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Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who also spoke yesterday at the symposium, called the president's cap-and-trade plan "irresponsible, ill-conceived and distorted," and said he couldn't support the creation of a "giant government slush fund." "I still believe that it is the time to address this critical domestic and international issue," McCain said. "But my vision for a cap-and-trade system is a mechanism to lower greenhouse gases in our hemisphere, not as a revenue generator for the federal government. We must design a program that balances the needs of our environment with the needs of our economy."

Okay, I had wanted to stay away from further focus on the Twitter exploits of Meghan McCain, the daughter of the 2008 presidential candidate. But sometimes you just can't tear your eyes away. The latest Tweet from McCain: "I used to have the hugest crush on Eminem when I was in high school and he still looks hot in his new music video!!" This would be, presumably, the music video in which Eminem depicts himself having sex with Sarah Palin.

WASHINGTON -- Arizona Sen. John McCain ripped the White House cap and trade energy proposal on Tuesday as House Republicans said it is too early to debate a climate change bill because a major element of the legislation is missing. The bill aimed to stop global warming by giving fossil-fuel burning industries a limit on greenhouse gas production is an "irresponsible, ill-conceived and distorted version of a cap-and-trade system." "The president's proposal of auctioning 100 percent of the carbon credits is bad economic policy that would cost businesses billions of dollars and allow for little-to-no transition into a low carbon...

Social conservatives tolerated John McCain as the party's nominee, but never trusted him, and he now appears to be facing a serious primary from the right in Arizona next year. Chris Simcox, the founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and a prominent figure in the anti-immigration movement, is announcing today he's resigned from the group to run in the 2010 Senate primary. From a forthcoming release: "John McCain has failed miserably in his duty to secure this nation's borders and protect the people of Arizona from the escalating violence and lawlessness," Simcox said. "He has fought real efforts over...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is calling on the Obama administration to apologize to veterans over a recently released Department of Homeland Security report warning that “right-wing extremists” will attempt to “radicalize returning veterans.” “The last people on earth we need to worry about are our veterans,” McCain said during an interview Monday night with Fox News’s Greta Van Susteren. “It’s insulting.”

It may be, a colleague notes, a fitting coda to the McCain campaign: He apparently rejected his first choice as a running mate, Joe Lieberman, in part based on a faulty legal opinion. McCain lawyer and vetter A. B. Culvahouse said last week that West Virginia law could have barred McCain from nominating a Democrat as his running mate in the key state, knocking Lieberman out of the running.

I am getting tired of seeing daily threads about Meghan McCain almost daily on FR. I don't watch network TV, and honestly never heard of her until several weeks ago. Could we just quit posting about her already, unless there is TRULY a news article that concerns her?????

Mexican drug cartels have displaced the mafia as the "number one organized crime threat" in the United States, Sen. Joe Lieberman said Monday as his Senate committee heard testimony in Phoenix on border violence. Lieberman, an independent Democrat from Connecticut, and Sen. John McCain, a Republican on Lieberman's panel, told FOX News that the United States needs to step up the fight against the drug cartels. The two senators were in Arizona, McCain's home state, to hear from local officials on their advice for dealing with the drug-fueled violence many fear is spilling across the border.

Oh, Meghan. We're very proud of you for having the courage to speak before the Log Cabin Republicans, as woman running for pundit. You can read Meghan's full remarks to the gay Republican group here, in case you are interested in learning about how highly Meghan thinks of herself for being so young and progressive and young. Whee. The politics of failure have failed, Meghan announces, and Republicans can't just join Twitter and expect to win young voters! They have to join Twitter and have kicky gay hairstylists and read Pitchfork! This is her explanation of "what it means to...

Meghan McCain loves Twitter — except for the "creepy people." Like Karl Rove. In a post for the Daily Beast published Monday, McCain says the social networking site has been a "liberating" experience for her — if only her dispatches weren't being read by the former Bush advisor. "Karl Rove follows me on Twitter. That's creepy," she said. "I joined Twitter a few months ago; so far, it has been a liberating way to transition from political to personal blogging. It's allowed me to share the less serious aspects and humorously uncensored moments of my life. But there's also been...

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Meghan McCain warned a group of gay Republicans Saturday that there was "a war brewing in the Republican Party" – a war between the past and the future. "Most of the old school Republicans are scared s***less of that future," she told a gathering of the Log Cabin Republicans, a group of gay and lesbian party members. The 24-year-old daughter of former GOP presidential candidate John McCain pushed back against critics upset over her comments to CNN that she wanted President Obama to succeed, and played down her recent headline-grabbing feuds with conservative commentators Ann Coulter and...

