Mark Grueter writes: "I'm fed up with McCain...I no longer care about his stint in the Hanoi Hilton either, as if that somehow gave him a lifetime of immunity from criticism, or made him an expert on questions of war and peace. The pseudo-maverick McCain says he supports Bush because "we" must win in Iraq. Win what? Refresh my memory, captain straight talk, who are we fighting against? The remnants of the former government? Foreign elements that have penetrated the Iraqi border? The Iraqi people themselves? Do "we" need to win in Iraq like "we" needed to win in Vietnam? And just like in Vietnam, are we now waging a war against the very people we say we're fighting for? But McCain thinks we should all just forget about the three million Vietnamese the US military killed and the 58,000 Americans that died. Too divisive, says the reigning "ayatollah of American Politics".."

Ben Widdicome writes: "John McCain got a little off-message at his late-night party at Cipriani this week. Just before joining Rudy Giuliani on stage for a rendition of "New York, New York," he told me John Kerry would make a great President. But he still wants you to vote for President Bush, kinda. I had asked the Arizona Republican senator what kind of reception he had received in this overwhelmingly Democratic city. "Some of my best friends are Democrats," he told me. Like who? "Like John Kerry." Do you think he'd make a good Commander in Chief? "I think John Kerry would make a fine President." Huh? Aren't you supposed to be supporting the other guy? Seeing my confusion, he added "But George Bush would make a better President!" I.e., Bush is more likely to reward support with lucrative favors.

John McCain is not the "tough-minded maverick" he's snuckered everyone into believing he is. Instead, his record shows him to be more of a slippery chameleon - and an opportunistic one at that. For example, he claims to be passionately dedicated to fighting global warming, to campaign finance reform, to veterans' rights, and a host of other "maverick Repug" things. He claimed to be totally disgusted with the Swift boat smears - claimed to be John Kerry's friend. Yet McCain has been following Bush - who represents everything McCain CLAIMS to be against - around like a puppy longing for approval, and failed to repudiate Bush even for sliming his "friend" Kerry in an unforgivable manner. Now here he is at the GOP Convention, kissing up to Bush in a way that would make even Bush's mamma blush!

"I'm sick and tired of re-fighting the Vietnam War. And most importantly, I'm sick and tired of opening the wounds of the Vietnam War, which I've spent the last 30 years trying to heal," [John McCain] said at a lunch with USA TODAY and Gannett News Service. "It's offensive to me, and it's angering to me that we're doing this. It's time to move on." McCain said it's not appropriate to accuse someone of lying about a situation in which "bullets are flying and people are dying" because "there are always different versions about what happens in combat." He said it's pointless to argue over whether Kerry was right or wrong to say he and his crew crossed into Cambodia on a certain night 35 years ago. "So what if he wasn't over the border or he thought he was over the border?" McCain said. "I don't know exactly where I was flying over North Vietnam all the time." But McCain did NOT have the guts to criticize Bush for failing to condemn the Swifties.

What's up with McCain - does he really have this little self-respect or strength of conviction? After appearing to be outraged by the attack on Kerry's service in Vietnam, after it was revealed that the instigators of the Kerry attack were the SAME people who smeared McCain in 2000, and after Bush has refused to condemn the attack, McCain STILL is going dutifully off to Florida to PROMOTE Bush. USA Today reports: "Sen. John McCain, Bush's rival for the 2000 Republican presidential nomination, is tagging along Tuesday as the president campaigns in the Florida Panhandle - an area of the Panhandle that was solidly behind him in 2000." What a "courageous" duo - one going off to safely sing to his choir while the other comes dutifully to heel, "tagging along" behind him.

AP: "The Republican rumored to be Dick Cheney's replacement effusively praised the vice president Friday, introducing him to Michigan voters as "indispensable, very debonair" and "not just another pretty face." [Is McCain smokin' something wacky or does he just have a darker sense of humor than we all suspected?] Sen. John McCain... joined Cheney to stump for the presidential ticket in the swing state that narrowly went for Democrat Al Gore in 2000. As the buzz in Washington continued about Cheney's future and the chance McCain might fill his spot, the Arizona lawmaker offered a testimonial to Bush's No. 2, tracing his career in public service from previous Republican administrations to the U.S. House to defense secretary during the 1991 Persian Gulf War to the post-9/11 era." Hmm....this smacks of Don Corleone's famous kiss on the cheek!

