Sen. McCain is fighting to discontinue funding for seven new F-22 fighters.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Barack Obama is getting the help of his former political rival in seeking to stop a defense program his administration no longer believes is necessary, but some in Congress want to continue.

Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, who ran against Obama in the 2008 presidential election, wants to remove funding for constructing seven more F-22 jets.

The program is included in the Senate's defense authorization bill even though Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he opposes building any more of the planes. The White House said it would veto a bill that funded more of the jets.

On Monday, McCain and Senate Armed Services committee chairman Sen. Carl Levin (D-Michigan) introduced an amendment to strip the funds from the bill. The Armed Services committee, on which McCain serves, approved the amendment.

"Neither the president nor the Pentagon asked for F-22s or the alternate engine in the budget request," McCain said Monday on the Senate floor. "Secretary Gates has consistently opposed the need for additional F-22 aircraft and has indicated on a number of occasions that additional F-22 aircraft are not required to meet potential threats posed by near-term adversaries."

McCain even tweeted about his opposition to his followers on Twitter, saying he was "fighting the good fight."

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Sen. McCain said Sunday that his former rival can't have it both ways when it comes to the new administration's $787 billion stimulus package.

(CNN) — President Barack Obama can't have it both ways on his economic stimulus package, the man he defeated in last year's election said Sunday.

Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, told the NBC program "Meet the Press" that Obama either got it wrong when he predicted the benefits of his $787 billion economic stimulus package in February, or he's wrong now in saying the stimulus is working as intended.

"He's either not leveling now or he wasn't leveling at the time they passed the stimulus package," McCain said.

He cited predictions by Obama earlier this year that the spending plan would hold unemployment to 8.5 percent or less, noting the figure is now at 9.5 percent and likely to continue rising.

McCain also complained that the stimulus plan has failed to deliver the job creation Obama pledged.

"What they promised us would be the result of the stimulus in the short-term has turned out not to be true," he said.

On the same program, Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York responded it was too soon to pronounce judgment on the stimulus plan.
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Sen. McCain said Sunday that he expects more details to come out about reports of instructions from former Vice President Cheney to the CIA.

(CNN) — Sen. John McCain thinks we haven't heard the last about allegations that former Vice President Dick Cheney ordered secrecy for a CIA surveillance operation after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.

"If I know Washington, this is the beginning of a pretty involved and detailed story," McCain said Sunday on the NBC program "Meet the Press."

According to a New York Times report, Cheney ordered the CIA to withhold information about the unspecified program from Congress.

CIA Director Leon Panetta told the House Intelligence Committee last month about the program, which he said had been shut down.

McCain said he knew little about the program and offered no details. He said he expected Cheney, who has yet to comment on the story, to speak up.

"The vice president should be heard from" about the accusations leveled against him, McCain said.

Related: Cheney and alleged secret CIA program 'a problem,' Senator says
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WASHINGTON (CNN) — Arizona Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential candidate, released a statement following his former running mate Sarah Palin's decision to step down as Alaska governor:

"I have the greatest respect and affection for Sarah, Todd, and their family. I was deeply honored to have her as my running mate and believe she will continue to play an important leadership role in the Republican party and our nation."

McCain raised eyebrows during a spring appearance on the Tonight Show when he listed five current and former GOP governors as possible party leaders — but didn't include Palin.

The Arizona senator has said in other interviews it is too early to say whether he will support her should she run for president in 2012.

But he's also praised Palin since Election Day, saying late last year of the Alaska governor, "It's one of the great pleasures I've had to get to know her and her family, and I think she has a very bright future in a leadership position in the Republican Party."

Sen. John McCain gave the GOP's weekly radio address.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The United States was founded on the idea that "history has a right side and a wrong side," Arizona Sen. John McCain said in the weekly Republican address broadcast on the Fourth of July.

"We share a kinship of ideals with every man and woman on earth who struggles for their God-given rights. The world must never doubt where we stand in the liberation struggles of our time…" he said, in the address broadcast on radio and the Web Saturday.

