Timeline (SIADD)

2008

 * November 4: In a close election decided by Pennsylvania, John McCain is elected President of the United States. Both McCain's victory speech and Obama's speech have a call of healing and coming together to begin.


 * November 5: In a close race, incumbent Senator Ted Stevens wins over Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich. Even with the corruption charges against him, Stevens won reelection and a movement for Stevens to resign from the Senate. Stevens would say that this would be resolved come January.


 * November 6: Longtime staffer and friend to President-Elect McCain, Mark Salter is chosen as Chief of Staff.


 * November 10: Senators and supporter Lindsey Graham is announced to be McCain's choice as UN Ambassador and Joe Lieberman was announced as his choice for Secretary of State.


 * November 11: The "Oracle of Omaha" Warren Buffet was chosen as Treasury Secretary as Lewis Eisenberg for Commerce Secretary.


 * November 12: Mitt Romney was chosen for the Housing and Urban Development position. The HUD position was the same position that his father George Romney had occupied from 1969 to 1973.


 * November 16: T. Boone Pickens was declared Energy Secretary and Debra W. Yong was chosen as Attorney General. She became the first Asian American Attorney General.


 * November 18: Former Speaker of the House and conservative icon, Newt Gingrich was chosen as the Interior Secretary in a suprise. This raised some eyebrows among staunch liberal Democrats in the House.


 * November 19: Governor Janet Napolitano of Arizona chose Representative John Shadegg, a Republican, to succeed John McCain's seat on account of McCain's election to the presidency.


 * November 26: Senator Barack H. Obama of Illinois confirmed to the press that he would be running for reelection to the Senate come the 2010 Senatorial Elections.


 * November 28: After a fairly long recount for the 2008 Minnesota Senatorial Election, Democratic challenger Al Franken was declared the winner over the incumbent Republican senator Norm Coleman. Al Franken's victory would give the Democrats a majority in the U.S. Senate, but fell short of reaching a super majority.

December

 * December 30: Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge was again chosen for the position to serve in McCain's administration.


 * December 7: On the 67th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, President-Elect McCain picked Senator Chuck Hagel to be the Veterans Affairs Secretary.


 * December 14: The FBI brought credible evidence that Governor Rod Blagojevich has been embezzling money. Soon after the Illinois Legislature began impeachment proceedings.


 * December 15: Governor Blagojevich went back to work as Governor as if nothing happened, saying that he was "innocent until proven guilty" to the press.


 * December 16: Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan began initiation of impeachment against Governor Blagojevich.


 * December 27: Israeli forces began "Operation:Cast Lead" and sent the Israeli Air Force to bomb targets in the Gaza Strip. This would be majorly about the terrorist group Hamas.


 * December 30: President-Elect McCain said that there must be mediation between Gaza and Israel on the grounds that more innocent Palestians are being killed in the attacks agaisnt Hamas and other terrorist groups.

January

 * January 2: President-Elect McCain gives another short speech calling for aid to be given to the Palestian people caught in the middle and also the Israeli people that have been struck by the increasing missles by Hamas.


 * January 4: A pay to play scandal hits Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico. Staunch foes against the Governor in the state senate and other areas would call for an investigation of the Governor's activities.


 * January 17: The Illinois state house votes in a huge percentage for impeachment of Governor Blagojevich.


 * January 20: John Sidney McCain III would be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States and Sarah Palin as the 47th Vice President. He officially assumed the presidency at 12:00 noon, EST, and completed the oath of office at 12:05 P.M., EST. He delivered his inaugural address immediately following his oath, whose theme was "In the Right Direction", or one different version of it "In a Different Direction", commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. In his inagural address, he called upon all Americans of all faiths and political orientation to come together and help the United States solve its challenges. He also called on restoring responsibility — both in terms of accountability in Washington and the responsibility of ordinary people to get involved and finding a purpose greater than oneself.


 * January 21: On his first day in office, McCain requested a 120-day suspension of all trials for alleged terrorists held at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, so the new administration could "review the military commissions process, generally, and the cases currently pending before military commissions, specifically". Another order established a task force to lead a review of detention policies, procedures and individual cases. McCain addressed the State Department that "the United States will not torture" and drafted an executive order to close Guantánamo as fast as possible, with a final deadline by 2013. McCain revoked Executive Order 13233, which had limited access to the records of former United States Presidents. McCain issued instructions to all agencies and departments in his administration to "adopt a presumption in favor" of Freedom of Information Act requests. After loud outcrys, Senator Ted Stevens would resign from the Senate and Governor Sean Parnell of Alaska would choose Charlie Huggins of the Alaska Senate to replace Senator Ted Stevens vacant senate seat.


 * January 22: McCain would open a series of bipartisan meetings between the President, Secretary of the Treasury Warren Buffett, his economic advisors and Democrat and Republican leaders in Congress. The first day would center around bipartisan talks about a second stimulus package, tax incentives and tax cuts.


 * January 23: The Second day of talks would have some back and forth between Democrats and Republican leaders but for the most part they would go smoothly.


 * January 24: President McCain issues a short speech on his first "radio address", the speech would be dubbed the "Ask Yourself" speech as President McCain called for American of all backgrounds to devote time to help the nation in any way, either serving the military, help the less fortunate and other themes in his speech.


 * January 26: Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois would protest his own impeachment processes because of the "unfairness of the judge" on his strict resttrictions on witnessess.


 * January 27: McCain would meet only with congressional Democrats (Obama being one of the most prominent members), in order to discuss and explain his major ideas for a stimulus package and also his plans on an Economic Recovery Plan. This would include tax cuts, cuts in government spending and cuts in earmarks and pork barrel spending. The meeting would strecth out from January 27 to the 28.


 * January 29: The House of Representatives would vote on McCain's stimulus package (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009). As McCain had swayed some Democrats to vote due to the bipartisan talks the week before, it would pass with 255 to 177. Opposing Democrats would clammor for a bigger stimulus package, but McCain refused this, saying that "to save the economy we have to reduce taxes for the middle class and reduce government spending, not increase pork barrel spending". All in all 78 Democrats voted for the bill, showing the broad bipartisanship support. Governor Rod Blagojevich is impeached and removemed from office, Lt. Governor Pat Quinn would succede the unpopular governor. The effective last nail in his coffin came when new audio tapes came out that had Blagojevich saying he would "sell Obama's golden senate seat when Obama is president".


 * January 30: The RNC Chairmen Election would be deeply split as the battle came to former Lt. Governor of Maryland Michael Steele against incumbent RNC Chairmen Mike Duncan as Michigan Party Chairmen Saul Anuzis would run as a compromise choice for Chairmen. After a long battle, Michael Steele would become Chairmen after defeating Duncan and Anuzis. Steele would say that "It's time to lead the Republican Party in a new direction for a new generation".

February

 * February 1: (With smaller butterflys from election day to February) the Arizona Cardinals win 23 to 20. Many sports pundits called it the "Turnaround of 2009" against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pundits of politics had called this "McCain vs Obama-2" as Obama supported the Steelers and McCain supported the Cardinals.


 * February 2: President McCain moved to drum up more support amongst Democrats in the Senate by meeting with Democratic Senate leaders and prominent senate Democrats. McCain worked all the way up until the Senate vote on February 5th.


 * February 3: President McCain went directly to the American people as he held town hall meetings in Ohio, Pennsylvania and California. There, McCain talked about his plans of the stimulus package and the economy.


 * February 4: President McCain imposed a pay cap on senior executives from the most distressed financial institutions that receivied federal bailout money. McCain said that he was "disappointed" by the recklessness of the executives.


