John Mccain

If hypocrisy had a face, a look, a certain familiar strut, it would be that of old favorite Curt Schilling as he pushed his way through a swirling collection of reporters and photographers in Providence this week with absolutely nothing of consequence to say. Curt Schilling, mute, the one time he actually owed an explanation. Perfect. But that's a minor point, really. There's a larger hypocrisy in his failing video game venture, the one that Rhode Island state officials giddily backed to the tune of $75 million in loan guarantees, which seems to be a fancy financial term for...

A Senate bill aimed at saving the U.S. Postal Service would make it harder to close thousands of low-revenue post offices and end Saturday mail delivery, even though the struggling agency says those steps are needed to reduce billions in debt and become profitable again. The measure takes steps to help the mail agency avert bankruptcy as early as this fall, giving it a cash infusion of $11 billion. But it sidesteps most controversial decisions on postal closings. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe has criticized the Senate bill as a short-term answer.

DES MOINES - Almost precisely four years ago, Mitt Romney complained that John McCain had lobbyists running his presidential campaign. Now Romney is getting advice on his own campaign from one of those very same lobbyists. Charlie Black confirmed today to The New York Times that he is not only supporting Romney, but providing advice to a campaign that is at or near the top of most polls in advance of tomorrow's Iowa caucuses and the Jan. 10 New Hampshire primary. "No formal role in the campaign.

During the 2008 Republican presidential campaign, John McCain delivered the coup de grace to Mitt Romney with victories in Florida and the Super Tuesday states, as well as a pair of gut-wrenching endorsements by then-Florida Governor Charlie Crist and former rival Rudy Giuliani. Crist's came after he initially pledged to stay neutral in the race but then backtracked three days before the Jan. 29, 2008, primary. Giuliani, who banked on a Florida win to launch his candidacy, lost and instead came into the McCain fold in dramatic fashion on...

TRIPOLI, Libya - A delegation of US senators led by John McCain met with Libya’s leader yesterday to discuss the possible delivery of nonlethal defense equipment. The visit and Washington’s offer of military equipment was another sign of the improving ties between the former longtime adversaries. “We discussed the possibility of moving ahead with the provision of nonlethal defense equipment to the government of Libya,’’ McCain said during a press conference. He gave no details on the kind of military equipment Washington is offering.

Jim Lehrer , former anchor of PBS's "NewsHour," was at Harvard yesterday where he chatted with students about his experiences moderating presidential debates. He's done 11, including most recently the debate between senators Barack Obama and John McCain in 2008.

"Game Change" is not a Sarah Palin hatchet job. But it's certainly no love letter either. Instead, the HBO film premiering Saturday at 9 p.m. is a compelling, sometimes funny, sometimes poignant dramatization of the behind-the-scenes machinations of the Republican side of the 2008 presidential campaign that is unlikely to sway already entrenched opinions on both sides about any of its main players. The two-hour movie is based on the 2010 book of the same name by reporters John Heilemann and Mark Halperin.

THE OUTCOME of the November election will depend not on the economy but on what Ellen Goodman refers to as the "incredulous majority" of female voters who want to protect their reproductive and abortion rights ( "Assault on reproductive rights," Op-ed, Jan. 21). John McCain pledged to appoint justices who would support the right-to-life concept. Barack Obama made it clear that he would appoint justices who would protect the right to choose. He received 54 percent of the female vote.

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama yesterday called Republican rival John McCain out of touch with middle-class Americans, telling supporters that the GOP senator never once uttered the words "middle class" during their first debate. "Through 90 minutes of debate, John McCain had a lot to say about me, but he didn't have anything to say about you," Obama told a cheering crowd at the J. Douglas Galyon Depot in downtown Greensboro. "He didn't even say the words 'middle class.' He didn't even say the words 'working people.' " Obama debuted his post-debate attack...

NEWPORT, Mich. - John McCain toured a nuclear power plant yesterday, the first such visit in recent history by a presidential candidate and one that highlighted the promise and peril of a technology central to reducing reliance on foreign oil. The Enrico Fermi Nuclear Plant outside Detroit, named for the first physicist to split the atom, is home to both an operating power plant and another reactor that had a partial meltdown in the 1960s....

Mitt Romney is planning to deliver the commencement address next month at the late Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, his latest effort to consolidate the conservative base now that he is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. His staff is also trying to arrange an endorsement from Rick Santorum, who held himself up as the campaign's conservative standard-bearer before dropping out of the race. And earlier this week, Romney said a "vast left-wing conspiracy" within the media will aim to prevent him from defeating President Obama.

