Todd Starnes: McCain Started It

GOP Field Denounces Donald Trump

The Hill reports:

Republicans of all stripes spent Saturday hammering Donald Trump for his remarks mocking Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) over his time spent as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Many of the GOP’s most visible members are suggesting the outspoken billionaire and presidential candidate went too far taunting McCain during a speech Saturday afternoon. “He was a war hero because he was captured,” Trump sarcastically told host Frank Luntz during the 2015 Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa. “I like people who weren’t captured.” The quip came after Luntz challenged Trump’s criticisms of McCain’s political career. The pollster questioned his verbal attacks on McCain, calling him a “war hero.” “I supported McCain for president,” Trump said. “He lost and let us down,” he added, arguing he spent $1 million supporting McCain’s Oval Office bid. “I’ve never liked him as much after that,” Trump added. “I don’t like losers.”

Ted Cruz won't condemn Trump:

Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), who considers himself a friend of both McCain and Trump, refused comment on the bitter feud. "I recognize that folks in the press love to see Republican-on-Republican violence, so you want me to say something about Donald Trump or bad about John McCain or bad about anyone else,” he said, according to The Washington Post. “I’m not going to do it.” “John McCain is a friend of mine,” Cruz added. “I respect and admire him and he’s an American hero. And Donald Trump is a friend of mine.”

Sen. John McCain To Code Pink Protesters: "Get Out Of Here, You Low-Life Scum"

Via The Hill:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called protesters "low-life scum," after they interrupted a hearing by calling for former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to be arrested for war crimes. Protesters from the group Code Pink chanted, "Arrest Henry Kissinger for war crimes!" and raised signs in the air as Kissinger entered the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing room. McCain, the chairman of the committee, at first asked, "Could someone find out where the Capitol Police is?" Kissinger sat calmly in his witness chair, as protesters and photographers gathered around. The protesters were objecting to Kissinger's past roles in the Nixon administration during the Vietnam War, the bombing of Cambodia and other issues. As the protesters were led out by police, McCain said, "I've been a member of this committee for many years, and I've never seen anything as disgraceful and outrageous and despicable as the last demonstration." Finally, McCain said, "Get out of here, you low-life scum."

Whoa.

Sen. John McCain Denounces Torture

Tweet Of The Day - Meghan McCain

Marriage equality is now legal in my home state of Arizona!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fuck yes, finally!!!!!!!
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) October 17, 2014

(Via JMG reader Sam)

Code Pink Disrupts Senate Hearing On ISIS: "Shame On You, Sen. McCain!"

Sarah Palin: I Owe America An Apology For Costing John McCain The Election

McCain Battles With Former White House Spokesman Jay Carney Over ISIS Plan

Mediaite sets the stage:

Jay Carney, on his very first night working for CNN, ended up sparring with Senator John McCain over President Obama‘s ISIS speech, in which McCain repeatedly took shots at Carney for not telling the truth, saying at least once that “facts are stubborn things.” The second McCain appeared on CNN, he immediately got combative with Carney. McCain said that Obama unilaterally decided, against advisement from his national security team, not to train Syrian rebels. In addition, he said not leaving a residual force in Iraq was a huge mistake on Obama’s part. Carney disputed McCain’s claims, but the senator said, “Again, Mr. Carney, you are saying facts that are patently false.” They kept talking over each other and arguing, with McCain continuing to insist that Carney has his facts wrong.

Sen. John McCain: Ukraine Crisis Is Result Of Obama's "Feckless Foreign Policy"

McCain Cheers Brewer's Veto

"I appreciate the decision made by Governor Brewer to veto this legislation. I hope that we can now move on from this controversy and assure the American people that everyone is welcome to live, work and enjoy our beautiful State of Arizona." - Sen. John McCain, via press release.

BREAKING: GOP Sen. John McCain Calls For Veto Of Arizona Hate Bill

Minutes ago Sen. John McCain joined fellow GOP Arizona US Sen. Jeff Flake in denouncing the bill to legalize anti-gay discrimination. There has been quite the rush of local and federal Arizona GOP officials coming out against the bill in the last 24 hours. Encouraging!

Sarah Palin's 50th Birthday Is Tomorrow

Every teabagger in Teabagistan plus major GOP figures are falling over themselves to worship her in the below clip.

Giving Credit Where It's Due

Via Memographs.

GOP Senators Attempt To Expand ENDA's Already Too-Broad Religious Exemptions

Buzzfeed's Chris Geidner reports that a group of GOP senators are pushing an amendment to ENDA that would expand the already too-broad religious exemption in the bill. LGBT groups "appear uninterested" in fighting the amendment, says Geidner.

The amendment, which also includes a provision making explicit that the purpose of the ENDA includes respect for religious liberty, is being authored by Sen. Rob Portman and is cosponsored by Sens. Kelly Ayotte, Dean Heller, Orrin Hatch, and John McCain. On Monday evening, the Senate’s lead sponsor of the bill, Sen. Jeff Merkley, said he would be backing the amendment. Officials with the Human Rights Campaign, American Civil Liberties Union and Freedom to Work all said they believed it was an unnecessary provision, but none said they were actively opposing it — and HRC made its lack of opposition explicit. “HRC believes this language is unnecessary, but does not oppose it. We believe this merely restates the status quo for religious employers,” HRC vice president for communications Fred Sainz told BuzzFeed.