 * February 5: The Senate voted on McCain's stimulus package. The vote was 57 to 43, showing nine Democrats voting for the stimulus package. After the vote, political pundits dubbed President McCain the "bipartisan President" on account of this.


 * February 9: President McCain went to his home state of Arizona to talk about the mortage problem that plagues the nation. In Arizona, President McCain would say to a crowd of people that the newly passed stimulus package would give some aid but more help to the American people would be on the way and that "Americans have always shown pure inguinuity in troubled times and I believe that this is one of those times, America can and will overcome these economic issues..".


 * February 10: Treasury Secretary Buffett unveiled a revamped rescue plan for the economy and the American people. There would then be a noticable rise in the DOW afterwards.


 * February 12: On Lincoln's birthday, President McCain visited the resting place of the former President on Lincoln's birthday. Senator's Obama and Durbin were among many guests to the remembrance of the 16th President. Both Obama and McCain gave short speeches at the anniversary.


 * February 13: President McCain announced that after his swearing in on the 20th of January that his administration had worked to solve every possible for the Guantanamo question that "Gitmo" would be closed and the transfer of prisoners would begin today. Some pundits called this a breath of fresh air as others said why did it take so long. For this "transfer" would be slow and would take quite a while.


 * February 17: President McCain announced that there would be a transfer of nearly 20,000 soldiers from Iraq and other areas to aid the war in Afghanistan. President McCain said that down the line for the year 2009 that there would be more troops coming into the Afghan nation.


 * February 20: CNN and several other networks released President McCain's approval ratings and in a suprise McCain has a 73% approval. McCain's last rating was a 76% and with only the 3% fall and his bipartisan work in Congress and the passage of the Stimulus Bill seemed to be the reason that most of the 3% were weary liberals about the stimulus package.


 * February 25: Crackdowns on drug cartels occurred as Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge called on more aid to defend the border. President McCain supported this and call for a "a true and ready border defense".


 * February 27: President McCain called on the Afghanistani and Allied nations to send and deploy more troops to aid in the war in Afghanistan. One ringing text was "if we aren't winning, were loosing". A majority of Americans supported this. As few as 60% supported this move but also said they think that they could win in the long run.

March

 * March 2: Treasury Secretary Warren Buffett would say in a letter that him and others "Did some dumb things" and "we have to learn to do better or 2009 will be a year in shambles". The Stock would take a hit because of this through the day but would have small peak at the end of the day. Still these words would sting at the economy and Americans.


 * March 6: President McCain would meet with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for the first time as the 44th President of the United States. Both the McCain and Brown family would exchange gifts and PM Brown and President McCain would also takes questions from the media at an press conference.


 * March 8: Education Secretary Keegan would annouce that the education sector would be recieving a major plus funding after the small and easily passed Educational Expansion Bill was signed into law. President McCain would use this to bring up his plan for a national school voucher program.


 * March 10: After some time of debating and talking it over with Treasury Secretary Buffett, President McCain would say that he was considering loaning more money to the bigger banks to aid the economy and help keep them up so there ripple effects that it would send in the ecomony if they failed to stop it. McCain would say that this was an option to keep the on the right track. The DOW would move upwards after this and would repair the several day lag.


 * March 11: An huge spending bill put up by the Democrats in Congress would fight with Republicans and President McCain over it as the bill has thousands of earmarks in it and would be called by Democratic leaders as "An important piece of legislation that must be passed to aid the country from destruction..". This talk would have pundits and others in Congress call this fear mongering as Republicans rally enough support from weary Democrats to strike the bill down.


 * March 12: Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston would break off their relationship for the time being. The media would dive deep into this and would analyze it as Johnston would go onto Good Morning America and would say "We were in a fight," and. "And trying to see if we can make things work. But this is what it kind of ended up turning into. But we'll see what happens." Afterwards Vice President Palin would send out an statement saying "Bristol is going through alot right now, be gentle..".


 * March 13: President McCain would meet with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and would talk about a wide range of issues including the enviroment, energy, the economy, trade relations and and also the case of a New Jersey man trying to bring his 8-year-old son back from Brazil. McCain and Silva would have a calm and gracious meeting and McCain would trumphet this as part of his "new outlook on foreign policy" for the United States.


 * March 17: President McCain would meet with one of his cabinet members, this one being Energy Secretary T. Boone Pickens on an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana to talk about off shore drilling and using it to still supply oil as the President, his cabinet and Congress work on renewable energy bills and as Americans would then work on to solve the oil dependence that the US has.


 * March 18: President McCain would make history when he would come onto "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno". This would make history as it would be the first time an sitting president would go onto the Tonight Show but it wasn't an suprise as after McCain's victory in November he would go on to the Tonight Show as then the President-Elect.


 * March 20: After some buildup, one AIG executive would say that he "wanted to sue the US Government" for them not letting a number of AIG executives from getting their bonuses in an interview. This would ignite some debates but polls showed people support the small tag on on the Stimulus Package and even a number of AIG executives said they agreed, though reluctantly that they shouldn't get their bonuses as well. After a circus for a day or so, the AIG bonus story dissapeared.


 * March 21: The Veterans Affairs and Support Reform Act would pass after a quick vote in Congress. It would pick up bipartisan support as Veterans Reform and also a complete rehaul of the Veterans Affairs Office was needed. Some Republican called this uneeded spending, but President McCain defended this. The act passed with 65 for and 32 against.


 * March 24: New approval ratings for President McCain would come out as 78% approved of what the President had done so far. This was a testament as his approvals had only raised two points but still McCain was riding on a strong supporting American people. Though many had said that McCain could and would pass into the 80% mark maybe, but he was still in the high 70's as he had been more active during part of February and March but Americans wanted to see the President but also see him working on the problems that face the nation more fervently.


 * March 27: More troops would be shipped to Afghanistan to aid in the war, about 6,000 in total would be sent as President McCain would say this was apart of his grander scale for the Afghan War.


 * March 30: President McCain would put stronger sanctions against Iran, this would cause backlash as over the 30th and 31st of March, Democrats would call this "unacceptable" as they called for an extension of a olive branch to Iran instead. Soon after Ambassador Graham would get into a shouting match with an Iranian Ambassador in a summit, this would receive much scrutiny about if Graham was the right choice for the UN Ambassador position.

April

 * April 1: President McCain would make a short journey to Europe one day early for the G-20 meeting in London. McCain would meet with a number of international leaders, from his meetings with Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy with many warm gestures to his "chilly" meeting as it was called between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.


 * April 2: The G-20 meeting would commence in London as numerous different leaders met and their main discussion was on the world economy and the recession plaguing them all in some way. Protesters lined the streets as some staunch anti-McCain protesters nearly set off an all out riot. Back at the U.S., some of the media would call it a meeting of "kooks".


 * April 3-4: At the historic 60th anniversary of NATO, President McCain would attend the Strasbourg–Kehl summit where the major themes would be the relations with Russia, the War in Afghanistan, France's possible intergration and a new strategic concept. McCain also strongly supported Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen's candidacy to succeed Jaap de Hoop Scheffer as General Secretary of NATO. A crisis errupted when during the final selection process only one country, Turkey, remained opposed to Rasmussen's candidacy, partly because of his handling of the Muhammad cartoon episode in 2005 and Denmark's tolerance of allegded PKK-supported Roj TV. Following tense negotiations throughout the night and the Summmit on April 4, Turkey withdrew its opposition to Rasmussen's appointment when it received assurances from U.S. president McCain that Turkish officials would be appointed to three high posts in NATO. While McCain would be mentioned as one of the politicians influential in the appointment of Rasmussen as the Secretary-General, McCain would garner some criticism from the Russians after he said that he hoped that NATO would expand and one major choice to be admitted into NATO were offered to countries like Georgia and Ukraine.


