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WASHINGTON — Republican presidential hopeful John McCain fixed his sights on Saddam Hussein long before President Bush sent the U.S. military to oust the Iraqi dictator in March 2003.

By David Brown Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, October 18, 2008; Page A04 In May, the presidential campaign of 72-year-old cancer survivor John McCain tried to put to rest doubts about his health by allowing a few reporters to inspect his medical records, but the effort has failed to quell questions about his odds of surviving an eight-year tenure in the White House.

Sen. John McCain's 2006 demand for regulatory action on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could have prevented current financial crisis, as HUMAN EVENTS learned from the letter shown in full text below. McCain's letter -- signed by nineteen other senators -- said that it was "...vitally important that Congress take the necessary steps to ensure that [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac]...operate in a safe and sound manner.[and]..More importantly, Congress must ensure that the American taxpayer is protected in the event that either...should fail." Sen. Obama did not sign the letter, nor did any other Democrat.

After months of watching Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama try their best to undermine each other's presidential candidacies, you would think they would have a hard time agreeing on the time of day. Certainly, they and their campaigns would have you believe that the "fundamental differences" – how many times have we heard those words of late? – between them are so great that it's astounding they can occupy the same stage without repelling themselves to the opposite corners like giant magnets. Well, think again. A recent examination by Thomas Voting Reports Inc. of nearly two-dozen key Senate votes...

Mishaps mark John McCain's record as naval aviator By Ralph Vartabedian and Richard A. Serrano, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers October 6, 2008 The 23-year-old junior lieutenant wasn't paying attention and erred in using "a power setting too low to maintain level flight in a turn," investigators concluded. As a presidential candidate, McCain has cited his military service -- particularly his 5 1/2 years as a POW. But he has been less forthcoming about his mistakes in the cockpit. The Times interviewed men who served with McCain and located once-confidential 1960s-era accident reports and formerly classified evaluations of his squadrons...

WASHINGTON: Pushing back hard against pointed new attacks from the Republican campaign of John McCain, Democrats on Monday unveiled an ad about McCain's role in a savings and loan scandal of the 1980s that they say has resonance in today's financial debacle.

HANOI - The lake into which John McCain parachuted after his Navy plane was shot down is now surrounded by chic restaurants, cellphone stores and motorcycle dealerships. The prison camp where he confessed to being a "black criminal" has been turned into a multiplex cinema showing garish American movies. A five-star hotel occupies the site of the "Hanoi Hilton" jail, where he spent more than three years. The surface-to-air missile sites that once circled Hanoi have been replaced by sprawling industrial parks churning out sneakers and television sets for the U.S. market. Hanoi and Vietnam have changed dramatically since the...

All D's on committee opposed including Dodd and Schumer in mark up. S.1508 Title: A bill to address regulation of secondary mortgage market enterprises, and for other purposes. Sponsor: Sen Hagel, Chuck [NE] (introduced 7/31/2003) Cosponsors (4) Related Bills: S.1656 Latest Major Action: 4/1/2004 Senate committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably. Jump to: Summary, Major Actions, All Actions, Titles, Cosponsors, Committees, Related Bill Details, Amendments SUMMARY AS OF: 7/31/2003--Introduced. Federal Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2003 - Amends the Housing and Community...

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (Sept. 13) - Swedish broadcaster SVT on Thursday released a previously unseen film clip purportedly showing the release of presidential candidate John McCain to the U.S. military in Hanoi in 1973. A former SVT reporter, Erik Eriksson, said he found the video in the network's archives when he was looking for footage for a book he was writing about his experiences as a war correspondent in Vietnam. SVT posted the edited 39-second clip on its Web site on Thursday. It shows McCain stepping off a bus with other prisoners. He has a pronounced limp but is not using...

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Swedish broadcaster SVT on Thursday released a previously unseen film clip purportedly showing the release of presidential candidate John McCain to the U.S. military in Hanoi in 1973. A former SVT reporter, Erik Eriksson, said he found the video in the network's archives when he was looking for footage for a book he was writing about his experiences as a war correspondent in Vietnam.

How do the Democrats come up with the statement that McCain votes 90% of the time with President Bush? President Bush does not vote so what do the Democrats base this figure on?

