Free Republic

WASHINGTON — When Bob Dole was running for president in 1988, top campaign strategist Donald J. Devine shuddered when John McCain accompanied the candidate. "We'd be all over them. We didn't want McCain on the plane with Dole," Devine laughed. McCain was too unpredictable, too respected by Dole and too likely to offer him advice that was at odds with conservative dogma, he said. McCain's never changed, said Devine, now the editor of an American Conservative Union (ACU) Foundation publication. Other Republican activists, as well as people who've worked closely with McCain, offer the same assessment: As president, they say,...

John McCain can deny the latest allegations all he wants. He can try to push back by blaming everything on the New York Times. And he can state, as he did Thursday morning, that in his 50 years of “public service,” he has “never violated the public trust.” Oh, really? How about back in 1974 when then Commander John McCain--fresh off his 5½ years as a POW in North Vietnam--was given his first command in Jacksonville, Florida? McCain, according to Robert Timberg in his book, The Nightingale's Song, was transferred to Jacksonville as the executive officer of Replacement Air Group...

While I respect and admire Sen. John McCain's military career, I wouldn't vote for him if voting were mandatory and his name were the only one on the ballot. He votes like a Democrat on all the critical issues. "Hi, I'm John McCain. I'm not a Republican, but I play one on TV." He opposed the Bush tax cuts, voted against them twice, not (as he now claims) because there were no spending cuts attached, but on the same class warfare grounds that the Democrats use. (The Congressional Record establishes this clearly.) He co-wrote and co-sponsored the worst restriction on...

<p>At a closed door meeting over immigration legislation, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) got into a shouting match with Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), telling him at one point, "Fuck you! I know more about this than anyone else in the room,"</p>

On the eve of primaries in Virginia and Washington, Republican presidential candidate John McCain ripped into Christian televangelists Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell yesterday as ``agents of intolerance'' who ``shame our faith, our party and our country.'' The blistering broadside -- issued in Virginia Beach, near the Christian Coalition's headquarters -- was a first for any Republican presidential candidate and a daring assault on conventional wisdom that has long held that Christian conservatives are vital to the GOP base. As McCain courted the Republican moderates, independents and Democrats he hopes will support him in today's GOP primaries, his rival, Texas...

Senator John McCain's lifetime rating of 82.3% from the American Conservative Union is often cited as proof that he is conservative. Here is a closer look at that 82.3 rating. First, a rating of 82.3% is not really that high. It puts Senator McCain in 39th place among senators serving in 2006, the latest year for which the ACU has its ratings posted online. For that most recent year in particular, McCain scored only 65, putting him in 47th place for that year. ... Generally, McCain has voted less conservatively in more recent years. ... So where did McCain differ...

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain, reacting to conservative criticism that he has softened his stand on abortion, said last night that he believes the GOP ``must be an inclusionary party, and we must respect the views of others'' on the issue. ``I believe that the pro-choice community feels that abortion is a procedure that we would like to eliminate,'' McCain said in an interview with The Chronicle last night. ``So yes, I want to repeal Roe vs. Wade, and yes, I am proud of my pro-life voting record. ``But I'm trying to get to the point where we join together...

Senator McCain argues for immediate troop withdrawal from Somalia 1993.

Three senior US generals will appear before senators today to explain what they knew about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by soldiers under their command. The Senate Armed Services Committee will hear evidence from General John Abizaid, the head of US Central Command, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, commander of ground troops in Iraq and Major General Geoffrey Miller, the deputy commander of prison operations. Their appearance coincides with the first military trials in Baghdad of soldiers accused of abusing Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. The officer who was in charge of guards at Abu Ghraib has said that the...

WASHINGTON, DC, March 19, 2003 (ENS) - The U.S. Senate rejected a provision to allow oil drilling within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) Wednesday, despite an intense lobbying effort by the Bush administration and the Republican leadership to approve the measure. Conservationists, who have expended considerable effort lobbying against drilling in ANWR, applauded the vote. They consider ANWR the crown jewel of the National Wildlife Refuge System and contend that oil drilling would cause lasting damage to the refuge's wildlife and fragile ecology. The vote is "a victory for wildlife and all Americans," said Brooks Yeager, WWF's vice president...

A stinging rebuke from another prominent Republican quickly followed Sen. James Jeffords' departure Thursday from the GOP. In a written statement, Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, blamed "short-sighted party operatives" whom he accused of targeting Jeffords. "Perhaps those self-appointed enforcers of party loyalty will learn to respect honorable differences among us, learn to disagree without resorting to personal threats, and recognize that we are a party large enough to accommodate something short of strict unanimity on the issues of the day," said McCain. "Tolerance of dissent is the hallmark of a mature party, and it is well past time for the...

In the past two extraordinary weeks in the Senate, Democrats and gun-control advocates accomplished far more than any of them had ever thought possible. But for all of the celebration, the package they assembled was still modest, falling short of the proposals President Clinton offered after the Colorado shootings, much less anything as far-reaching as a ban on cheap handguns. The Democrats did not dream of bringing up, for example, the President's proposal to limit individuals to buying one handgun a month. They lost an effort to limit gun sales on the Internet. And fearful that they could endanger final...

WASHINGTON, DC, September 22, 2004 (ENS) - The Bush administration and the U.S. Congress must work together to forge the political will to reshape the nation's ocean policy, the chair of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy told the Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday. Retired Admiral James Watkins said the work of the commission "pales in comparison with what is needed now" and warned that time is already running out. The 610 page final report by the commission, released Monday, presents a troubling view of the nation's oceans and coastal areas, which are plagued by pollution, nutrient runoff, erosion, overfishing...

The National Rifle Association reports on the gun control bill that Senator John McCain introduced with liberal Democrats Joe Lieberman and Jack Reed. --------------- Introduced, appropriately enough, on Halloween, the McCain-Reed-DeWine-Lieberman gun show bill masquerades as reform but imposes bureaucratic restrictions aimed at eliminating gun shows. The legislation is based on the McCain-Lieberman bill (S. 890) from the 107th Congress, and, similarly, not only fails to address gun owners` most significant concerns, but also fails to address any issues within the National Instant Check System (NICS). McCain-Reed is not about closing a "gun show loophole"—there is no "gun show loophole."...

NARAL president Nancy Keenan emailed her supporters early on Wednesday asking for money for a campaign to begin bashing John McCain for his pro-life voting record on abortion. She didn't waste any time in launching the attack as, later in the day, NARAL issued a press release blasting the possible Republican nominee. Keenan said she's worried that some people on the conservative side who disagree with McCain on other political issues will make it appear to some voters that he's not "extreme in his opposition" to abortion. "John McCain has a 25-year record of voting against women's freedom and privacy,...

Following his wins in the South Carolina and Florida Republican primaries, Arizona Sen. John McCain has become the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination. He has spent the last year attempting to convince the conservative base of the Republican Party that he is one of them -- but his record in the Senate shows otherwise. Most voters know about his anti-free speech McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform. His temper is legendary, and his mistreatment of conservatives and fellow Republicans has earned him accolades from the liberal media who lovingly refer to him as a “maverick.” And he suffered a blow to...

There’s a reason some of John McCain's conservative supporters avoid discussing his record. They want to talk about his personal story, his position on the surge, his supposed electability. But whenever the rest of his career comes up, the knee-jerk reply is to characterize the inquiries as attacks. The McCain domestic record is a disaster. To say he fought spending, most particularly earmarks, is to nibble around the edges and miss the heart of the matter. For starters, consider: - McCain-Feingold — the most brazen frontal assault on political speech since Buckley v. Valeo. - McCain-Kennedy — the most far-reaching...