In 2000, John McCain beat George Bush in NH. Then BushRove viciously attacked McCain in parking-lot handouts and telephone "push polls" and whisper campaigns that McCain's wife, Cindy, was a drug addict, that McCain might be mentally unstable from his captivity in Vietnam, and that he had fathered a black child with a prostitute - his daughter Bridget, whom he adopted from a Mother Theresa orphanage in Bangladesh! Incredibly, McCain is now cutting TV ads for Bush attacking Kerry. What a pathetic, self-hating loser!

Some of us suspect that many in the GOP are hoping to dump Bush as the party's candidate and put in John McCain, the man most likely to make the best showing. First, they trumped up a pretext for disseminating plenty of McCain info in the news by floating the rumor that McCain might be Kerry's VP choice. Now, there is a high-profile "conflict" between Dennis Hastert, who represents the hardcore rightwing Bush loyalists (a rapidly dwindling group), and McCain the moderate who represents the "better way." The fact that Hastert blustered that McCain wasn't a "real Republican" strongly suggests he suspects that McCain represents a formidable rival to Bush within the GOP itself.

This article by Vince Fiore in the MichNews is just one of literally scores of highly spun articles ground out by the corporate media on John McCain in the past month - including a page-one story in the NY Times. To trump up a pretext for giving McCain this blitz of coverage, the media says it is just reporting (to quote Fiore) "the desperate attempts of Democratic leaders to enlist John McCain as Kerry's VP." Trouble is, Kerry's campaign has NOT made any attempts to recruit McCain at ALL. So why the hype? Could it be it's the GOP that is making a desperate attempt to enlist McCain - using the media to least field his candidacy - as an alternative to Bush? Rumor has it the movement to dump Bush is quietly gaining momentum among a core group of Repugs.

The corrupt media has worked overtime for weeks to railroad Kerry into naming John McCain as his running mate. Now even some top Dems like Joe Biden are buying into the ploy. This would, of course work out just dandy for the Repugs, no matter how it shook down in November. By naming a Repug, Kerry could lose the election by alienating millions of progressive voters, who may decide to go for Nader (groan) after all -- or just stay away from the polls. If he wins, let us not forget that McCain is a REPUBLICAN and as VP will always have the tie-breaking vote in the Senate. If Democrats win back enough seats to make the House closer to 50-50, McCain could cancel that gain out. After four years of hell, is it worth the risk?

Ethan Wallison and Paul Kane write in Roll Call, "House Democrats have hired Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) former top political adviser to spearhead efforts to attract Republican and independent voters in the run-up to the November elections. While details of his day-to-day work have yet to be ironed out, John Weaver, the architect of McCain's strong insurgent bid for president in 2000, acknowledged Friday that he signed on as a consultant to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, effective May 1. 'I'll do everything and anything they ask of me,' said Weaver, the newly registered Democrat who is already being wooed by 2004 presidential aspirants... He indicated that the bulk of his work will focus on 'communications and strategy,' with a line of attack on House Republicans that will peg them as extremists who don't tolerate moderate views -- something he says he experienced firsthand. 'I didn't change philosophies. I changed parties,' he said."

The FEC announced that Republican Election regulators voted along party lines in January to scrub a complaint lodged by the McCain campaign against pResident Bush stemming from the 2000 election. The complaint cited $2.5 million in smear ads that ran the week before crucial primaries in California, New York and Ohio. The ads in question praised Bush for his environmental policies while demonizing Sen. John McCain. The commercials were purchased by "Republicans for Clean Air," and were financed by brothers Sam and Charles Wyly of Dallas. Sam and brother Charles contributed $210,273 to George W. Bush's two gubernatorial campaigns and Charles Wyly, a "Bush Pioneer," raised at least $100,000 for Bush's presidential race. Both brothers were part of George H.W. Bush's elite "Team 100" fundraising team. Once again, the corrupt Bush regime is using its raw political power to obstruct justice. We demand Bush's impeachment!

