Free Republic

President Bush is scaling back next week’s fundraising swings for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) at the request of the campaign, which wants the events closed to the press, POLITICO has learned. The change — in both Arizona and Utah — is part of McCain’s delicate effort to find the balance between embracing an unpopular president and taking advantage of his huge continuing draw with well-heeled Republicans. The Arizona event, which was to be at the Phoenix Convention Center, was the first time Bush was to have appeared with McCain since their White House meeting in March. A McCain aide said:...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The head of NASA said on Tuesday that the U.S. space agency has had to scale back its plans even since he took the job in April because of "daunting fiscal realities." In early 2004, U.S. President George W. Bush outlined a vision of returning humans back to the moon by 2020 and eventually to Mars. Some had hoped such a program would reignite public interest in the space program that has waned since the 1960s and early 1970s. "We must also acknowledge the plain fact that we cannot do everything that was on our plate...