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ISLAMABAD: Former US presidential candidate and senior Republican Senator John McCain is arriving today in the capital as part of ongoing efforts by the US and Pakistan to repair ties damaged by the Abbottabad raid on May 2. McCain, 75, is also a senior member of the US Senate’s Arms Services Committee, which has the power to approve or deny military assistance to Pakistan. He is the most senior US figure to visit Islamabad since Washington withheld $800 million in military assistance to Pakistan last month.

You’ll have to watch this to believe it. In a harsh criticism of House Republicans and think tanks critical of Rep. John Boehner’s plan to raise the debt limit, the 2008 Republican Presidential nominee, who chose Tea Party darling Sarah Palin for VP, said about this about a faction of his own party: Granted, Sen. McCain was quoting a Wall Street Journal opinion piece this morning when he recited this passage: “The Republican House that failed to raise the debt ceiling would somehow escape all blame. Then Democrats would have no choice but to pass a balanced-budget amendment and...

Mr. McCain mocked Tea Party-allied Republicans in the House for believing — wrongly, he said — that President Obama and Democrats will get the blame for a default if Republicans refuse to increase the nation’s debt ceiling. By that flawed logic, “Democrats would have no choice but to pass a balanced budget amendment and reform entitlements and the Tea Party Hobbits could return to Middle Earth,” he said, quoting a Wall Street Journal editorial. “This is the kind of crack political thinking that turned Sharron Angle and Christine O’Donnell into G.O.P. nominees,” he jeered, referring to two losing Tea Party...

U.S. Senator John McCain, joined by business leaders on a visit to Cairo, says the U.S. is ready to invest in Egypt. Deborah Lutterbeck reports.

(AP) BENGHAZI, Libya - U.S. Sen. John McCain, one of the strongest proponents in Congress of the American military intervention in Libya, said Friday that Libyan rebels fighting Moammar Gadhafi’s troops are his heroes. (snip) When Obama acted with limited congressional consultation, McCain - who was the 2008 Republican presidential contender running against Obama - defended the president, saying he couldn’t wait for Congress to take even a few days to debate the use of force. If he had, "there would have been nothing left to save in Benghazi," the rebels’ de-facto capital.

WASHINGTON -- Two years after running against President Barack Obama, Senator John McCain says he sees a change. Appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation," McCain expressed optimism that Obama will lead Democrats and Republicans to find common ground on key issues.(snip) Asked if the push to repeal health care reform is a waste of time -- because Senate Democrats will block repeal and, should it pass, the president would veto it -- McCain said, "We need to have a vote on it because we promised the people we would. We campaigned that we would `repeal and replace'. We have to...

(CNN) — Arizona Sen. John McCain said Friday the Nobel Committee's decision to award President Obama the Peace Prize was likely based on expectations, not accomplishments. "I can't divine all their intentions, but I think part of their decision-making was expectations," McCain told CNN's John King. "And I'm sure the president understands that he now has even more to live up to." But Obama's former rival for the White House said he was happy with the decision.

Republican Senator John McCain has denounced the use of torture on terrorism suspects during the administration of former president George W. Bush. "I think the interrogations were in violation of the Geneva Conventions and the convention against torture that we ratified under President Reagan," said McCain. In an interview with CBS News on Sunday, the Arizona senator said that the enhanced interrogation techniques also helped al Qaeda recruit additional members. "I think these interrogations, once publicized, helped al Qaeda recruit. I got that from an al Qaeda operative in a prison camp in Iraq,” said McCain, who added that he...

Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, tackled some tough yet timely topics on The Washington Times' American Morning News Tuesday. Turmoil among voters in Iran, who have taken to the streets at their peril and in protest of alleged election rigging, had the senator issuing strong condemnations and a recommendation for the Obama administration. Mr. McCain said he believes Iran's presidential election was rigged and that the U.S. should do "whatever is necessary" to halt their nuclear weapons. "Look these people are bad people and I know that it was unpopular to call them part of an axis of evil or...

Now a U.S. Senate candidate, Crist calls backing 'pragmatic.' BY LUDMILLA LELIS DAYTONA BEACH - Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, now a U.S. Senate candidate, said he would have made the "pragmatic" decision to vote for the federal stimulus bill, differentiating himself from fellow candidate Marco Rubio and the man he is trying to replace -- Mel Martinez. Speaking to a politically mixed crowd in Daytona Beach, Crist emphasized his support for the bill as practical and pragmatic, though it would have meant crossing Republican party lines. Only three Republican Senators backed the stimulus bill, and Martinez wasn't one of them....

