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President Obama moved the goalposts on getting immigration reform accomplished, saying Thursday that he wants a bill he can sign either this year or early next year. Shortly after the president adjourned a meeting with a bipartisan group of members from both chambers, a number of senators and congressmen from both sides of the aisle demonstrated why next year might be aiming too high. The White House has said that the president would like to see something this year, but a number of skeptics have questioned whether Congress can or will take any floor action in 2009. Obama said he...

(snip) I want to especially commend John McCain, who's with me today, because along with folks like Lindsey Graham, he has already paid a significant political cost for doing the right thing. I stand with him, I stand with Nydia Velázquez and others who have taken leadership on this issue. (snip)

(snip) And as the White House holds a bipartisan summit on immigration Thursday, Republicans are warning that Obama needs to offer a specific plan or risk seeing the issue die this Congress. “He needs to really lead on that,” said Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), who was a member of a bipartisan group that unsuccessfully pushed an immigration bill in 2007. “I think it’s very, very important that he give a clear signal on where he is on an issue with that level of specificity.” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), another supporter of the 2007 bill, said President George W. Bush ran...

The hawkish trio of Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) praised President Barack Obama on Thursday for condemning the corruption and violence surrounding the recent election in Iran. “I’m very proud of my president for what he said Tuesday,” Graham declared during a press conference. “It was the right thing to say.” “I appreciate it,” McCain added.

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama will meet Thursday with a bipartisan, politically diverse group of lawmakers to begin discussing a rewrite of U.S. immigration laws. But the effort faces stiff headwinds: a Washington agenda already packed with other priorities; a recession making Americans nervous about the job market; and the sidelining of the most vocal champions of an immigration overhaul. "Greater presidential leadership is going to be needed," said Clarissa Martinez, director of immigration policy at the National Council of La Raza, the largest Latino advocacy group. "It's an absolute necessity." The White House meeting will bring together lawmakers who...

Early clubhouse leader for worst political advice of the year . . . Jonathan Capehart has suggested that Republicans would be well-advised to skip a generation and wait for the Meghan McCains of the world to assume the GOP’s mantle of leadership. The WaPo editorial writer made his smirk-worthy suggestion on MSNBC this afternoon while chewing over Mark Sanford’s stunning announcement. The panel had literally and figuratively run down the list of Republican presidential hopefuls and found virtually all of them wanting. Capehart’s brainstorm came in response to a leading question from host Tamron Hall, who touted the younger McCain’s...

With unusual ubiquity for a losing presidential candidate, Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain has been popping up all over the media these days. So it was probably inevitable that he'd get the same question asked of virtually every breathing Republican in these, the Grand Old Party's Days of Disarray: Will you be running for president in 2012? First of all, McCain's got to win Senate reelection next year. Second, the party's conservatives still don't like him, although as long as he lost in November, they've pretty much shut up about it for now. Arizona Republican Senator John McCain Third, he'd...

Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, who over the weekend said he'd like to see the president speak out stronger. Then, on the Senate floor today speaking in stronger terms than Democrat President Barack Obama about the Tehran government's violent reaction to protests of the recent election that allegedly reinstated the existing regime. The obviously angry McCain, Obama's GOP opponent in last year's presidential election, cites the tragic death of an Iran female protester called Neda whose name has suddenly become known globally as she was shot in Tehran and died in the street, bleeding profusely, on a now viral and...

HAHAHA, this guy is a socialist. He's just mad that it wasn't bipartisan.

Sen. John McCain started Father's Day on "Fox News Sunday," but he said he'll spend the rest of the day on the phone, chatting with his seven kids. The Arizona Republican said fathers need to give their kids "support, understanding -- and sometimes that support has to be a little tough love." He said that he often felt pressured to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, both Navy men, and said that parents should give their children choices. "I hope that I'm a good father," McCain said.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — You can't call John McCain a sore loser. Seven months after Barack Obama defeated him in the U.S. presidential election, the Republican senator from Arizona said Sunday he thinks his former Senate colleague is making things happen in the White House. "I think he's done well," McCain said on the CBS program "Face the Nation." "He has achieved literally every one of his legislative accomplishments," McCain noted in reference to the economic stimulus package and other measures passed by Congress in recent months. However, McCain said, the same partisan divisions remain in Congress despite Obama's campaign pledges...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. John McCain says the U.S. should board a North Korean ship it is tracking if hard evidence shows it is carrying missiles or other cargo in violation of U.N. resolutions. McCain says that such cargo would contribute to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to nations that pose a direct threat to the United States.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. John McCain says his opponent in last year's presidential campaign, Barack Obama, has "done well" in his first five months in the White House. The Arizona Republican says that using a legislative scorecard to judge the presidency so far, Obama has achieved all his legislative goals.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two of President Barack Obama's top priorities -- healthcare reform and reducing global warming -- are in disarray on Capitol Hill, with no sign of bipartisan consensus, Senator John McCain said on Friday. The Arizona Republican, who was defeated by Obama for the presidency last November, said in an interview with Reuters that climate change legislation "is just dead in the water. It's not got momentum." Efforts to overhaul America's costly healthcare system need to begin anew after the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said a draft bill would cost $1 trillion and insure only 16 million of...

He talks to Hannity.

House GOP leaders who unveiled their “vision” for healthcare reform made clear that a major provision endorsed by 2008 GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) was not included. Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), chairman of the Health Care Solutions Group that spent months writing a "comprehensive" reform plan, said that McCain's proposal to tax employer-based benefits was "certainly not part of our plan."

My Friends, Health care is a problem of growing importance across America. From kitchen tables, to state governments, to our government here in Washington, the growing cost of health care and the shortcomings of the current system are issues of extreme concern. With polls showing that a majority of Americans now support Congress enacting a major overhaul of the U.S. health care system, it is clear that we must begin working towards a bi-partisan solution to address the need for reform. In the coming weeks, Congress will begin the hard work of debating health care legislation that will provide all...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) criticized President Barack Obama Wednesday for failing to take a strong leadership role in voicing opposition to the election results in Iran. “I do not believe that the president is taking the leadership that is incumbent upon an American president, which we have throughout modern history, and that is to advocate for human rights and freedom, and free elections are one of those fundamentals,” McCain said during an interview on CNN. McCain said the president “obviously doesn’t agree” that Iranians have the right to protest the election results as a “fundamental principle.” “We are seeking, as...

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...