Result of Citizen Opposition -- One Wealthy Foundation To Stop Funding Amnesty?   By Roy Beck, Sunday, April 12, 2009, 9:11 PM A tiny bit of hopeful evidence emerges that consistent, long-term and substantial U.S. citizen opposition to the open-borders agenda may eventually back off some of the wealthiest foundations that are funding the pro-amnesty efforts. A report on the website of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation suggests that the foundation is leaving the political arena on immigration because of the great disappointment that U.S. citizens rose up to defeat all the amnesty attempts in 2006, 2007...

He mishandled her national rollout to the public, botched her relationship with the media and now supporters of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin are charging Sen. John McCain with snubbing his former running mate during an interview on NBC’s “Tonight Show With Jay Leno” Monday night. Mr. McCain is coming under fire for his conspicuous memory lapse when listing the names of Republican governors who could be the next in line to challenge President Barack Obama in 2012. Mrs. Palin did not make the cut. “We have, I’m happy to say, a lot of voices out there,” Mr. McCain told host...

Organized labor’s new unified front in support of comprehensive immigration reform could disrupt what’s left of the delicate bipartisan balance on one of the most politically charged issues in Congress. Earlier this week, labor celebrated the coming together behind a single set of immigration reform principles after years of being at odds with itself over various parts of a planned immigration overhaul. But that unity could have the unintended consequence of driving a wedge between Democrats and those few Republicans whose support will be critical to getting a major immigration reform bill through the Senate – and could even prevent...

Senator John McCain is wearing a small band aid on his forehead these days from a biopsy taken recently. He says the doctors told him it's fine. He also says a recent physical has pronounced him fit for the campaign ahead. After just finishing and losing a run for the White House, he'll now run a fifth time for his U-S Senate seat.

McCain Strategist Warns GOP Risks Becoming 'Religious Party' Steve Schmidt urges Republicans to begin voicing more support for civil unions and gay rights. FOXNews.com Friday, April 17, 2009 John McCain's top adviser from the presidential campaign urged fellow Republicans on Friday to warm up to gay rights and warned that the GOP risks becoming the "religious party" with its opposition to same-sex marriage. Steve Schmidt, in his first political appearance since the election, spoke at the Washington, D.C., convention for the Log Cabin Republicans -- a grassroots group for gay and lesbian Republicans. He urged Republicans, in the near-term, to...

As part of a trip across the state this week, Arizona Sen. John McCain spent Thursday in Tucson. Here are highlights from an interview with the Star: Nationwide "tea parties": "I think there's a significant grass-roots element in America that's fed up with the taxation level and the complexities of the tax code as well," said McCain. "All of this dissatisfaction is obviously inflamed by the terrible economic times we're in." . . . . . "We must have a temporary- worker program, but we also have to secure our borders first," he said. "The level of the violence has...

Washington (CNN) - Steve Schmidt, a key architect of John McCain's presidential campaign, is making his first public return to Washington a bold one. Schmidt will use a speech Friday to Log Cabin Republicans, a gay rights group, to urge conservative Republicans to drop their opposition to same-sex marriage, CNN has learned. "There is a sound conservative argument to be made for same-sex marriage," Schmidt will say, according to speech excerpts obtained by CNN. "I believe conservatives, more than liberals, insist that rights come with responsibilities. No other exercise of one's liberty comes with greater responsibilities than marriage."

(CNN) – Log Cabin Republicans are getting some support from the McCain family. Cindy and Meghan McCain will make an appearance at the gay rights organization's four day convention in Washington, which kicks off Thursday night. "Of all the causes I believe in and speak publicly about, this is one of the ones closest to my heart," Meghan McCain, a vocal supporter of same-sex marriage, wrote in the Daily Beast this week. "If the Republican Party has any hope of gaining substantial support from a wider, younger base, we need to get past our anti-gay rhetoric." Steve Schmidt, former senior...

Now, this is interesting: Meghan McCain, daughter of Sen. John (R-Az.) and Cindy McCain, who got into some big (wrong word) loud tussle with various people over weight issues in recent weeks, will be the guest co-host April 23 & 24 on "The View." Why Megs? Because the girl knows how to cause a ruckus, that's why! And the Viewsters love their ruckuses, and resulting headlines (mostly, though, those headlines are on AOL, which I'm convinced is on the take for "The View.")