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Cold War enemies the United States and Vietnam demonstrated their blossoming military relations Sunday as a U.S. nuclear supercarrier cruised in waters off the Southeast Asian nation's coast — sending a message that China is not the region's only big player. The visit comes 35 years after the Vietnam War as Washington and Hanoi are cozying up in a number of areas, from negotiating a controversial deal to share civilian nuclear fuel and technology to agreeing that China needs to work with its neighbors to resolve territorial claims in the South China Sea.

After twice postponing a highly anticipated meeting between President Barack Obama and congressional leaders on immigration reform, the White House is under increasing pressure to get legislation done this year. Winning congressional approval of an immigration measure by December is a steep climb, with the economy, health care and energy higher on the president’s agenda. So far, Obama has promised only to begin the discussion at the summit set for next week. But if the president does not move quickly, he will suffer the same fate as his predecessor, President George W. Bush, who left office acknowledging that failure to...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and John McCain (R-Arizona) today issued the following statement regarding the executive order put forth by President Obama calling for the closure of the prison at Guantanamo: “We support President Obama’s decision to close the prison at Guantanamo, reaffirm America’s adherence to the Geneva Conventions, and begin a process that will, we hope, lead to the resolution of all cases of Guantanamo detainees,” said Senator Lindsey Graham and Senator John McCain. “The executive orders issued today constitute an important step in the right direction but leave several major issues unaddressed.” “Numerous...

(CNN) – John McCain on Wednesday used his first Senate floor speech since the end of the presidential campaign to urge his colleagues to quickly confirm fellow Sen. Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. "I think the message that the American people are sending us now is they want us to work together and get to work," McCain said. "I think we ought to let Senator Clinton, who is obviously qualified and obviously will serve, get to work immediately." The Senate is expected to easily confirm Clinton Wednesday afternoon, and McCain's particular support of the New York senator isn't surprising....

Just in case you were wondering what kind of President he would have been...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) today introduced the “Serve America Act,” a bill to expand national and community service opportunities for all Americans. Senators Mikulski, McCain, Dodd, Cochran, Reid, Gregg, Durbin, Wicker, Murray, Snowe, Kerry, Lincoln, Cardin, Rockefeller, Schumer, Whitehouse, Menendez, Bayh and Landrieu are also sponsors of the legislation. The goal of the legislation is to encourage 175,000 more Americans to give a year of service to address specific national challenges such as strengthening our schools or increasing economic opportunities, thereby expanding the number of such service participants to 250,000. The legislation...

A picture of things to come. The RINO pals up with the Socialist.

I know everyone is disgusted that Obama is president... but is anyone still disappointed that McCain lost? It seems that it didn't take McCain very long to return to his old McCain-Feingold ways once the campaign was over. I am generally not too conspiracy minded, but I am almost of the mind that McCain's job was simply to throw the election to Obama... If you can stomach it, rewatch those debates. If that was not a case of someone "taking a dive", I don't know what is. McCain's job now will be to put the bipartisan smiley face on Obama's...

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Bump into John McCain in a Capitol hallway these days, and you’re lucky if you get anything beyond a polite hello. Ask him a question on any policy or political issue, and he will almost always decline comment, and keep moving. But the former Republican presidential nominee is not planning to keep a low profile for long. CNN has learned that McCain may get seats on an unusually high number of key Senate committees, so that he can engage on a wide range of high-profile issues before Congress, and his formal rival in the White House. “He...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama honored his vanquished Republican rival John McCain on Monday, describing the Arizona senator as an "American hero" while the Democrat prepared to assume the office that both men fought bitterly to attain. Obama and McCain clashed repeatedly on the campaign trail over foreign and domestic policy in sometimes heated exchanges that occasionally veered into the personal. But Obama made clear that period had passed even as he predicted the two would not always get along in the future. "John is not known to bite his tongue and if I'm screwing up, he's going to...

