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Looking to Washington, D.C. for federal money that will help offset Arizona's massive budget deficit, Democratic legislators and union officials urged Sen. John McCain to "be a maverick again" and support an economic stimulus plan that would bring billions of dollars in federal money to the state. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives without a single Republican vote, would provide nearly $900 billion in economic stimulus money, with about $3 billion going to Arizona in the 2009 and 2010 fiscal years. Standing on the lawn beside the Arizona House of Representatives, Senate Minority...

WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - It is hard on the psyche to lose a U.S. presidential election. Al Gore, when he lost, fled to Europe and grew a beard. George H.W. Bush received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth and began parachuting out of airplanes. Michael Dukakis became a college professor. Bob Dole made Viagra ads. And John McCain? Well, he returned to his day job, in the 100-member U.S. Senate, and went back to work. More so than many recent presidential candidates who did not make it to the White House, McCain, 72, seems to have had a quick...

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. John McCain says he'd vote against the bill backed by President Obama to pump up the economy. The former GOP presidential nominee said Monday on CNN's "American Morning" that he's working with a group of fellow Republican senators to come up with an alternative package that emphasizes payroll tax cuts, incentives for people to stay in their homes, and an end to the stimulus spending when the economy begins to recover. . . . . . McCain's hungry for more tax cuts in the bill, saying "we would like too to see more incentives such as...

WASHINGTON -- Senator John McCain says there's too much unnecessary spending and too few tax cuts in the Obama administration's economic proposals to stimulate the economy. The Arizona Republican and former presidential candidate also complains the plan has no "endgame." Interviewed Monday on CBS's "The Early Show," McCain said that after the economy recovers the U.S. should "be on a path to a balanced budget." Instead, he says, the Democrats' plan would burden future generations of Americans with the biggest budget deficit in history. He says it's time for both parties to sit down and negotiate. He says the Democrats...

WASHINGTON – Former presidential rival John McCain expressed disappointment that President Barack Obama has not negotiated with Republicans over a huge economic stimulus plan and said he is working on an alternative package. Speaking to Reuters, Arizona Senator McCain said the alternative plan would include what he described as "more effective tax cuts, such as a payroll tax cut" and spending on projects aimed at immediately creating jobs. "A group of us Republican senators are working on coming up with an alternative package that I would hope would have some elements to it that Americans would support," said McCain, who...

No rush to repeal 'don't ask, don't tell' BY BRYAN BENDER WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is telling the Pentagon and gay-rights advocates that it will have to study the implications for national security and enlist more support in Congress before trying to overturn the so-called "don't ask, don't tell" law and allow gays to serve openly in the military, according to people involved in the discussions. They said Obama, who pledged during the campaign to overturn the law, does not want to ask lawmakers to do so until the military has completed a comprehensive assessment of the impact that...

I'm not writing about the Barack Hussein Obama government this early in his administration. It would sound like sour grapes and as an American, I do wish Obama well. But Sen. John McCain of Arizona has to "get out." John, buy a house in Green Valley, join a country club and go away! Our form of government is called advisarial. That means Democrats don't have to love Republicans, Republicans don't have to love Democrats. McCain has become a joke! He stood by while some of the Cabinet picks were shooed in. Hillary Clinton, Eric Holder and that tax evader Tim...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former presidential rival John McCain expressed disappointment on Friday that President Barack Obama has not negotiated with Republicans over a huge economic stimulus plan and said he is working on an alternative package. Speaking to Reuters, Arizona Sen. McCain said the alternative plan would include what he described as "more effective tax cuts, such as a payroll tax cut" and spending on projects aimed at immediately creating jobs. "A group of us Republican senators are working on coming up with an alternative package that I would hope would have some elements to it that Americans would support,"...

Democratic National Committee files motion to intervene in RNC v. FEC WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today the Democratic National Committee announced that it filed a motion to intervene in the case of the Republican National Committee v. FEC, in which the RNC is seeking to dismantle the soft money provisions of the bi-partisan McCain Feingold campaign reform act (BCRA) of 2002. After a bruising defeat in November 2008, the RNC filed suit in the District of Columbia, challenging the constitutionality of the central tenet of BCRA - the ban on national party soft money. In its suit, the RNC...

Republican John McCain intends to run in 2010 for a fifth term in the U.S. Senate, and the recent history of senators thwarted in bids for president suggests he’ll be able to rebound smartly from his loss to Democrat Barack Obama in last November’s White House contest. John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who narrowly lost in 2004 to President George W. Bush, coasted to an easy victory last year for a fifth Senate term. Even South Dakota Democrat George S. McGovern, fresh off his 1972 landslide defeat at the hands of President Richard M. Nixon, came back to win a...

