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Via Playbook, John McCain raps the Republican presidential field for what he sees as an isolationist strain that's emerging as the candidates shift away from strict hawkishness on foreign policy, and which cropped up at the New Hampshire debate last Monday. From the pre-taped interview with "This Week:" McCAIN: “Well, I was more concerned about what the candidates in New Hampshire the other night said. This is isolationism. There's always been an … isolation strain on the Republican Party — that Pat Buchanan wing of our party. But now it seems to have moved more center stage, so to speak....

(snip) Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota said Mr. Obama "was absolutely wrong" in his decision to intervene in Libya. "I'd bring them home as quickly as possible," Texas Rep. Ron Paul said of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, "and I'd get them out of Iraq as well, and I wouldn't start a war in Libya, I'd quit bombing Yemen, and I'd quit bombing Pakistan. I'd start taking care of people here at home, because we could save hundreds of billions of dollars." "I was incredibly disappointed," Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said. "No one seemed to have a passion for...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday that it’s time to consider international intervention in Syria to avoid the further “slaughter” of people there by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. “If it made sense to protect the Libyan people against Gadhafi, and it did because they were going to get slaughtered if we hadn’t sent NATO in when he was on the outskirts of Benghazi, the question for the world [is], have we gotten to that point in Syria,” Graham said on the CBS' "Face the Nation."

YANGON, Myanmar, June 3 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., says Myanmar's new military-backed government could face the kind of revolution sweeping through Arab nations. McCain said unless Myanmar, formerly Burma, is willing to make pro-democracy changes peacefully, it could be wracked by the kind of unrest leaders in Egypt, Libya and elsewhere in the Middle East are experiencing, CNN reported Friday. "The winds of change are now blowing, and they will not be confined to the Arab world," McCain told reporters in the former capital, Yangon, formerly Rangoon. "Governments that shun evolutionary reforms now will eventually face revolutionary...

BANGKOK — Ending a three-day visit to Myanmar, Senator John McCain warned the country’s leaders that “the winds of change” now blowing in the Middle East could spread if governments do not listen to the needs of their people. “Governments that shun evolutionary reforms now will eventually face revolutionary change later,” he told reporters at a news conference in the main city, Yangon, according to wire service reports. He urged the government to free political prisoners and to assure the safety of the pro-democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who said recently that she was planning to travel through...

Sen. John McCain on Sunday said Libyan civilians are dying in large part because the Obama administration has refused to commit the full weight of the nation’s military to the fight to overthrow strongman Col. Moammar Gadhafi. “This thing could have been over a long time ago,” Mr. McCain, an Arizona Republican who was the party’s 2008 presidential nominee, said on “Fox News Sunday.” (snip) A quicker end to the fighting, which must include the removal of Col. Gadhafi from power, Mr. McCain said, would make it less likely that terrorists would gain a foothold in Libya.

In an effort to satisfy those arguing he needs to seek congressional authorization to continue US military activity in accordance with the War Powers Resolution, President Obama wrote a letter to congressional leaders this afternoon suggesting that the role is now so “limited” he does not need to seek congressional approval. “Since April 4,” the president wrote, “U.S. participation has consisted of: (1) non-kinetic support to the NATO-led operation, including intelligence, logistical support, and search and rescue assistance; (2) aircraft that have assisted in the suppression and destruction of air defenses in support of the no-fly zone; and (3) since...

Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for five and a half years, has rejected the argument that torture was necessary to successfully combat terrorism - and denied claims that waterboarding detainees provided intelligence that helped end the manhunt for Osama bin Laden. (snip) On CBS' "The Early Show" Friday, McCain denied claims made by Rep. Peter King, the Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, who said earlier this week that through the use of such tactics, a courier for the al Qaeda leader was identified. (snip) "Through normal, conventional...

President Obama should "state unequivocally" that Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad should step down from power, Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Thursday. The trio ramped up pressure on Obama to take a stronger stance against the Assad regime, which has violently cracked down on anti-government protesters demanding reforms. "We urge President Obama to state unequivocally — as he did in the case of Qaddafi and Mubarak — that it is time for Assad to go," the senators said in a statement, referring to the leaders of Libya and Egypt. "The President should take tangible...

PARIS (AFP) — The revolt against Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi could stall unless the rebels battling his regime receive weapons and increased air support, influential US Senator John McCain warned Wednesday. "There is a possibility if not a probability of a stalemate, and that should be of deep concern to us," the former presidential candidate and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee told AFP. "The United States needs to recognise the TNC as France and Italy have done. They need to get supplies and equipment into the liberation forces, and we need to get American air power back...