"Today, we stand with the millions of Iranians who brave batons, imprisonment and gunfire to have their voices heard and their votes counted. They do not ask us to arm them or come to their assistance with anything other than public declarations of solidarity, and public denunciations of the tyrants who oppress them. We have a moral obligation to do so."

McCain and other Republicans have previously called on President Obama to make a stronger public statement in support of Iranians protesting the circumstances surrounding the country's controversial election last month.

Full McCain address after the jump

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Sunday, Sen. McCain had praise — and some criticism — for his former rival.

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 of seeking bipartisan solutions.

"Unfortunately, it's by picking off a couple of Republicans" to support his measures instead of gaining real consensus, McCain said. "It's not been bipartisan."

On foreign policy, McCain offered Obama a grade of "incomplete," noting the North Korean and Iranian nuclear threats.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — U.S. forces should board a North Korean ship if there is "hard evidence" it is transporting nuclear weapons technology in violation of the recent U.N. Security Council resolution, Sen. John McCain said Sunday.

Appearing on the CBS program "Face the Nation," the Arizona Republican said the North Korean ship being tracked by the USS John McCain — a destroyer named after his father and grandfather — may be contributing to the spread of nuclear weapons to rogue states.

"If we have hard evidence that that ship is carrying technology equipment missiles that are in gross violation of the U.N. Security Council resolutions, I think we should board it," said McCain, who lost his presidential bid to Barack Obama in last November's election.
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House Minority Whip Eric Cantor is criticizing the Obama administration's response to the political unrest in Iran.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — A top congressional Republican on Thursday joined critics of the White House's response to Iran's disputed presidential election, saying the United States has a "moral responsibility" to condemn attacks on protesters.

"The administration's position that what's going on in Iran is a 'vigorous debate' is absurd," House Minority Whip Eric Cantor said in a statement released Thursday. "People are being brutalized and murdered by the regime in Tehran. We have no idea exactly how many have died or have been seriously injured, since the regime has restricted journalists. In no way do these actions constitute a 'vigorous debate.'"

The congressman from Virginia, the No. 2 Republican in the House, added that "America has a moral responsibility to stand up for these brave people, to defend human rights, and to condemn the violence and abuses by the regime in Tehran."

Obama said Monday he was "deeply troubled" by the violent protests that followed Friday's vote, which official results show resulted in the re-election of hard-line Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But he avoided siding with Ahmadinejad's opponents, telling reporters that "It is up to Iranians to make decisions about who Iran's leaders will be."

Tuesday, he added, "It's not productive, given the history of U.S.-Iranian relations, to be seen as meddling, the U.S. president meddling in Iranian elections."

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs defended that approach Thursday, telling reporters Obama "believes that he's struck the right tone."

"I know some people agree with what Sen. McCain said. Some people agree with what other Republicans have said that's very much like the president's position," Gibbs said. "The president strongly believes that we should — and have — spoken out to ensure the demonstrators have the universal right and principle to demonstrate without fear of harm. But at the same time, we have to respect their sovereignty."
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"On this issue, I do not believe that the president is taking a 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," the Arizona Republican told John Roberts on CNN's American Morning.

President Obama Tuesday said that he has deep concerns over the election results in Iran, but stressed that "it's not productive, given the history of U.S.-Iranian relations, to be seen as meddling, the U.S. president meddling in Iranian elections."

McCain disputed that assessment. "We're not meddling in any country's affairs when we call for free and fair elections and the ability of people to exercise their human rights," he said Monday. "And when they disagree with a flawed or corrupt election, as the Iranian people have, [not] to be beaten and even killed in the streets."

Before jumping in, McCain was overheard remarking that his new ride features a voice-activated navigation system and Sirius satellite radio.

Riding shotgun was McCain's buddy Lindsey Graham, who joked as he got into the passenger seat: "I hope I live to tell about this."