 * April 5: North Korea, after dismay and anger from western powers, would test a missile capable of launching a satellite or also being used as a long range ballistic missile. The missile fails ultimatly but has much the US and it's allies on their edge as thoughts of a nucleaur armed North Korea were troubuling.


 * April 9: In the wake of the launch of a failed missile test by the North Koreans, President McCain called on China to take a strong stance on North Korea and urged them to support the international community in imposing sanctions on North Korea. McCain would also say that the friendly Asian nations to the USA must be united in the "threat of danger".


 * April 11: Press Secretary Brooke Buchanan finally issues a real statement on behalf of the McCain Administration on the Somali pirates. Buchanan said that "The Administration is dealing with the problem on it's own terms, but with cases like the one with Captain Richard Phillips will not go without consequences to the aggressors".


 * April 13: More news comes from Washington that the McCain Administration will be loosening restrictions on Cuba, mainly to the many Cuban Americans with family on the island nation. A certain sentiment is shown by much of the media and also by the Administration as they echo a voice that "The diplomacy with Cuba hasn't worked, it's time to try something different".


 * April 14: At a UN summit of "Anti-Racism", Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would be one of the speakers at the opening and would draw crticism from some remarks about there attacks on Israel. A number of delegates would boycott the opening mainly because of the Iranian President's speech.


 * April 21: President McCain would issue that he was expanding Americorps and other "volunteerism" groups. McCain would use this also to tout his ideas of volunteerism and also talk to the American people and try to "inspire" people help their communities and selfless services is part of what makes Americans “exceptional.”


 * April 27: The "Swine Flu" would begin to become a major issue as cases top up in the United States as Mexico is taking a beating as a death toll in Mexico rises. Secretaries Huckabee and Ridge would make statements over the days about the "Swine Flu".


 * April 29: President McCain's first 100 days come as the nation is in a cold grip by the growing "Swine Flu" influenza. Secretaries Huckabee and Ridge would continue to have interviews with the media over this. Soon the World Health Organization (WHO) would raise the alert lvel from level four to level five, which is seen as a preparation for a pandemic. President McCain would announce that he would address the nation the same night over the "Swine Flu" spread and his plans to try and stop the spread of it.

May

 * May 3: State Secretary Lieberman would meet with Afghanistani and Pakistani leaders in a conference and would discuss the Taliban strength and the worry from the Taliban's "march" in a way and about something like the Taliban gaining the Pakistani nuclear weapons and that if the nation of Pakistan could substain it's self.


 * May 5: President McCain would meet with Israeli President Shimon Peres. This meeting would be used to reaffirm the US's backing of Israel but McCain would also say that there of course wouldn't be "A one way street" between the two nations.


 * May 7: President McCain would unveil several new cuts to the federal budget. This plans would get applaude from some as others attacked McCain, sighting that more funds needed to go to several of the programs that McCain cuts some of it's funding and not less.


 * May 22: President McCain announces his choice for successor to Justice David Souter's seat on the Supreme Court. McCain's choice would be Consuelo María Callahan, the Federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. McCain's pick of Callahan would be applauded by Republicans and Democrats for a new step for a more diverse Supreme Court.


 * May 25: President McCain would call for a time of reflection for the nation on Memorial Day. Former 2008 Democratic challenger Barack Obama would join McCain in calling for reflection. McCain would unhold the tradition of send a wreath to the Confederate Monument at Arlington National Cemetery. This small act would gain some blows from African American groups who said that President McCain needed to "finally break the tradition of honoring hatred". McCain would brush this off.


 * May 31: President McCain denounces and condemns the killing of George Tiller. McCain would say that he didn't support what Tiller believed but would say that the differences weren't worth killing over. A number of Democrats and Republicans would applaud the President's quick and put together statement about the Tiller shooting and the "Denounceation of Extremism".

June

 * June 1: The President would continue on his journey through the Middle East to bolster that there would be "A new outlook for American Diplomacy". McCain would meet with several Middle Eastern leaders, one being King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.


 * June 2: With the aid from former first lady Nancy Reagan, the McCain Administration would say that they were announcing legislation honoring the achievements of former President, Ronald Reagan.


 * June 3: President McCain would speak in Cairo, Egypt to try and reasure to the Middle East world that a peace could be struck. McCain would also try and use this to repair the image of America abroad. The Speech was met by luke warm as some did see that McCain was trying but others denounced him as "another George Bush". Something the same would happen back home in the US as the speech was applauded, analyzed and criticized.


 * June 4: The European Parliament Elections of 2009 would results in loss for the Labour Party and Gordon Brown as they were pushed to 16 seats, the Liberal Democrats at 11 seats, the Conservatives at 23 and the UK Independence at 14. Other victors would the surpise victories of the British National Party. These losses for the Labour Party would cause a ruckus in Brown's Administration.


 * June 5: President McCain would meet with leaders in Buchenwald and mainly though German Prime Minister and survivors of the atrocities of the Holocaust. McCain would declare that he hoped that "something so terrible like this will never happen again" and would say that he would try and combat hatred abroad.


 * June 6: President McCain, French President Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper would meet on the anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France. The leaders would speak of the triumphs and loss of life of D-Day at that "it should never be forgotten".


 * June 12: The Iranian Presidential Election of 2009 would be held as the west would hold it's breath as they watched who would win. The incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would "win" in the sense as many voting irregularites would spark fury from many Mir-Hossein Mousavi supporters. Protest would begin to form quickly and this would become the signs of what was yet to come.


 * June 19: President McCain would put out a simple address on Father's Day. This little address would call for Father's to be good to there children, it would also splice into that those certain father's to "man up" and be responsible for there child they helped create.


 * June 20: President McCain would "fully give his support" for the protester in Iran against the election results and Ahmadinejad. Though this hurt the protesters as the Iranian Government tensed up and stepped up harrassement on the protesters, they would remain fervent for their beliefs.


 * June 23: President McCain met with Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, Secretary of Labor Jodi Rell as well as members of the Senate and the House of Representatives from both political parties at the White House to discuss immigration reform. During the meeting a working group on immigration reform – headed by Homeland Security Secretary Ridge – was created, with the task of look into how to handle the 12 million illegal immigrants already in the United States, how to prevent future illegal immigration, implement legalization and workplace enforcement programs, securing the nation’s borders, solve the problem with immigration detention system and figure out solutions to promote future flow of legal immigrants.


 * June 25: A massive rally would be held as protesters bounced back from their being split off from each other by Iranian Government forces and also their harrassment of the protesters. Former Iranian Presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi would be the leader of the massive rally and would lead to what many had though would happen. Mousavi would be shot by a sniper and the protesters were sent into a frenzy as they even more violently clashed with Iranian Government forces.

The House of Representatives votes for a "Health Care Reform" Bill. The more Republican led bill would be characterized by supporting private health care and also to address the cost of health care and attempt to make it more affordable for all Americans. The bill would soon go to the Senate as Democrats mounted up opposition there for the fight.
 * June 26: President McCain would quickly condemn the actions of Ahmadinejad and the Islamic Governemnt of Iran against the protesters and their link to the death of numerous peaceful protesters.