The proposed amendment would bar the government from retaliating against "religious employers" that discriminate against LGBT workers. Here is the text:

“A religious employer’s exemption under this Act shall not result in any action by a Federal government agency, or any state or local government agency that receives Federal funding or financial assistance, to penalize or withhold licenses, permits, certifications, accreditation, contracts, grants, guarantees, tax-exempt status, or any benefits or exemptions from that employer, or to prohibit the employer’s participation in programs or activities sponsored by that Federal, state, or local government agency. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to invalidate any other federal, state, or local law or regulation that otherwise applies to an employer exempt under this section.”

Sen. Pat Toomey has an amendment of his own and this one IS opposed by LGBT groups. The text:

“(b) In addition, (i) an employer shall qualify for this exemption if it is (in whole or in part) managed by a particular religious corporation, association, or society; if it is officially affiliated with a particular religion or religious corporation, association, or society; or if the institution’s curriculum is directed toward the propagation of a particular religion; and (ii) This exemption shall apply regardless of whether the employer, or the employment position at issue, engages in secular activities as well as religious activities.”

ENDA passed its cloture test on Monday and may be heard by the full Senate as early as today.

McCain To Vote For ENDA?

It's worth noting that voting to advance a bill doesn't necessarily mean supporting it. Legislators sometimes vote to advance a bill just bring it a floor vote and put it to bed.

Cindy McCain Signs ENDA Petition

After being collared by an HRC staffer in an Arizona outlet of Staples, Cindy McCain signed a petition that asks her husband to endorse ENDA. The Washington Post reports:

Call it a bold canvassing move that paid off: An organizer for the Human Rights Campaign asked Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) wife Cindy to sign a postcard Thursday urging the senator to back legislation barring workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. She signed it. The senator has never supported the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which passed a Senate committee in July and could come to the floor for a vote soon. A bipartisan coalition has dispatched field organizers in seven states across the country to mobilize constituents on behalf of the bill, and HRC has collected "tens of thousands of postcards" as part of the effort, according to HRC spokesman Michael Cole-Schwartz.

When asked about the petition signing, a spokesman for Sen. McCain had a noncommittal response: "Senator McCain enjoys and appreciates having discussions on the important issues of the day with all the members of his family, and he respects their views."

Quote Of The Day - John McCain

"Send Air Force One out to Silicon Valley, load it up with smart people, bring them back to Washington and fix this problem. It's ridiculous. And everybody knows that." - Sen John McCain, speaking about the ongoing problems with the Obamacare website. Today President Obama will hold a press conference to speak about the site and the plans for a fix.

Headline Of The Day

Details. (Tipped by JMG reader Paul)

Sen. John McCain Defends Gays And Pussy Riot In Pravda Op-Ed Column

"I believe you should live according to the dictates of your conscience, not your government. I believe you deserve the opportunity to improve your lives in an economy that is built to last and benefits the many, not just the powerful few. You should be governed by a rule of law that is clear, consistently and impartially enforced and just. I make that claim because I believe the Russian people, no less than Americans, are endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

"A Russian citizen could not publish a testament like the one I just offered. President Putin and his associates do not believe in these values. They don't respect your dignity or accept your authority over them. They punish dissent and imprison opponents. They rig your elections. They control your media. They harass, threaten, and banish organizations that defend your right to self-governance. To perpetuate their power they foster rampant corruption in your courts and your economy and terrorize and even assassinate journalists who try to expose their corruption.

"They write laws to codify bigotry against people whose sexual orientation they condemn. They throw the members of a punk rock band in jail for the crime of being provocative and vulgar and for having the audacity to protest President Putin's rule. [snip] President Putin claims his purpose is to restore Russia to greatness at home and among the nations of the world. But by what measure has he restored your greatness?" - Sen John McCain, responding to Vladimir Putin's op-ed in the New York Times.

RELATED: According to Politico, McCain wrote for the wrong Pravda.

The Arizona Republican published his anti-Putin piece on Pravda.ru on Thursday, an English and Russian news website that was founded in 1999. But McCain said he was hoping to publish in the Communist newspaper Pravda, meaning “truth” in Russian, which was founded in 1912. That publication, after being banned when the Soviet Union collapsed, was rekindled and is still circulated by today’s Russian Communist Party. Pravda.ru and the paper are unrelated media outlets, except for the name.

The "wrong" Pravda defends themselves:

We did not want to disclose in advance our agreements with McCain's spokesperson about the publication of his column. In light of recent events, I want to remind everyone that the Soviet Pravda has two successors now: Pravda.Ru and Pravda of the Communist Party. We proved at court that we were the same successor to newspaper Pravda, established in 1912, as the current, low-circulation press body of the Communist Party.

McCain To Pen Op-Ed For Pravda

In response to Vladimir Putin's op-ed in the New York Times, Sen. John McCain semi-joked that he'd like to write for Russia's state-owned newspaper, Pravda. Perhaps surprisingly, they said yes.

"If John McCain wants to write something for us, he is welcome," Dmitry Sudakov, the English editor of Pravda tells The Cable. "Mr. McCain has been an active anti-Russian politician for many years already. We have been critical of his stance on Russia and international politics in our materials, but we would be only pleased to publish a story penned by such a prominent politician as John McCain." When The Cable reached the senator's office with the offer, McCain's communications director Brian Rogers responded within minutes. "On the record: Senator McCain would be glad to write something for Pravda, so we'll be reaching out to Dmitry with a submission."

When asked what McCain would write about, McCain's spokesman called Russia a "target-rich environment" and suggested that McCain would write about Russia's history of human rights abuses. Don't hold your breath for any mention of LGBT rights, of course.