A recent Washington Post profile of John McCain’s years at the Naval Academy portrayed him as an unruly, fun-loving, under-achieving Midshipman struggling with his obligation to live up to his family’s brilliant military legacy. It was “a four-year course of insubordination and rebellion,” McCain later wrote. McCain graduated 894th out of 899 in 1958, five spots above the “Anchorman,” the lowest-ranking midshipman. In this respect he did uphold one family tradition; his similarly rebellious father Jack, who would rise to the rank of Admiral and was the Pacific Command CINC while his son was being held prisoner in Hanoi, had...

John McCain's Imprisonment in Vietnam: A True Tale of Heroism James Ray Have you ever heard the whole account of John McCain's imprisonment during the Vietnam War? Until recently, I was only aware of the general story; I didn't know the details. But I recently read a couple of pieces on McCain's capture, imprisonment and torture by the North Vietnamese, and it blew me away. Not since Ernest Shackleton's cursed journey to the South Pole have I heard a tale of such courage, mental toughness and physical endurance. The Young John McCain The Crash and Capture In October of 1967,...

Democrats have decided in their infinite wisdom that John McCain should not speak of his 5 1/2 years in captivity as a POW. It's as if they believe they have a right to decide when a man can talk about his own life. But it is his life -- and it is not their right to decide. Now some of John McCain's fellow POWS are speaking out on his behalf. Here is a video report about one of the men who went through the nightmare of captivity alongside John McCain - literally. Col. Orson Swindle shared a cell with McCain...

Kaus expects nothing less than a full-blown conservosphere freak-out over this. I’m underwhelmed. After his public conference call with Clinton supporters (covered extensively by Jonathan Martin) Saturday, John McCain met privately with some 75 of those supporters at his Virginia headquarters, two people who were there said… “He stayed for a good almost half hour afterwards shaking hands, listening to our concerns, talking to us,” said [Party Unity My Ass] founder Will Bower, who said he thought many of the people there would vote for McCain… Bower said he’d liked McCain’s answer on judges, in which he “pointed out that...

Now a senator who is the all-but-certain Republican presidential nominee, Mr. McCain often points to his nine months at the War College as the time that crystallized his views toward foreign conflicts like the war in Iraq. He has talked about his studies as a tutorial in the hows-and-whys of America’s involvement in Southeast Asia. But the 40-page final paper he produced was limited to an evaluation of the military code of conduct through the prism of his “narrow, but personal, viewpoint.” ... Mr. McCain’s paper sheds new light on the experience that first brought him national attention and remains...

The Press: When it comes to smearing John McCain, the mainstream media don't sleep. Now it's "raising questions" about the disability pension he got for torture injuries as a prisoner of war. Where's the shame? Hard to believe, but true. The industrious beavers who "raise questions" about McCain's fitness for the presidency, citing his $58,000 disability pension, are this time from the Los Angeles Times. First, the Times' April 22 hit piece implied that, since McCain is in good enough shape to walk across the Grand Canyon, there's something dishonest about his tax-free disability pension. Second, it implied that McCain...

 Of the many personal accounts coming to light about the almost unbelievably cruel treatment accorded American prisoners of war in Vietnam, none is more dramatic than that of Lieut. Commander John S. McCain III — Navy flier, son of the admiral who commanded the war in the Pacific, and a prisoner who came in "for special attention" during 5½ years of captivity in North Vietnam.Now that all acknowledged prisoners are back and a self-imposed seal of silence is off, Commander McCain is free to answer the questions many Americans have asked:What was it really like? How prolonged were the tortures...

WASHINGTON (AP) - John McCain's Navy record boils down to a series of unadorned paragraphs that bestow upon him some of the nation's top military honors. The Navy recently released McCain's military record - most of it citations for medals during his Navy career - after a Freedom of Information Act request by The Associated Press. McCain was awarded a Silver Star Medal for resisting "extreme mental and physical cruelties" inflicted upon him by his captors from late October to early December 1967, the early months of his captivity, according to the citation. The North Vietnamese, according to the Navy,...

The independent label sticks to John McCain because he antagonizes fellow Republicans and likes to work with Democrats. But a different label applies to his actual record: conservative. The likely Republican presidential nominee is much more conservative than voters appear to realize. McCain leans to the right on issue after issue, not just on the Iraq war but also on abortion, gay rights, gun control and other issues that matter to his party's social conservatives. The four-term Arizona senator, a longtime member of the Armed Services Committee, criticized the earlier handling of the war but has been a crucial ally...