July

 * July 3: Vice President Sarah Palin annouces in a tearful statement she will resign as Vice President of the United States effective July 26th, 2009 after 5 months of being Vice President. She announced she would resign to tend to personal family matters. She said it was an honor to serve as Vice President of the United States but because of the task of tending to family matters, being away from her family for periods of time while traveling overseas and the unexpected preasures of the job that resigning the Vice Presidency would serve the best intrests of the United States and her family.


 * July 6: After the Independence day weekend President John Mc Cain picks Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty to replace Sarah Palin as Vice President.


 * July 10: Iranian President Ahmadinejad would issue that any other protests in Tehran and across Iran, would meet with sharp rebuttal by military forces. Even with this the Tehran based "Green Mousavists" or "Mousavista's" would plan a massive demonstration, to test the will of the military. This would prove fatal.


 * July 11: President McCain's backed health care reform plan fails in Congress after the plan appealed to Republicans but not to Democrats in a significant way. With this loss, the President and his supporters would have to start the ball rolling again on Health Care Reform.


 * July 12: Massive demonstrators march defiantly after the Iranian government issued strong words against any other protests against the government. Tehran would be where most would occur and even though the city was under a firm heel of the Iranian army forces there, demonstrators flocked in the streets. As the protesters seeming "army" grew, so did the stress on the Iranian military forces. Around mid afternoon, said to be provoked, a number of Iranian forces would fire into the crowd, igniting immediate attack. Both sides clashed as the demonstrators put up a fight into the night but the Mousavista demonstrators will had been tested and so had the security of Tehran.


 * July 13: Iranian President Ahmadinejad would put "Tehran in lock and chain" for now. He would also issue a statement condemning the actions by the protesters and their "wicked ways". Ahmadinejad would also call the Mousavista's simply "Terrorists".


 * July 14: President McCain and other world leaders would quickly condemn the actions made by the Iranian Government. President McCain would make a quick draw statement, saying that the Admadinejad government was "an illegal ruler of Iran" and "not far away from the Nazi Party". Leftist who were angered at the half cocked nature of the President and also any involvement in Iranian affairs, quickly jumped on the quotes, berating McCain as "overtly expansionist".


 * July 19: Scandal erupts when allegations of abusing of power on "special agricultural trips" to other nations is laid on Mark Sanford. Sanford would deny all of the charges.


 * July 21: New reports would come out that Sanford's trip to Argentina was involved with him meeting a women named "Maria". Soon allegations of abuse of powers would change to extramarital affair in the world of journalism.


 * July 24: Agriculture Secretary Sanford would say in a tearfilled address, that he had "crossed the line" on other occasions with other women and that he had met his "soul mate" and would have to learn to love his wife again. With this now out in the open, President McCain would phone the Agriculture Secretary and ask him to resign in due speed.


 * July 25: Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty resigns his post as Minnesota Governor to be the new Vice President of the United States. Lieutenant Governor Carol Molnau is sworn in as the new Governor of Minnesota. Carol Molnau is Minnesota's first female Governor. Sarah Palin makes a farwell speech. In her farwell speech she says it was the highest honor to serve as Vice President of the United States and that it was a very challenging and intresting position. She wished good luck the new Vice President Tim Pawlenty.


 * July 26: Sarah Palin offically leaves the Vice Presidency. Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is sworn as the 48th Vice President of the United States. Former Vice President Sarah Palin and her family board Air Force Two for the last time to fly back to Alaska.


 * July 29: Agriculture Secretary Sanford resigns, stating that he wanted to focus on mending his relationship with his wife. This coming only three days after Vice President Palin officially left office.

August

 * August 2: President McCain would announce that he was nominating Tom Vilsack, the 40th Governor of the state of Iowa. A Democat, the reaction to Vilsack's nomination from agricultural groups was largely positive and included endorsements from the Corn Refiners Association, the National Grain and Feed Association, the National Farmers Union, the American Farm Bureau Federation, and the Environmental Defense Fund.


 * August 8: President John McCain travelled to Mexico for the two-day North American Leaders' Summit with the leaders of Mexico and Canada.


 * August 10: President McCain met in Guadalajara, Mexico with President Felipe Calderón of Mexico and Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada for a trilateral meeting to discuss the global economy, climate change, security and safety, as well as the H1N1 pandemic.


 * August 7: Blue dog Democrats and Republicans would sponsor a new Health Care Reform bill in the House. This bill would be a modified version in an attempt to play to gaining support from both Democrats and Republicans, which the former bill failed to do.


 * August 29: President McCain would give the eulogy at the funeral service of Senator Edward Moore Kennedy. Former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush (also representing his father, former President George H. W. Bush) attended, along with Vice President Pawlenty, three former Vice Presidents, 58 senators, 21 former senators (among them Barack Obama), many members of the House of Representatives, and several foreign dignitaries.

September

 * September 14: In the Norwegian parliamentary election, the opposition shockingly managed to gain enough seats in parliament with 87 seats compared to the 82 seats of Prime Minister Stoltenberg's Red-Green coalition. As a result, the Conservative Party and Progress Party announced their intention to form a new centre-right government with Siv Jensen as Prime Minister with the support of the Christian Democratic Party.


 * September 20: A 66 page report by General Stanley McChrystal (Commander og U.S. Forces Afghanistan and the International Security Assistance Force) to Defense Secretary Robert Gates was released to the public by the Washington Post, in which McChrystal called for more troops in Afghanistan, warning that the war in Afghanistan may be lost if more troops are not sent, but the report ends on a note of cautious optimism: “While the situation is serious, success is still achievable.” General McChrystal requested between 30,000 and 40,000 more troops in Afghanistan.


 * September 23: President McCain gives his first speech to the United Nations General Assembly.


 * September 24: In a first for an American president, McCain chairs a U.N. Security Council summit dedicated to nuclear disarmament and proliferation.


 * September 27: In the German federal election, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) won the election, and the three parties announced their intention to form a new centre-right government with Angela Merkel as Chancellor. McCain would congratulate Merkel with her re-election and the renewed mandate to govern Germany.

October

 * October 1: President McCain would meet with his national security team to discuss the situation in Afghanistan and a new military strategy. Over the next month he would meet with his national security team eight times, meeting twice a week and devoted between 5 and 10 hours discussing the political, social and military situation in the country. Despite being in favour of General McChrystal's assessment, he would pepper advisers with questions, analysing dozens of intelligence reports for him and Pentagon staff members who churned out thousands of pages of documents, as well as inviting competing voices to debate in front of him. He would also talk closely with both General Petraeus and General McChrystal, often for hours.


 * October 23: President McCain travels to Dover Air Force Base to oversee the return of eighteen American soldiers killed in Afghanistan.


 * October 30: President McCain travels to the United States Military Academy, where he presents his new battle strategy for the War in Afghanistan. The new strategy includes the deployment of 45,000 additional U.S. forces, increased NATO presence, as well as increased training of the Afghan security forces and humanitarian development.

November

 * November 6: John McCain would visit Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., to award two Purple Hearts.


 * November 10: President John McCain would give a eulogy at the Fort Hood ceremony honoring those killed in the shooting rampage on November 5, 2009, by Major Nidal Malik Hasan.


 * November 11: President McCain travelled to Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day, to lay a ceremonial wreath on the Tomb of the Unknowns.


 * November 28: President McCain sent his condolences to Russia after the derailment of an express train running from Moscow to St. Petersburg resulting from a terrorist bomb attack which killed at least 26 people and injured dozat least 90 others. The White House spokesman said in a statement say that the President is "deeply saddened by the terrible loss of life and injuries cause by this horrible terrorist strike. Our hearts go out to the families of those who lost loved ones, and we wish a speedy recovery to the injured."