John McCain hasn’t exactly demonstrated a desire to lead the GOP after his loss to Barack Obama in November. Indeed, he has shown more interest in scolding Republicans for their opposition to Obama and demanded that the party cooperate with Obama’s new policies and appointees, even where serious ethical questions exist. That makes his sudden opposition to Obama’s stimulus plan rather surprising: President Barack Obama dispatched his top economic adviser and vice president Sunday to relentlessly press their sales pitch for an $825 billion stimulus package to halt the U.S. economic slide, as the plan came under more fire from...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. John McCain said Sunday the confirmation of President Barack Obama's choice for deputy defense secretary should move forward despite concerns about the nominee's role as a former defense lobbyist. The Obama administration considers William J. Lynn, Obama's pick for the No. 2 job at the Pentagon, to be an exception from its own ban on hiring lobbyists. As a lobbyist for Raytheon, one of the military's top contractors, Lynn worked on matters with far reach across the Pentagon. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs has said that even the toughest rules require "reasonable exceptions" for "uniquely...

Like other entities that abandons basic quality control, political parties rot from within. It happened to the Democrats long ago. Now that has become the case with a Republican Party that has strayed from its conservative underpinnings. There are really only four things to which I have a strong aversion: unloaded guns, dull knives, banjos and Republicans in Name Only (RINO). RINOs feign support for conservative principles only when it serves their political interests. They are known for their moderate positions, such as tax increases, gun control that guarantees more innocent victims, opposing the death penalty, and growing and sustaining...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told "Fox News Sunday" this morning that he would not support the stimulus package as the House Democrats have written it because it includes too much wasteful spending. The stimulus currently includes $275 billion in tax cuts and doesn't include Republican input or a spending timeline, McCain said. "There should be an end point to all of this spending.say two years...The plan was written by the Democratic majority in the House primarily. So yeah, I think there has to be major rewrites, if we want to stimulate the economy," McCain said. "I am opposed to most...

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. John McCain, who faced a long, bruising campaign against President Obama, has taken on a new role in the Obama administration: "Loyal opposition." McCain defined his role as, "[To] help and work together where I can, and stand up for the principles and the party and the philosophy that I campaigned on and have stood for for many years," to Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday. McCain, who has long championed bipartisanship in Washington, said while it's important for Americans to come together, it doesn't mean "that as the loyal opposition that I or my party...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Of course it hurts to lose. And John McCain also says that after losing the election to Barack Obama, the easiest thing to do would have been to feel sorry for himself. But the Arizona Republican is back in the Senate, part of what he calls the loyal opposition to Democrats in power, and ready to work with Obama.

Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the 2008 GOP presidential nominee, said Sunday he had few regrets about his White House campaign and no second thoughts about picking Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. “I don’t have a lot of regrets about it. I think we ran an honorable campaign,” McCain said on “Fox News Sunday.” The Arizona senator added that he was proud of things he had accomplished during the campaign and the people he surrounded himself with. In addition, he argued, the campaign may have made him “more effective here in Washington in these very difficult times.” Asked...

John McCain has no political integrity. He doesn't hold himself responsible for his meandering, message-less campaign and his miserable defeat at the hands of the most un-electable candidate in history, but he's ready to hold his own party responsible for working with Democrats on Capitol Hill. Instead of riding into the sunset, content with the damage he has done to his own party and allowing himself to be, at least superficially, respected by the people whose party and ideals he let down, he has apparently chosen to devote himself to furthering Obama's agenda.

GOP Sen. John McCain is positioning himself to be one of President Barack Obama’s strongest supporters, effectively giving Democrats the votes they need to override any GOP attempt to block the new administration’s legislative agenda. Obama heaped warm praise on his GOP rival during a dinner held in McCain’s honor the day before the inauguration, calling him a hero. Insiders duly noted McCain was granted a prime spot on the dais at the inauguration, sandwiched in a seat between White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The day after the inauguration, Obama and...

John McCain has prompted me to say the unthinkable. The right man won in 2008. . . . . . Mac is back - back to his moral preening about how bipartisan he is, back to his reflexive demonization of his own party, back to his refusal to recognize any legitimate concerns raised by those who disagree with him. If we're going to have Democratic agenda enacted, better it be by a Democrat than a Republican obsessed with avoiding the "partisan" label in the White House.