GOP = The Grand Obstructionists Party

[DaShi]

Do you just post in order to waste bandwidth now?

Worried about the competition. But it's funny to see you fume. So

[DaShi]

The Republican leadership is no fan of McCain. When McCain twitters about egregious earmarks, he's going after Republican and Democratic pet projects.

I realize it was a good deal of party line voting on McCain's amendment, but at least we had a few Democrats who I'm happy with like Claire McCaskel who saw the wasteful earmarks and voted with McCain.

This is another reason that I don't think that McCain should have run for Prez. He's a far better senator. The politics of the presidency weren't good for him.

[Naked Gents Rut]

God, Oerdin is just as stupid as DaShi is lame. They both make me want to cry.

[DaShi]

Take your pot shots when you can get them. How's school?

[DaShi]

How has Mr. McCain been doing since the election:

For McCain, a Dual Role, Center Stage
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain is rewriting the part of presidential loser.

Unwilling to vanish into retirement like Bob Dole, or retreat into academia like Al Gore, or even quietly convalesce like John Kerry, Mr. McCain has quickly reclaimed a place on center stage in Washington, some days skewering President Obama and the Democratic Party, and on other days standing by their side.

“I’m the, as I said, loyal opposition,” Mr. McCain, Republican of Arizona, proclaimed this week. “And both words, I think, are operative.”

If anyone wondered which John McCain would return to the Senate — the coalition-building dealmaker or the gloves-off bruiser from the campaign trail — the answer is now clear: both.

It was Mr. McCain, as much as anyone else, whose crusade against earmarks dealt a major setback to Democrats when Republicans succeeded on Thursday night in stalling a $410 billion spending bill. In Mr. McCain’s scathing words, Mr. Obama’s stimulus plan amounts to “generational theft.” And yet Mr. McCain has endorsed Mr. Obama’s plans to withdraw combat troops from Iraq, and even has gone so far as to appear by Mr. Obama’s side when the president ordered increased competition in awarding government contracts.

Mr. McCain promised on election night to “do all in my power to help” Mr. Obama.

Some historians say the two men could yet forge the strongest alliance between a president and his election rival since Wendell L. Willkie helped Franklin D. Roosevelt oppose isolationism in the 1940s.

But in his first weeks back in the Senate, Mr. McCain has been quintessentially unpredictable, at times offering quiet counsel to the White House, at others jabbing in all directions.

On some days, he seems bitter, more certain than ever that he could do a better job running the country than Mr. Obama.

“I have a record of bipartisan work within the Senate; he does not,” Mr. McCain said on Feb. 19 in an interview with a newspaper in Kingman, Ariz., criticizing the president for what he called a lack of bipartisanship on the stimulus plan.

There are also signs that he still harbors grudges from the 2008 presidential campaign.

In the debate over the stimulus bill, he did not mask his fury at the three Republicans who backed the Democrats, particularly Senator Susan Collins, of Maine, once a friend, who won re-election in November in part by distancing herself from Mr. McCain and his campaign tactics.

He drew a distinction between his own history of forging coalitions and what he portrayed as a betrayal on the part of Ms. Collins, and Senators Olympia J. Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, as the only three lawmakers who broke rank with their party.

“I am proud to have been a member of a number of bipartisan resolutions,” Mr. McCain barked. “That is when Republicans and Democrats have sat down together and came out in equal numbers.” By contrast, he said: “This is three members of the Senate, none on the House side, who have joined Democrats for partisan agreement.”

At a White House summit meeting last week on fiscal responsibility, Mr. McCain seized the moment to chide Mr. Obama on cost overruns for a new fleet of presidential helicopters.

But on many days, Mr. McCain seems to have put his defeat behind him, and even to be enjoying himself, as he writes a new chapter in his unusual career. He has joked that he cares less about presidential helicopters than he did a few months ago.

Asked how he felt after two months back, Mr. McCain said: “It’s terrible. It’s awful. I am in a constant state of despondency. Can’t you tell?” There was a giant smile on his face.

“McCain has decided that he is not going to morph into the role of embittered ex-candidate but to embrace the kind of senior statesman, loyal opponent role,” said Ross K. Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers.

Professor Baker added, “His support will come at times and places of his choosing.”

After a number of younger Senate colleagues announced that they would retire after this Congress, Mr. McCain held a news conference saying he would run for re-election in 2010.

Already, Mr. Obama has reached out for his support on national security matters and on some trade issues. (Out of respect, the requests come in calls from Mr. Obama himself.)

“I think he is enjoying helping where he can, saying no where he must,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who was often at Mr. McCain’s side during the campaign.

“I think John’s respectful of the fact that he lost, President Obama won, but he is also a United States senator,” Mr. Graham added. “John’s going to call them as he sees them. There will be no better ally for President Obama than Senator McCain when they can find common ground, and, quite frankly, there will be no stronger or more credible critic. That’s the role he enjoys and the burden he carries.”

Senate Democratic leaders say they hope Mr. McCain will eventually join them in developing legislation on climate change, health care and other issues.

So far, though, they have tread lightly, intent on letting him recover before fully engaging him. “Losing elections is hard,” the majority leader, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, said. “I think Senator McCain has conducted himself very well.”

In resuming work on his favored issues, including national security and fiscal austerity, Mr. McCain has rejoined the Senate’s rank and file, teaming with Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan, to call for revamped military contracting, and with Senator Russ Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, to propose line-item veto legislation to let the president remove earmarks from spending bills.

Mr. McCain’s quick re-entry contrasts with the path taken by Mr. Kerry, who returned to the Senate from his 2004 defeat but continued traveling the country, keeping alive speculation that he would run again.

There is no such speculation about Mr. McCain, who at 72, has had his presidential aspirations dashed twice.

Some of Mr. McCain’s closest friends in the Senate, including Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, said they expected Mr. McCain to emerge as a leader on numerous issues.

But in the Senate, friendship has limits. While Mr. Lieberman, the former Democratic vice-presidential nominee, stood behind Mr. McCain in the campaign, Mr. McCain recently opposed legislation by Mr. Lieberman that would grant the District of Columbia a voting member of the House.

“John wants to be productive; he wants to be part of making this place work,” Mr. Lieberman said, adding, “He’ll be there to help us get some big things done for the country.”

[Dinner]

The dunderhead duo are at it again. You two should get some new material.

[Imran Siddiqui]

That's a very good article, DaShi . I'm guessing NY Times? Since it mentions Professor Baker at Rutgers (who I took a class with, actually).

[Dinner]

"At a White House summit meeting last week on fiscal responsibility, Mr. McCain seized the moment to chide Mr. Obama on cost overruns for a new fleet of presidential helicopters."

I don't really see how that's Obama's fault since the spending choices were made in 2005. Clearly the cost over runs didn't magically appear in the last 6 weeks when he was president.

[Zkribbler]

Did you see Obama's press conference last week where he questioned the need for the new helicopters. "The old ones seem fine to me," he concluded. "Of course, I've never had a helicopter."

I continue to be amazed at Republicans larding up the federal budget and then trying to blame Obama for it.

[Ramo]

The Republican leadership is no fan of McCain. When McCain twitters about egregious earmarks, he's going after Republican and Democratic pet projects.

I realize it was a good deal of party line voting on McCain's amendment, but at least we had a few Democrats who I'm happy with like Claire McCaskel who saw the wasteful earmarks and voted with McCain.

McCain's twitters are about earmarks that are supposed to sound funny, not ones that are particularly "egregious."

And again, the amendment that came to the floor was not about eliminating earmarks; it was a CR that underfunds the government. Of course that'd be a party-line vote.