Sen. John McCain told CNN that the results of Iran's recent elections are 'very disappointing…but not astonishing.'

(CNN) – Arizona Sen. John McCain responded sharply Monday to the disputed election result in Iran showing victory for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, calling the whole process "corrupt" and questioning the legitimacy of the current investigation into the matter.

"It's very disappointing ,of course, but not astonishing," McCain told CNN Monday. "The Muslim cleric extremists control the political mechanisms of Iran and it's not encouraging in a year that the ones who perpetrated this fraud are now going to be in charge of the investigation."

"I hope that we can succeed in our relations with Iran, but this is not a good sign and we should speak out strongly in opposition to what was clearly a corrupt election," said McCain.

The comments come after three days of unrest that prompted Iranian authorities to launch a probe into Friday's election result showing an overwhelming victory for Ahmadinejad over reformist Mir Hossein Moussavi.

The incumbent claimed 62 percent of the vote, prompting suspicion at home and abroad, particularly among Western countries already at loggerheads with Ahmadinejad over an Iranian nuclear program they fear is non-peaceful.

McCain's comments go significantly further than those of the Obama administration, which has not directly called the vote result a fraud but has expressed "concern."

"I think there are a number of factors that give us some concern about what we've seen," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Monday.

Meg Whitman has won the endorsement of Sen. John McCain.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, will endorse former eBay executive Meg Whitman Friday for governor of California, a Whitman spokesman said.

Although Whitman hasn't officially announced her candidacy, McCain will endorse the Republican at a town hall meeting in Orange County and then join her in Fresno for a news conference. Whitman's spokesman Mitch Zak said that McCain's support "continues the campaign's momentum."

"John McCain is an American hero," Zak said of the 2008 Republican presidential nominee. "We're honored and humbled to have his endorsement. We're looking forward to working with him to improve California."

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Obama will deliver a commencement address with multiple McCains in the audience.

(CNN) – When President Obama delivers the commencement address at the U.S. Naval Academy on Friday, he will have a former presidential candidate and proud parent of one of the graduates in attendance.

John Sidney McCain IV, more commonly known as "Jack," will become the fourth McCain to graduate from the Annapolis, Maryland, service academy and the fourth with the same name.

About mid-day at the academy's commissioning and graduation ceremony, McCain will receive a Bachelor of Science degree, take the oath of office and be commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Navy 103 years after his great-grandfather did the same.

Full story

Crist's support was crucial for McCain in the state's Republican presidential primary last year.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Florida Gov. Charlie Crist endorsed John McCain the weekend before McCain won the state's pivotal Republican primary last year, a victory that may very well have sealed the GOP nomination for the Arizona senator.

On Wednesday, John McCain returned the favor.

"Today I am pleased to endorse Charlie Crist for the United States Senate," McCain said in a statement released by Crist's campaign.

"Now more than ever, we need leaders who are committed to lower taxes, limiting government spending, and fighting for the people are needed in Washington," he said.

McCain is the latest top Republican to endorse Crist's Senate bid as party leaders in Washington look to avoid a difficult primary battle in Florida. Crist is facing an intra-party challenge from former state House speaker Marco Rubio, but according to a new Mason-Dixon poll, Crist leads Rubio by 35 points.

Full statement after the jump

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Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh responded Thursday to recent comments by Roberta McCain, the mother of Republican Sen. John McCain.

(CNN) — Rush Limbaugh responded to Roberta McCain's criticism of his tough radio persona Thursday, joking over the fact "McCain's mother is dumping on me."

"She is absolutely right" in her assessment that that she belongs to a different Republican Party than he does, Limbaugh said during his radio show: "The Republican Party she belongs to gets shellacked election after election after election."

In an appearance on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno Wednesday, the outspoken 97-year-old mother of Sen. John McCain said, to cheers from the audience, that Limbaugh "does not represent the Republican Party that I belong to."
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The DNC is out with a new Web ad.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Democratic National Committee criticized the Republican Party in a new Web video released Sunday evening for having former Vice President Dick Cheney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Sen. John McCain serve as the GOP’s national spokesmen.