The "War on Terror" must be over, because the pundits are abusing themselves with fantasies of John McCain running for President in 2004 as an Independent - or even as a Democrat. One thing you'll notice: all of these pundits are white men. There are few women or minorities who see John McCain as anything other than an egomaniacal conservative with a deep and legitimate grudge against Bush, whose dirty tricks against McCain in 2000 were unforgivable. Here's our response to the pundits: if McCain is such a hero, he ought to fight the fight that really counts - namely, taking the GOP back from the corrupt and evil Bush organized crime family. In other words, he should do what Ted Kennedy (D-MA) did in 1980, when he challenged the sitting president of his own party, Jimmy Carter, over important matters of principle. Hey John - if you challenge Bush in the primary, we'll support you 1000%!

"To be, or not to be [a Republican], that is the question." For John McCain, at least. Of course, whatever McCain happens to be pondering at any given moment is guaranteed to receive endless fawming media attention - thanks in no small measure to Bill Kristol's narcissistic doppelgangering. Which is exactly why we're already really bored with McCain playing Hamlet, the Prince of Congress. "He hasn't crossed the bridge in his mind, but the logic of events may push him there. I wouldn't be surprised if he did it in a year or two," says Kristol. God help us! Hey John - whatever you're planning to do, just do it already - before we go nuts like poor Ophelia. Face it - you're just not as endlessly fascinating as Liz Taylor. If you want America to see you as a leader, then start by leading yourself. Like charity, leadership begins at home.

John McCain seems to be thinking out loud through leaks to the media. According to the Washington Post, McCain might challenge Bush for President as a third party candidate in 2004, modeled after Teddy Roosevelt's challenge to William Howard Taft. Or he might form a moderate caucus to push the Republican Party to the center, modeled after the Democratic Leadership Council. Most likely, he will simply do whatever he can to torture Bush, in order to exact revenge for his treatment by Bush and Pat Robertson in South Carolina.

ABC News is reporting that "Sen. Tom Daschle, who will run the Senate next week after Democrats take control, has been invited to spend the weekend at McCain's home in Arizona... One source, involved in planning the weekend, said the goal of the meeting is not to get McCain to defect. Rather, it's to discuss policy formation in the Senate... McCain's office downplayed the meeting, saying the visit was 'discussed and planned months ago.' 'No one should read anything more into this,' the statement reads." OK, we won't. But John, here's our advice: if it feels good, do it!

Tom Daschle will get the title of Senate Majority Leader. But John McCain is sitting in the catbird seat, where he can administer a daily dose of torture to his nemesis, George W. Bush. "Flash back to the 2000 presidential campaign. Remember the South Carolina primary? John McCain does. Still simmering from the South Carolina drubbing he took on his personal character from the Bush forces, McCain is now better positioned than ever to do serious damage to Bush's legislative agenda -- all in the name of revenge. McCain moves from being a nuisance minority within the majority to becoming a leader of the majority within the minority. It's an instant and remarkable metamorphosis from annoying to fearsome... You can't underestimate the antagonism that exists between McCain and the White House because of the 2000 campaign." So writes Howard Mortman in HotlineScoop.com.

Joe Conason explains the ongoing feud between John McCain (R-AZ) and corporate gigolo Trent Lott (R-MS). Read about a little-known case involving Lott's bribery by NextWave Telecom Inc., which nearly cost the taxpayers $10 billion worth of cellular licenses.

John McCain spent over 5 horrible years in a Vietnamese POW camp. His reward? To be viciously attacked as a "Manchurian Candidate" - a communist traitor - by a prominent gun zealot. The attack, from member of Larry Pratt's Gun Owners of America, is reminiscent of the outrageous attacks against McCain during the campaign by supporters of Shrub. It's time for America's veterans to stand up to the AWOL usurper - and for the media to expose Bush's anti-American supporters.

The feud between Bush and McCain has reached the point where McCain could bolt the GOP in 2004 and seek the presidency as an independent. Though McCain, 64, publicly dismisses the idea, another source close to him insists the increasingly open opposition from the White House and Senate GOP leadership may leave him no choice. "If you close every door in the party, at some point he has to come to a hard decision about what he's going to do," said the source, who, like many, asked to remain anonymous when discussing the Bush-McCain conflict. "He's less and less bound by any residual loyalties to the party." Go John Go!

In this New Republic article, you will gain insight into the festering, tense relationship between McCain and Bush. There is also an intriguing account of how Bush told McCain that he wouldn't agree to putting caps on contributions because Dick Cheney told him that it was a bad idea. In fact, Cheney was in the room the whole time making sure that Dubya didn't go off the reservation or take a nap.