Of all the inexplicable Beltway media fetishes, none is more bizarre than the undying love affair with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). So there he was, yet again, on a Sunday morning talk show, pretending to be relevant in a world that has long since passed him by. And how could any right-thinking (in the most nonpartisan sense) person take him seriously? The topic this Sunday, on CNN’s “State of the Union” program, was Libya, and specifically, how imperative it was for the U.S. to more forcefully engage in yet another expensive war. “If we have a stalemate, I think it’s...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Monday that he doesn't think it would be appropriate for the U.S. or NATO to intervene militarily in Syria the way they had in Libya. "I don't see a scenario right now or anytime in the near future where the injection of U.S. or NATO military action would in any way beneficially help the situation, I'm sorry to say," McCain said on NBC's "Today" show.

McCain calls the Libyan rebels his “heroes.” A year and a half earlier, in Tripoli, he described Gaddafi as America’s friend. Senator John McCain’s description of the Libyan rebels as his “heroes” has raised numerous eyebrows. PJM editor David Steinberg has had the excellent idea of seeking comment from the senator’s office on the extensive video evidence of atrocities committed by some of the senator’s newfound “heroes.”While one is at it, the senator should probably also be reminded about this: namely, his cordial handshake with Muammar al-Gaddafi in Tripoli in August 2009. There is more here, including McCain’s allusion to...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee sees a Libyan stalemate and wants NATO to bomb Moammar Gadhafi's inner circle and military headquarters. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham says those closest to Gadhafi "need to wake up every day wondering, 'Will this my last?'" Graham tells CNN's "State of the Union" that the quickest way to end the stalemate is "to cut the head of the snake off."

(snip) "I reminded them that Kuwait and Saudi Arabia reimbursed us after Operation Desert Storm," McCain says. "They said they'd be glad to discuss that.(snip) "They're very good people," he says. "Mainly well-educated, a number of women in the [Transitional National Council] -- very normal, dedicated people." (snip) McCain dismissed concerns that rebel forces include some veterans of al Qaeda. "I'm sure that there may be some element there, but I guarantee you that they didn't rise up because they wanted to be al Qaeda fighters," McCain says. "They rose up because they wanted to throw off the yoke of...

(AP) BENGHAZI, Libya - U.S. Sen. John McCain, one of the strongest proponents in Congress of the American military intervention in Libya, said Friday that Libyan rebels fighting Moammar Gadhafi’s troops are his heroes. (snip) When Obama acted with limited congressional consultation, McCain - who was the 2008 Republican presidential contender running against Obama - defended the president, saying he couldn’t wait for Congress to take even a few days to debate the use of force. If he had, "there would have been nothing left to save in Benghazi," the rebels’ de-facto capital.

Benghazi, Libya (CNN) -- Libyan opposition leaders received a major morale boost Friday as a top U.S. senator made a surprise visit to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi and urged greater American involvement in the bloody campaign to oust longtime strongman Moammar Gadhafi. The visit from Arizona Sen. John McCain came a day after the United States said it was deploying predator drones to Libya. (snip) He said he was against U.S. troops on the ground -- echoing Obama administration policy -- but argued that Western powers need to do more to "facilitate" the delivery of weapons and training for...

BENGHAZI, Libya, April 22 (UPI) -- Demonstrators waving American flags were on hand Friday morning when U.S. Sen. John McCain arrived in the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi. McCain's visit came one day after the Pentagon announced that Barack President Obama had authorized the use of armed U.S. Predator drones in Libya, CNN reported. "The American people support you very strongly and we know it's necessary to help as much as we can," McCain told a crowd of about 100 Libyans.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. John McCain, one of the strongest proponents in Congress of the U.S. military intervention in Libya, is heading to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi for a meeting with forces fighting to overthrow Moammar Gadhafi, an aide told The Associated Press. McCain was scheduled to arrive in Benghazi on Friday, said Brooke Buchanan, a spokeswoman for the senator.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Thursday evening that he and a group of negotiators have “nailed down” language on a Libya resolution and are waiting for instructions from leadership on how to proceed. The measure would serve as a symbolic gesture of support for President Barack Obama’s use of military force in the North African country. Under the War Powers Act, Congress must authorize continued military presence in Libya after a May deadline if American troops are still active there, but it’s unclear if the Senate needs to act. “We pretty well got the resolution nailed down and now we’re...