Word: gop
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
McCain's enemies say he lacks the temperament to be President; his friends say he is just a spirited fighter who isn't afraid of taking on sacred cows. Some of McCain's worst enemies have been GOP appropriators like Domenici, Ted Stevens of Alaska and Thad Cochran of Mississippi, who has said the thought of a President McCain sends a cold chill down his spine. McCain has been a relentless critic of congressional pork and has made a point of publicizing the pet-project earmarks that appropriators slip into budget bills. "He ruffles a lot of feathers because...
...Cochran has endorsed McCain's candidacy now that he's the Republican nominee. "McCain used to make great speeches about all the garbage in military spending bills, especially after 9/11, but he'd do nothing to stop it," says the Center for Defense Information's Winslow Wheeler, a former GOP staffer who supports Obama for President. McCain "got the porkbuster reputation, but he never strayed too far off the reservation...
...even though George W. Bush supporters were spreading vicious lies about him. Bush soon co-opted McCain's message - he too vowed to be "a reformer with results" - all the way to the White House. And McCain spent the next several years picking fights with Bush and the GOP establishment over campaign finance, health care, gun control and the President's massive tax cuts, which McCain characterized as fiscally irresponsible. The battles burnished his maverick image, but critics within the party attributed them mostly to vanity and sour grapes. "He was just grumpy about losing to Bush," says Grover Norquist...
...unveil his choice at a big rally in Dayton, Ohio? That's what he said in a radio interview today. It's certainly possible. McCain is an instinctive politician, known to make decisions privately and then spring them on his aides as a fait accompli. If the presumptive GOP nominee is having a hard time making up his mind - or if he's considering whether to roll the dice by making a dramatic, unexpected choice - he could be keeping his own counsel...
...except national security, is a lifelong liberal, including the issue of abortion. Some might walk out of the convention or turn their backs on Lieberman when he speaks. And while picking Lieberman might remind swing voters of McCain's reputation for independence and bipartisanship, a rebellion from within the GOP base could tank McCain's chances of winning. "The eruption would be huge," says one social conservative leader who is waiting nervously to see what McCain does. "The race is too close. There's no need to do something like that. McCain doesn't need to throw a Hail Mary...