December

 * December 3 - 4: Secretary of State Joe Lieberman would attend the Meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, where they would discuss the NATO-Ukraine Commission, the NATO-Georgia Commission, the NATO-Russia Council, the cooperation between NATO and Russia on the ballistic missile defense shield in Central Europe, and the troop contributors in ISAF in Afghanistan. During the meeting, Secretary General of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen would once again announce that NATO would contribute with between 5,000 and 7,000 troops to the surge in Afghanistan. Several nations announced increased troop contributions, including Italy (1000 soldiers with 140 Carabineris), Georgia (923), Poland (600), the United Kingdom (500), South Korea (400), Slovakia (250), Hungary (200), Spain (200), Norway (200), Portugal (150), Sweden (125), Australia (120), the Czech Republic (100), Romania (100), Albania (85; 35 combat troops, 50 trainers), Colombia (80), Macedonia (80), Turkey (60), Armenia (40), Croatia (40), Mongolia (40), Montenegro (40), Finland (25), Ukraine (22), Lithuania (20) and Kazakhstan (5). France announced that they would not increase troop numbers, while Germany announced that they would wait until the Afghanistan-Pakistan Summit in London in January 2010.


 * December 10: Colombian Senator Piedad Córdoba was awarded the Nobel Peace prize at the Oslo City Hall in Oslo, Norway, for her efforts to find a negotiated solution to the conflict between FARC and the Colombian government.
 * December 14: McCain would in a statement express his sympathy with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a personal friend, who was physically assaulted during a political rally in Milan on December 13. He condemned the assault on the Premier, calling it "despicable". McCain also commented that "political differences cannot be solved by turning to violence, only arguments in a civilized manner can". He also had a phone conversation with the hospitalized Premier, who was recovering from a broken nose and two broken teeth. He also telephoned the hospitalized Premier, wishing him a speedy recovery and thanking him for the "leadership" he had shown in Afghanistan where Italy has contributed more troops than any of America's NATO allies to the surge against the Taliban. McCain's sympathies joined those of politicians from across the Italian political spectrum and from world leaders including Germany's Angela Merkel, France's Nicolas Sarkozy, Britain's Gordon Brown, Russia's Vladimir Putin and Pope Benedict XVI.


 * December 18: McCain would travel to Denmark to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. While there, he along with the leaders of France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the European Union, India, South Africa, and Brazil would express their frustration for the Chinese delegation's behavior. The Guardian would reveal the following that in a private discussion with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the Brazilian delegation, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, McCain would reportedly say that they should reach an agreement "without having the Commie bastards dictating the rest of the world. Their only goal is to humiliate us by accepting a horrible agreement where we would be blamed for the failure".


 * December 19: At a joint press conference between President McCain, President of the UN Climate Change Conference and Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Secretary General United Nations Ban Ki-moon would announce the details of the Copenhagen Accord, which among others included long-term emission-reduction goals for global emissions to decrease by 50%, and developed countries emissions to fall by 70% by 2050 compared to 1990. While not as much as the initial 80% by 2050, the agreement was widely praised. The Chinese delegation led by Premier Wen Jinbao would leave in anger, much to the surprise to some of the other delegates. Jinbao would criticize McCain for playing a "dangerous game". In Iran, one of the oldest and most prominent dissidents, Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, died, an event that triggers new anti-government demonstrations.


 * December 23: In Iran, Members of an Islamist militia attack the house of the reformer Ayatollah Yusuf Sanei in Qom.


 * December 24: Iran prohibits the memorial service for Montazeri across Iran, only with the exception of those in his birthplace, and in Qom. Meanwhile, the McCain family arrives in Phoenix, Arizona for a 10-day holiday vacation.


 * December 25: A 23 year-old Nigerian passenger known as Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to ignite a small explosive device consisting of a mix of 80 grams of plastic explosive powder (pentaerythritol tetranitrate, PETN) and liquid acid on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit. Several passengers and crew noticed the attack. A Dutch passenger, Jasper Schuringa, ran forward and tackled and overpowered the suspect, while the flight attendants extinguished the fire. The suspect was taken into custody and later charged by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with bringing a destructive device onto, and attempting to destroy, a U.S. civil aircraft.


 * President McCain was notified of the incident by an aide while on a vacation in Phoenix, Arizona, and issued a statement that he condemned the attempted terrorist attack, but also said that the incident "demonstrates that an alert and courageous citizenry are far more resilient than an isolated extremist.". He also announced that all appropriate measures would be taken as well as a massive investigation to find out how Abdulmutallab managed to smuggle an explosive device aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253. McCain also spoke with officials from the Department of Homeland Security. The White House said that McCain was actively monitoring the situation.


 * December 26: The investigation of the attempted terrorist attack after an incident on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 reveal alleged ties between Abdulmutallab and Anwar al-Awlaki, a Muslim lecturer and spiritual leader who has been accused of being a senior al-Qaeda recruiter and motivator linked to various terrorists. Al-Awlaki, previously an imam in the U.S. who more recently lived in Yemen, also has links to three of the 9/11 hijackers, the suspected Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan, a plot to attack Fort Dix, and a Toronto terror cell. While in custody, Abdulmutallab told authorities he had been directed by al-Qaeda, and that he had obtained the device in Yemen, along with instructions from al-Qaeda as to how to use it and to detonate it when the plane was over US soil.


 * The Department of Homeland Security announces that additional security measures would be in place for the remainder of the Christmas travel period, with Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge saying that "while they might be frustrating for the many people travelling in this holiday season, it is better to be on the safe side."


 * December 27: Investigation of the attempted terrorist attack continues, with questions regarding how Abdulmutallab managed to enter Northwest Airlines Flight 253 with the explosive device and without a passport and whether security procedures for flights bound to the United States were insufficient. It was also revealed that Alhaji Umaru Mutallab (one of the richest men in Africa, and the prominent former Nigerian Federal Commissioner for Economic Development and Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria) had made a report to the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, on November 19 regarding his son's "extreme religious views", and told the embassy that Abdulmutallab might be in Yemen.


 * In his second press conference following the attack, McCain said that


 * A Dutch military police spokesperson said that Abdulmutallab did not go through passport control at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, where large numbers of passengers are processed en-route to North America from Africa, and the Dutch counter-terrorism agency NCTb said that it had started a probe into where the suspect originated. A preliminary investigation, however, found no security lapses, and despite being listed as having a potential terrorism connection, the suspect had a valid U.S. visa.


 * In Iran, five people die in Teheran when reformist demonstrators clash with security forces, which according to police were the "worst outbreak of violence" since the controversial elections in June. In the Kerman province, relatives of two men sentenced to death stormed the execution site as they were about to be hanged, and while the crowd held the two up to avoid them from dying, two men climbed up on the gallows, and cut them loose with a knife. They were then transported away from the execution site. This marked the first time that Iranians openly opposed the barbaric punishments used in the Iranian justice system. An opposition website said that eight people were killed in Teheran and other cities in Iran, as tens of thousands of people took to the streets. Police in Teheran said they were investigating the "suspicious deaths". Among the dead were opposition leader Mousavi's nephew Seyed Ali Mousavi.


 * December 28: CBS reveals that as early as August of 2009 the Central Intelligence Agency was picking up information on a person of interest dubbed "The Nigerian," suspected of meeting with "terrorist elements" in Yemen, who later turned out to be Abdulmutallab. But that information was never connected with the warning from Abdulmutallabs father. McCain issued a statement criticizing the failures in the security system that allowed explosives to enter the plane, calling the situation "totally unacceptable," and calling for flaws to be fixed immediately.


 * Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) indicated that it was responsible for the attempted bombing, and said that the attack during "their (Christians) celebration of the Christmas holidays" was to "avenge U.S. attacks on the militants in Yemen".


 * McCain would in a speech at his residence in Phoenix, Arizona criticize the Iranian government's violent crackdown on the protests, declaring that "The decision of Iran's leaders to govern through fear and tyranny will not continue" and that the United States and the West stands by the "Green Revolution". He would also criticize Uzbekistan following the Uzbek Parliamentary elections on December 27, 2009, calling the election "a farce" and saying that "human rights are violated everywhere around the country, there is no political competition, and all the parties that are running for this election are supporting the government of President Islam Karimov." He would also state that AQAP had trained, equipped, and dispatched Abdulmutallab, and vowed retribution.


 * December 29: CNN reported that there were rumours of McCain and his Administration planning to launch a military offensive against the AQAP's sanctuary in Yemen, in order to assist the Yemeni government's efforts to combat AQAP. White House Press Secretary Brooke Buchanan would deny this.


 * December 30: Dutch officials announced that they would use 3D full-body scanning x-ray technology on flights departing to the U.S., to be installed within two to three weeks. Body scanners are being implemented despite concerns from privacy advocates. Dutch officials have said that security must take priority over the privacy of the individuals being scanned. The developer of the technology has said that the scanned imagery does not compromise the privacy of individuals, as the resolution of the imagery is too low to display the body in anatomical detail; however, it would certainly detect non-metallic objects under clothing, such as powdered explosives.

January

 * January 1: A 28-year-old Somali Muslim intruder armed with an axe and knife entered the home of Kurt Westergaard, the Danish cartoonist who created the controversial cartoon of the Muslim prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb in his turban, and was subsequently shot and wounded by police. Westergaard was unharmed, because of the security precautions in his house. The suspect was arrested, taken into custody and charged with attempted murder of Westergaard and a police officer. According to PET intelligence, the suspect is closely linked to the Somali Islamist insurgency group al-Shabaab, commonly considered a terrorist organization, as well as al-Qaeda leaders in East Africa, and has been part of a "terror-related network" with Danish ties.


 * January 2: McCain would for the next days meet with his National Security Council, along with Director of the CIA Bobby Ray Inman and Director of FBI Robert Mueller, to discuss the attempted terrorist attack against Northwest Airlines Flight 253.


 * January 3: The McCain Administration and the British government would announce their increased funding to a counterterrorism police unit in Yemen to tackle the rising terrorist threat from the country. while the United Kingdom would give more than £100 million ($161 million) to Yemen in 2011, while the U.S. government would increase its funding to counterterrorism measures in Yemen from $ 4,4 million (2006) to $65,6 million.


 * January 4: The McCain administration is locked in internal debate over a top-secret policy blueprint for shrinking the U.S. nuclear arsenal and reducing the role of such weapons in America's military strategy and foreign policy. Officials in the Pentagon and elsewhere have pushed back against McCain administration proposals to cut the number of weapons and narrow their mission, according to U.S. officials and outsiders who have been briefed on the process. In turn, White House officials, unhappy with early Pentagon-led drafts of the blueprint known as the Nuclear Posture Review, steppes up their involvement in the deliberations and ordered that the document reflect McCain's preference for sweeping change.


 * January 7: Sam Nunn, the National Security advisor said that Americans would feel "a certain shock" when a report detailing the intelligence failures that could have prevented the Christmas Day attack were released later that day. He said that President McCain would be "legitimately and correctly alarmed that things that were available, bits of information that were available, patterns of behavior that were available, were not acted on."


 * January 8: At a press conference at the White House along with Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge and Deputy National Security Advisor John O. Brennan, President McCain would criticize the U.S. intelligence agencies for "failing to interpret, compile, use and share information they had available. The failure was a serious error that could have had catastrophic consequences." He would announce improved security measures at U.S. airports and aviation security, including the order to U.S. security agencies to work better together to prevent terrorism, invest significant amounts to improve security at U.S. airports (including the introduction of 3D full-body scanning x-ray technology) as well strengthen cooperation with other countries around the world. Under new rules prompted by the incident, airline passengers travelling to the U.S. from 14 nations will aslo undergo extra screening: Afghanistan, Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.


 * January 10: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) is facing harsh criticism due to a quote in the book "Game Change" by Mark Halperin og John Heileman, where he is quoted as saying privately in 2008 that Obama could be successful as a black candidate in part because of his "light-skinned" appearance and speaking patterns "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." While Chairman of the Republican Party Michael Steele and Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) called on Reid to give up his post, Reid's appology was accepted by Obama, saying that "Harry Reid called me today and apologized for an unfortunate comment reported today. I accepted Harry's apology without question because I've known him for years, I've seen the passionate leadership he's shown on issues of social justice and I know what's in his heart." President McCain would ask for restraint, saying that "while his remarks are embarrassing and racially insensitive, Obama has accepted his apology, and I am not intending to blow this particular case out of proporsions". He also urged the American people to join him in starting an open, honest and respectful debate on race.


 * January 11: A U.S. delegation consisting of Secretary of State Joe Lieberman and Defense Minister Robert Gates would travel to Yemen, where they met with President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Mujur, Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Kerbi and Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Muhammad Nasir Ahmad Ali to discuss increased military cooperation between Yemen and the United States in combatting al-Qa'ida on the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen, in response to the attempted terrorist attack against Northwest Airlines Flight 253.


 * Some Democrats in Congress would demand that the United States would hold back their guarantees of loan to Israel following the announcement by the Israeli government that they would begin construction of a 703 meter long barrier along the Israeli-Egyptian border at the cost of 1.5 billion Shekel.


 * January 12: A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey show that 72% of people questioned in the poll said they have a moderate or great deal of confidence in the McCain administration to protect the public from future terrorist attacks, while 23 percent disapproved. While the survey showed that positive view of McCain on this matter was largest among Republicans (82%), the survey showed that 61% of independents and 51% of Democrats approve of how the president responded to the incident on Christmas Day. The survey also showed that the vast majority of Americans supported McCain's plan to introduce full-body scanners in airports across the country.


 * At the headquarters of the Council of the European Union in Brussels, Belgium, the U.S. Special Envoy for the Middle East Richard Jones met with High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East Tony Blair and foreign ministers David Miliband (United Kingdom), Bernard Kouchner (France), Guido Westerwelle (Germany), Franco Frattini (Italy), Miguel Ángel Moratinos (Spain) and Morten Høglund (Norway) to re-start the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, with the goal of a two-state solution.


 * At 4:53:09 p.m. local time, an earthquake with magnitude 7.0 Mw centered approximately 10 miles (16 km) from Port-au-Prince, Haiti damaged most of Port-au-Prince's major landmarks, including the National Presidential Palace of Haiti, the National Assembly building, the Port-au-Prince Cathedral and at least one hospital. Tens of thousands were reported missing.


 * January 13: In response to the earthquake in Haiti, McCain said: "My thoughts and prayers go out to those who have been affected by this earthquake. We are closely monitoring the situation and we stand ready to assist the people of Haiti." Immediately after the earthquake, Secretary of State Lieberman said the United States would provide civilian and military disaster relief and humanitarian assistance to Haiti in form of 72 search-and-rescue personnel, six rescue dogs and up to 48 tons of equipment.