A desire by both men to secure their places in history might forge an unlikely pairing. BY RICK SANTORUM Obama also faces the reality of needing at least one Republican senator to join him to break filibusters. Many speculate that three moderate Republicans will provide the necessary Senate votes and the imprimatur of bipartisanship. . . . . . But I believe Obama has an ace in the hole among Senate Republicans. This unlikely ace can deliver not only the GOP moderates needed to break a filibuster, but also the stamp of bipartisanship: the 2008 GOP standard bearer, John McCain.....

Despite their victory in the huge fight over amnesty for illegal immigrants in 2007, conservatives can’t rest easy: it’s all about to happen all over again. The Democrats’ (and RINO Republicans’) push for “comprehensive immigration reform” has returned and will be a major issue this year, and perhaps next year as well if the pro-amnesty groups don’t get their way. Whether Barack Obama wants to risk another public backlash over such a comprehensive effort early in his first term -- knowing that polls indicate the large majority of Americans oppose illegal immigration -- is a big question mark. But we...

As President-Elect Obama readies his ascent to the White House less than two weeks from now, it appears that his political acumen extends not only to those in all parts of the Democratic party, but in no small part to Senator John McCain as well. Just three short months ago we were inundated with McCain's talk of Bill Ayres and 'That One,' but an easy détente appears to have developed between the former rivals. To that end, President-Elect Obama has committed four distinct acts that telegraph his political savvy when it comes to Senator McCain.. . . . .With Napolitano...

When it comes to immigration, it seems the chaos on the border is exceeded only by the chaos in Washington. That is especially curious since Members of Congress are usually famous for being able to read which way the political wind is blowing. In this case, however, it appears they would be well served to commit to reading the results of a recent, reputable bi-partisan national survey of voter attitudes on immigration. What its findings show is not at all startling, and is indeed testimony to the common sense of US Americans. With solutions to border, immigration, and guest worker...

Less than two weeks from the inauguration that he hoped would usher in his own presidential administration, Senator John McCain announced the formation of a new political action committee that will work to promote Republican causes. Borrowing a slogan from his campaign, Mr. McCain is calling the committee, “Country First,” and it is likely to help lay the foundation for his 2010 re-election bid. In an e-mail message to supporters on Wednesday, Mr. McCain described it as a “grassroots organization” that would take up the challenge of defining “our Republican ideals and message” and support G.O.P. candidates. “With your help...

WASHINGTON (CNN)—Arizona Senator John McCain is adopting a major 2008 campaign slogan for a new political action committee designed to support not only his own planned re-election run in two years, but help him put his stamp on the rebuilding of the Republican Party. The formation of the “Country First” PAC is to be announced Wednesday, two sources familiar with the plans tell CNN. One of the sources called it the “first official step” of the GOP Senator’s re-election campaign. McCain made it clear not long after losing the presidential election that he intended to seek re-election to the Senate...

Link only per FR copyright and linking policy

The Sarah Palin backlash—or comeback—is underway. Misused by the McCain campaign, then dissed by anonymous McCainiacs as a haughty diva, those who think the senator and his staff are to blame are starting to speak out. And we're not talking about those who traveled with the Alaska governor who quickly took a shining to her and chafed when the McCain team botched her coming out on the campaign trail. Now I'm hearing from key Republicans on Capitol Hill and GOP pollsters who believe that the McCain campaign should have put her out to talk about energy and political independence—her two...

Sen. John McCain (?-Ariz.), joining with liberal Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), issued a report last week on the abuse of terrorist detainees. The report accuses former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, former Defense Department General Counsel Jim Haynes, and David Addington, Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff, of causing the torture of terrorist detainees. But the report is a clumsy calumny, contradicting the factual conclusions of earlier, far more credible investigations. Predictably, it was enough for the New York Times to call for the appointment of a prosecutor to consider criminal charges against Rumsfeld and the others....

Remember the John McCain that many Arizonans grew to like over the years - the one who stuck by his principles but was not politically dogmatic or doctrinaire, and instead tried to represent the interests of people in general? Well, that John McCain seems to be back after a long journey into the dark jungle of presidential politics where he seemed to veer from his familiar middle-of-the-road approach to politics - an approach that a lot of Arizonans prefer, based on their long support for him.