The 38-second clip, posted on YouTube, opens with the statement: “Meet the New GOP Sunday Show Guests” stripped across the screen before it shows the three Republicans being introduced on the Sunday morning talk shows. The videos closing line: “The New GOP. Same As The Old GOP.”

The DNC’s criticism is not new as Democrats are trying to exploit the fact that Republicans are engaged in some real soul searching as they consider how to rebuild the party in time for the 2010 midterm elections and beyond.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Democratic National Committee criticized the Republican Party in a new Web video released Sunday evening for having former Vice President Dick Cheney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Sen. John McCain serve as the GOP’s national spokesmen.

The 38-second clip, posted on YouTube, opens with the statement: “Meet the New GOP Sunday Show Guests” stripped across the screen before it shows the three Republicans being introduced on the Sunday morning talk shows. The videos closing line: “The New GOP. Same As The Old GOP.”

The DNC’s criticism is not new as Democrats are trying to exploit the fact that Republicans are engaged in some real soul searching as they consider how to rebuild the party in time for the 2010 midterm elections and beyond.

Meghan McCain says the Republican Party needs to become an 'umbrella party.'

(CNN) — Meghan McCain, daughter of former Republican presidential candidate John McCain, said the GOP is going to have to become more inclusive if it wants to rebuild.

“I just wish that moderates like myself — more moderate Republicans and more socially liberal Republicans — weren’t looked at as, ‘Get rid of the dirty moderates. Get rid of them,’” the 24-year-old told CNN affiliate KTAR radio in a joint interview with her father.

“We need to be an inclusive party. We need to be an umbrella party. We need to inspire 20-somethings, which is something the Obama campaign did very well,” she said on the "Mac & Gaydos" show.

“And it’s not that I think that our message is neither good nor bad — I just think it’s that the Democrats package their message better, and I think if we could be able to communicate with my generation, the Republican Party can really rebuild itself,” she added.

Asked about the coverage she’s been getting for the GOP, McCain said she feels like she’s “speaking out for a lot of young people that don’t feel spoken for.”

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Meghan McCain says the Republican Party needs to become an 'umbrella party.'

(CNN) — Meghan McCain, daughter of former Republican presidential candidate John McCain, said the GOP is going to have to become more inclusive if it wants to rebuild.

“I just wish that moderates like myself — more moderate Republicans and more socially liberal Republicans — weren’t looked at as, ‘Get rid of the dirty moderates. Get rid of them,’” the 24-year-old told CNN affiliate KTAR radio in a joint interview with her father.

“We need to be an inclusive party. We need to be an umbrella party. We need to inspire 20-somethings, which is something the Obama campaign did very well,” she said on the "Mac & Gaydos" show.

“And it’s not that I think that our message is neither good nor bad — I just think it’s that the Democrats package their message better, and I think if we could be able to communicate with my generation, the Republican Party can really rebuild itself,” she added.

Asked about the coverage she’s been getting for the GOP, McCain said she feels like she’s “speaking out for a lot of young people that don’t feel spoken for.”

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WASHINGTON (CNN) – As part of his answer to whether he would reach out to Sen. John McCain as part of a renewed effort on immigration reform, the president said "we reach out to — to Senator McCain on a whole host of issues."

CNN asked McCain's spokeswoman if that's still true. She responded that the senator is actually going to the White House tomorrow with other Armed Services Commitee leaders to talk about procurement reform — a longtime issue for McCain.

However, McCain spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan also said that the White House mostly reaches out to the senator on issues where they have clear agreement, and she underscored a theme he brought up on the Senate floor just today — that he believes President Obama and Democrats don't really want to compromise on big, controversial issues.

"Reaching out and bringing ideas to the table with a real interest in compromise are two different things," Buchanan said.