 * In Washington D.C., McCain' temper would come under scrutiny as a quote in the book "Game Change" by Mark Halperin og John Heileman said that during the 2008 presidential campaign McCain had yelled "FUCK YOU! FUCK, FUCK, fuck, fuck" at his wife Cindy. Press Secretary Brooke Buchanan would respond to this by saying that the relationship between the McCains was at its best, but that they at times quarrel like any other couple. Other politicians, including Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Guliani, Joe Biden and Barack Obama were also criticized in the book.


 * The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) said lawmakers should consider whether U.S.-led air strikes, drone attacks and, if necessary special forces on the ground in Yemen to defeat an emboldened al-Qaida force there. This was bluntly refused by the Yemeni government.


 * Televangelist Pat Robertson claimed that Haiti's founders had sworn a "pact to the Devil" in order to liberate themselves from the French slave owners and indirectly attributed the earthquake to the consequences of the Haitian people being "cursed" for doing so.


 * January 14: At a joint press conference with Vice President Pawlenty, Secretary of State Lieberman and Secretary of Defense Gates in attendance, McCain would announce a massive humanitarian and military response to the earthquake in Haiti. The United States would commit $100,000,000 to help Haiti recover from the earthquake, dispatch the Coast Guard cutters Forward and Mohawk to coordinate military aircraft over Haiti with satellite communications, two Coast Guard C-130s to fly up and down the coast looking for people needing help, while two Coast Guard helicopters arrived to provide rescue or other assistance. The Navy would dispatch the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and its helicopters would provide critical air transport for relief workers, while the hospital ship USNS Comfort and other ships including destroyers would move toward Haiti to provide relief. The Marines would dispatch a a Navy amphibious assault ship carrying a force of about 2,200 Marines from Camp Lejeune to help provide security, support the embassy or support humanitarian work. The army would dispatch a more than 3,500-strong Army brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division based at Fort Bragg.


 * In her daily press briefing, White House Press Secretary Brooke Buchanan commented Robertson's commentary: "It never ceases to amaze that in times of amazing human suffering somebody says something that could be so utterly stupid." It was reported that McCain himself had referred to Robertson's commentary as "Bullshit" and said that Robertson was an "agent of intolerance corrupting influences on religion and politics."


 * Meanwhile, in Yemen, as the country's council of Muslim clerics called for jihad if foreign troops were to establish themselves in the country, Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Muhammad Nasir Ahmad Ali declared an open war on al-Qaida, saying that "The war security forces launched against al-Qaeda elements is open whenever or wherever we find these elements. Yemen is determined to clear its territory of al-Qaeda members."


 * January 16: McCain met with former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush at the White House, where he announced the establishment of the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund to raise contributions for relief and recovery efforts following the 2010 Haiti earthquake.


 * January 18: At 0950, seven Taliban militans launch a coordinated suicide attack in central Kabul, Afghanistan. Taliban gunmen attacked the presidential palace, the central bank and several government buildings. The shopping complex Gulbahar, and a cinema in the city was targetted by the attackers. Twelve people died in the attack, including the Taliban fighters, with dozens reported wounded. According to a statement on a Taliban website, the nearby Serena Hotel and government buildings were the intended target for the attack.


 * McCain would immediately condemn the attack, saying that "It is an indiscriminate attack on public areas of Kabul which shows the Taliban deliberately disregard the lives of ordinary Afghans. The United States and the rest of the international community stand united with the government of Afghanistan and express our condolences for the lives lost in the attack. This incident strengthens our resolve to build a safer, more secure Afghanistan."


 * An ABC News investigation revealed that coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army. U.S. military rules specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan and were drawn up in order to prevent criticism that the U.S. was embarked on a religious "Crusade" in its war against al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents.


 * McCain would along with Former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell be engaged in community service to honor slain civil rights hero Martin Luther King Jr., while also visiting the American Red Cross headquarters.


 * January 19: In the 2010 United States Senate special election in Massachusetts in order to fill the vacant Massachusetts Class I Senate seat created by the death of Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy on August 25, 2009, Republican Party candidate Scott Brown suprisingly wins with a large margin (51.9%) over Democratic Party candidate Martha Coakly (47.1%).


 * January 25: President McCain delivered his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress. Among the topics that McCain covered in his speech were proposals for job creation, federal deficit reduction, change of structure of government in Washington, D.C., campaign finance regulation and foreign policy. He also criticized the heated political tone between Democrats and Republicans.


 * Ali Hassan Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti, first cousin of former President of Iraq Saddam Hussein and the former Ba'athist Iraqi Defense Minister, Interior Minister, military commander and chief of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, known as "Chemical Ali" by Iraqi Kurds for his use of chemical weapons in attacks against the Kurds in the north in the 1980s, was executed by hanging after being sentenced to death for a forth time on January 17.


 * January 26: McCain would travel to Afghanistan and Iraq. In Afghanistan, McCain met Afghan president Hamid Karzai, the Head of ISAF and U.S. Forces Afghanistan Gen. Stanley McChrystal and U.S. soldiers at Bagram Air Base. He then continued to Iraq, where he met Iraqi president Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to discuss the upcoming parliamentary election due March 7, 2010. He also visited U.S. soldiers fighting in the Iraq War.


 * January 27: McCain travelled to Batumi, Georgia. While there, he was awarded the Order of the National Hero of Georgia for his strong support for Georgia during the 2008 Georgia-Russia War by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. During the war, he had stated that now "we are all Georgians" and vehemently criticising the actions of Russia. Saakashvili said McCain called him during the war and told him "not to surrender and not to say no to freedom" when "some well-known world figures were telling us to stop resistance." He continued that "The fact that a part of Georgia is free today is the achievement of our friends. It was the idea of freedom that stopped [Russian] tanks in Georgia". McCain said the award was "an expression of partnership and solidarity between our two nations, confronted by common challenges, bound by common interests, and united by common democratic values. Of all the honours I've received in my life the National Hero Award is among the most meaningful and it is one that I would cherish forever." At the beginning of the ceremony, McCain was also handed what Saakashvili said was a golden pistol that once belonged to an American pilot captured by Soviet troops in Vietnam. He said it had been sold during the August war to a Georgian businessman by a Russian general.


 * January 28: International Conference on Afghanistan was held at Lancaster House in London, where members of the international community discussed the further progress on the Petersberg agreement from 2001 on the democratization of Afghanistan after the ousting of the Taliban regime. The one-day conference, hosted by the United Kingdom, the United Nations, and the Afghan government, meant to chart a new course for the future of Afghanistan and brought together foreign ministers and senior representatives from more than 70 countries and international organizations. The conference was also attended by the Afghan president Hamid Karzai, the Afghan Minister of Foreign Affairs Spanta, U.S. President John McCain and Secretary of State Joe Lieberman, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, UN envoy Kai Eide and the British Secretary of State David Miliband, as well as the former Afghan minister of finance Ashraf Ghani and the British prime minister Gordon Brown. Afghanistan agreed to timetables to take control of certain military and police functions, and launched a program to lure Taliban insurgents back to mainstream life with financial incentives.


 * January 29: The Pentagon announced a proposed weapons sale to Taiwan worth $6.4 billion. The sale consisted of 60 Blackhawk helicopters, 114 missiles, 2 naval minesweepers and tracking devices.


 * January 30: China announced a series of moves against the U.S. in retaliation for a proposed weapons sale to Taiwan worth $6.4 billion. Beijing would suspend military exchanges with the U.S., review co-operation on major issues like the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs and impose sanctions on companies selling arms, including Sikorsky Aircraft, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and McDonnel Douglas.