While it's not quite Ali vs. Frazier, Tuesday's faceoff between Katie Couric and Sarah Palin on opposing morning shows has some viewers wishing for a war of words. Here's a look at how the pair measures up. Career Highlight: Couric: Her 15-year run as queen of the morning on the "Today" show. Sarah Palin: Her electrifying speech at the 2008 Republican National Convention marking the national debut of a political powerhouse. Career Lowlight: Couric: Her rocky tenure as the first solo female anchor of the "CBS Evening News.

A profile of Illinois, latest battleground in the race for the Republican presidential nomination: NUMBERS Population: 12,869,257 AGE Median age: 35.7 Percentage of population 65 and over: 12.5 percent RACE 63.7 percent non-Hispanic white, 14.5 percent black, 4.6 percent Asian, 15.8 percent Hispanic or Latino origin LANGUAGE Language other than English spoken at home: 21.7 percent EDUCATION ...

The drawn out Republican nominating battle is giving new states a chance at the spotlight – states like Alabama and Mississippi, which previously have had little voice in the presidential section process. Higher turnout numbers have reflected that influence. According to the Associated Press, there were 614,940 ballots cast in Alabama's Republican primary on Tuesday with 98 percent of precincts reporting, or 23.2 percent of active registered voters. That is an increase from 2008, when Alabama voted on Super Tuesday – which was Feb. 5 that year.

GAME CHANGE Starring: Woody Harrelson, Ed Harris, Julianne Moore, Sarah Paulson On: HBO Time: Saturday, 9 p.m. "Game Change" is not a Sarah Palin hatchet job. But it's certainly no love letter either. Instead, the HBO film premiering Saturday at 9 p.m. is a compelling, sometimes funny, sometimes poignant dramatization of the behind-the-scenes machinations of the Republican side of the 2008 presidential campaign that is unlikely to sway already entrenched opinions on both sides about any of its main players.

"Game Change" is not a Sarah Palin hatchet job. But it's certainly no love letter either. Instead, the HBO film premiering Saturday at 9 p.m. is a compelling, sometimes funny, sometimes poignant dramatization of the behind-the-scenes machinations of the Republican side of the 2008 presidential campaign that is unlikely to sway already entrenched opinions on both sides about any of its main players. The two-hour movie is based on the 2010 book of the same name by reporters John Heilemann and Mark Halperin.

MIAMI - Move over, Al Gore. You may lay claim to the Internet, but John McCain helped create the BlackBerry. At least that's the contention of a top McCain policy adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin. Waving his BlackBerry personal digital assistant and citing McCain's work as a senator, he told reporters yesterday, "You're looking at the miracle that John McCain helped create. " A McCain aide later dismissed the remark as "obviously a boneheaded joke by a staffer. " McCain has acknowledged that he doesn't know how to use a computer and can't send e-mail, one of the BlackBerry's prime functions.

Two senators and former presidential candidates say Standard & Poor's decision to downgrade the U.S. credit rating speaks to the need for more bipartisan compromise — but they also say the blame lay with the other party. John Kerry was the Democratic nominee for president in 2004, and John McCain was the Republican nominee in 2008. Appearing Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Kerry called S&P's decision a "tea party downgrade. " The Massachusetts Democrat says he believes that tea party supporters in the House are holding up progress.

A certain segment of the U.S. population will presumably shun "Game Change. " As a warts-and-all portrayal of the 2008 campaign of GOP presidential candidate John McCain and his vice presidential running mate, Sarah Palin, this HBO film (premiering Saturday at 9 p.m. EST) has raised suspicions, and hackles, among Palin loyalists. Surely its mission is to trash her, they contend. Meanwhile, viewers from the other end of the political spectrum will tune in gleefully expecting the same thing: an evisceration of the world's most famous hockey mom. Maybe both sides would do...

They haven't seen it yet, but some people - supporters of Sarah Palin, mostly - are already complaining about "Game Change," the HBO movie starring Julianne Moore as Palin and Ed Harris as John McCain (above). The film, which premieres March 10, is drawn from the book "Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime. " The authors, John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, will be at Harvard tonight for a special screening. (The film is written by Danny Strong and directed by Jay Roach, the same duo that did HBO's "Recount," about the 2000 election.)