a little hypocritical for candidates or reporters to criticize these deficiencies. They are our...

So if Bill Clinton was our first black president based on various things, considering all McCain has done so far to bolster the amnesty fight, I think that would make him our first mexican president.

First, the good news. Conservatives won a sweeping victory in an enormously important election the week before last. Unfortunately, it happened in England, where Boris Johnson won the race for mayor of London and Conservatives trounced Labour all across the country. Now, the bad news. Prospects for Republicans in the 2008 election here at home look grim. The political environment isn't as bad as it was in 2006 when Republicans lost both houses of Congress and a lot more. But it's close. The empirical evidence is well known. More than 80 percent of Americans believe the nation is heading in...

While Democrats duel, the unofficial Republican nominee considers a vice president. John McCain should start by asking what he needs. The admiral’s son fits two legs of his own party’s three-legged stool: foreign policy (zinging terrorism) and economic (scoring spending). Alas, he is out to sea with social and cultural conservatives, the one group without which national Republicans once routinely lost, and will surely lose again. According to a new Pew Research Forum poll, 44 percent of the electorate terms itself “born-again.” Politically, these Christian, mostly Protestant, evangelicals are the Republican Party’s largest block: 35 percent of George W. Bush’s...

Two Hollywood actors who dined with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in early 2001 at actress Candice Bergen's home confirmed reports that he told the assembled group he did not vote for George W. Bush in the 2000 election, but McCain denied the claim at a news conference. In separate phone interviews, Bradley Whitford and Richard Schiff -- both of whom starred in television's "The West Wing" -- said late Thursday night that the senator made the remarks after he spoke at length about his reservations about Bush becoming president. Liberal blogger Arianna Huffington first wrote about the incident Monday, asserting...