The Republican Party is not an endangered species but can do a better job of outreach, recruiting candidates and getting the message out, Sen. John McCain said Sunday. In an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” McCain responded to a question referring to a story in Time magazine, describing the party as “in distress.” “I probably would not go that length,” McCain said. “We all work in cycles for many years. We have seen parties down and parties up. That’s a great thing about American politics. “But having said that, do we have to do a better job of getting our...

(snip) SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Well, first of all, Neil, they should not be eligible for any benefits. That would be crazy. But the major point here is that President Obama, with great fanfare, announced the closure of Guantanamo Bay, the prison at Gitmo, as we know it, and then, nothing. In other words, they did what, you know, that everybody would like to see done at least around the world, et cetera, but then no addressing of the fundamental issues associated with it. What do you do with the detainees? What sort of system of trials do you...

BEIJING (AP) — U.S. Senator John McCain urged China on Thursday to take a firmer stand against North Korea following Pyongyang's latest rocket firing, saying Beijing had more leverage than any other country to influence the North's behavior. The Arizona Republican said stronger measures were needed in response to Sunday's launch, including sanctions at the U.N. Security Council. Both Beijing and Washington are veto-wielding permanent members of the body. "I want to say very frankly what we all know, and that the nation that has true influence over North Korea" is China, McCain said in remarks to reporters following meetings...

WASHINGTON, March 28 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in an interview published Saturday, said President Barack Obama needs to learn how to be effectively bipartisan. In a session with editors and reporters at The Washington Times, McCain said the Obama administration has reached out to him only once since the inauguration. On that occasion, a lawyer discussed the possible closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention center. Obama defeated McCain 53 percent to 46 percent in the November presidential election, with most swing states going into the Democratic column. "There are things that, statements that then-candidate Obama made during...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) just gave an address on “generational theft” at the Heritage Foundation and semi-endorsed Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s plan for purchasing toxic assets from financial institutions. “It’s progress,” McCain said, generating a few sighs in the packed room. He opposes any more TARP money going out without more oversight, but wants to give Geithner’s plan a chance. His preference is that banks be “taken over, their managers suffer for their failure, and their assets sold off,” another comment that didn’t light up the room. The speech rather quickly dovetailed into an attack on earmarks. “I’m aware that...

It was almost as if last autumn’s bitterly fought presidential election never happened. En route to Brussels, where he will give a keynote speech on Saturday at a security conference, John McCain sounds supportive of the man who defeated him. Asked whether Barack Obama will return next month empty-handed from Strasbourg, where he will request more support from his Nato counterparts in Afghanistan, Mr McCain said: “There is enormous goodwill in Europe towards the new president.” In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr McCain, who retained his Senate seat when he became his party’s nominee, repeatedly declined to criticise...

Tim Geithner, the embattled US Treasury secretary, should be given a chance to succeed, says John McCain, the former presidential candidate, who is the first prominent Republican to speak up in Mr Geithner’s defence amid growing calls for his resignation. Speaking to the Financial Times, Mr McCain said that the “perfect storm” over AIG “has been as explosive in a short period of time as anything I have seen”. Mr McCain, who was one of the few Republican senators to vote in favour of Mr Geithner’s nomination after revelations of tax arrears, was speaking at the end of a week...

Under President Obama, it was expected that porn pushers might find a sympathetic ear, given the smut industry's generous support of liberal politicians and causes. But the fox is no longer circling the henhouse. He's made it inside. On March 12, the "world's greatest deliberative body," the U.S. Senate, voted 65 to 28 to elevate porn attorney David Ogden to be deputy attorney general. Eleven senators from the "Party of Family Values" (Lamar Alexander, Kit Bond, Susan Collins, Lindsey Graham, Judd Gregg, Jon Kyl, Richard Lugar, presidential nominee John McCain, Olympia Snowe, Arlen Specter and George Voinovich) joined a nearly...

WASHINGTON, Mar 10, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., says he's ready to work with President Barack Obama, the man who dashed his hopes for the White House last year. From issues involving Afghanistan and Iraq to military procurement reform, McCain says he is ready to work with the White House, Politico reported. Last week, he had a breakfast meeting with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, appeared with the president at a White House media event and discussed how to squelch budget earmarks with Vice President Joe Biden. "These are terrible, perilous times, so I will seek...

After a losing presidential campaign in 2000, John McCain came back to the Senate and established himself as a force no White House could ignore. Eight years later, he’s home from defeat again, facing a very different landscape dominated by President Barack Obama and the collapsing American economy. From Afghanistan and Iraq to military procurement reform, McCain tells POLITICO he is already working with Obama. Last week alone, he had breakfast with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, appeared with the president at a White House press event and took a phone call from Vice President Joe Biden soliciting McCain’s input on...