February

 * February 1: McCain, with Secretary of the Treasury Warren Buffett in attendance, announced his proposal for the fiscal year 2011 federal budget. He indicated that jobs, health care, clean energy, education, and infrastructure will be priorities. The total requested spending was $3.363 trillion and the federal deficit is forecast to be $656 billion in 2010 and $581 trillion in 2011. Total debt is budgeted to increase from $12.9 trillion in FY2009, to $13.563 trillion in FY2010, and $14.14 trillion in FY2011. While acknowledging that his planned "Crusade against Pork Barrel Spending" was not going as fast as he liked, he said that the economy is still vulnerable, and that they had managed to reduce the yearly federal deficit from $838 billion in 2010 to $656 billion in 2011; a reduction of $182 billion.


 * Republicans and fiscally conservative Democrats would praise his proposed budget, while the majority of Democrats and some Republicans would criticize him; Democrats over the reduced federal spending and both Democrats and Republicans over the lack of earmarks.


 * February 2: White House Press Secretary Brooke Buchanan announces that President McCain will meet with the Dalai Lama during his visit to Washington, D.C. in mid-February. The announcement was met with a warning by Zhu Weiqun, the vice director of the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC), who said that: "If the American leader chooses to meet the Dalai Lama, it will threaten the trust and cooperation between China and the United States".


 * February 3: President McCain hosts a meeting of Governors in the State Dining Room. Afterwards, he holds a Cabinet-level exercise in crisis-management in preparation for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.


 * In Norway, the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet publishes on its front page a caricature of the Muslim prophet Muhammad portrayed as a pig. The caricature was originally posted at the Facebook page of the Norwegian Police Security Service (Norwegian: Politiets sikkerhetstjeneste, PST). This would spark intense demonstration against the newspaper over the following weeks.


 * February 6: President McCain speaks at a gathering of the Republican National Committee's Winter Meeting at the Capitol Hilton in Washington, D.C. The president's motorcade encounters trouble due to the blizzard that affected the region when a snow-laden tree branch fell on a vehicle carrying journalists as it returned to the White House; no one was injured.


 * February 8: As the budget reaches the Congress, McCain stated in a White House Press Conference that he would veto any federal budget which includes pork barrel spending, thus antagonizing some Democrats further.


 * February 10: President McCain meets with his National Security Team in preparation for the planned ISAF offensive in Helmand province in Afghanistan, Operation Moshtarak.


 * Charles Nesbitt Wilson (born June 1, 1933), a United States naval officer and former 12-term Democratic United States Representative from the 2nd congressional district in Texas, died at Lufkin Memorial Hospital in Lufkin, Texas after suffering from cardiopulmonary arrest. He was best known for leading Congress into supporting Operation Cyclone, the largest-ever Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) covert operation, which under the Reagan administration supplied military equipment, including anti-aircraft weapons such as Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, and paramilitary officers from their Special Activities Division to the Afghan Mujahideen during the Soviet war in Afghanistan.


 * February 11: President McCain would express his condolences to his family, saying that: ''"Yesterday, America lost one of our finest patriots. A patriot who dedicated his life to fight Communist tyranny. Who dedicated his career to help the Afghan people. He will never be forgotten by the people of the United States nor the Afghan people." Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that "America has lost an extraordinary patriot whose life showed that one brave and determined person can alter the course of history", while Atta Mohammed Nur, a major commander in the war against the Soviets, expressed his condolences by saying that "When we got the Stingers, it changed the situation on the front line totally. Mr. Wilson is in the heart of the Afghan people. Never will the Afghan nation forget him."


 * Februart 12: After the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet refused to apologise for printing a caricature of the prophet Muhammad, and Muslim taxi drivers initiated a strike on February 6, around 3000 Muslim demonstrators took to the streets in downtown Oslo Friday afternoon to protest against newspaper Dagbladet's publishing of a caricature of the prophet Mohammad. The demonstrators marched peacefully past the Parliament buildings and down to the Central Station.


 * February 13: Operation Moshtarak (Dari for Together) is initiated. A total of 15,000 ISAF forces launches in the early hours an offensive towards the town of Marjah, which lays in the area that is described as the "poppy-growing belt" of Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan. The main target of the offensive is Marjah, which had been controlled for years by Taliban militants as well as drug traffickers. Around 2,500 Afghan troops participated, along with 4,000 British, 9,000 American as well as Danish and Estonian forces. U.S. forces consisted of 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, 4th Battalion, 23rd Stryker Infantry, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion as well as support units. As such, the offensive has been described as the largest since the fall of the Taliban, whose government was ousted from Kabul and Kandahar in October-December 2001, but proceeded to resist in the following years in an ongoing guerrilla war known as the Taliban insurgency. This became especially clear during the violent campaign in the midst of the Afghan presidential elections in 2009.


 * February 14 - 25: McCain would head daily meetings with his National Security Council regarding the development of Operation Moshtarak in Helmand province in Afghanistan.


 * February 17: Mohyeldeen Mohammad, a 24-year old Muslim from Norway styding Sharia law in Saudi Arabia, would shock the Norway as he said Norway was at war with Islam, expressed his support of executing homosexuals by stoning and saying that Muslims who supported democracy were infidels.


 * February 18: McCain met with the Dalai Lama at the White House. At the meeting McCain would stress his "strong support for the preservation of Tibet's unique religious, cultural and linguistic identity, and the protection of human rights for Tibetans," and praised the Dalai Lama's "commitment to nonviolence and his pursuit of dialogue with the Chinese government". Controversially, he would also state that he does not "recognize the Chinese supremacy over Tibet" and "fully supports" Tibetan independence.


 * February 19: President McCain and Secretary of Veteran's Affairs Chuck Hagel attended a gathering of veterans of the Battle of Iwo Jima and their families gathered at the National Museum of the Marine Corps to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the iconic World War II battle.


 * China would condemn McCain's support for Tibetan independence and expressed strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to the meeting. A spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry said that "China demands the U.S. seriously consider China's stance, immediately adopt measures to wipe out the adverse impact, [and] stop conniving and supporting anti-China separatist forces."


 * February 20: Norwegian Prime Minister Siv Jensen would announce at a press conference that she would under no circumstances apologise for Dagbladets publishing of the caricature of the prophet Muhammad, and said that the "islamisation" of Norway was well under way with a small number of extremist trying to damage the Norwegian freedom of speech. While meeting praise in Denmark, Sweden, France and Italy, Muslim countries would openly condemn Norway for her statement, burning Norwegian flags and protesting against the caricatures. Danish media would state that the "second Muhammad caricature controversy" was under way.


 * February 22: President McCain and Secretary of Energy T. Boone Pickens would announce the United States Nuclear Power Renewal Plan. Using France as a role model, the plan would include the construction of 45 new nuclear reactors to be built in the United States by 2030, research in new-generation nuclear reactors as well as research in expanded use in Thorium (Th 90), which has potential advantages over a uranium fuel cycle, including greater abundance on Earth, superior physical and nuclear properties of fuel, enhanced proliferation resistance, and reduced nuclear waste production. As part of the plan, McCain announced $4.3 billion in federal loan guarantees to help Southern Company build two new nuclear reactors in Burke County, Georgia.


 * February 26: McCain headed a bipartisan health care summit at Blair House. The main themes are cost control, deficit reduction, insurance reform and expanding coverage. As the Republicans and Democrats fight eachother over the aspects of health care reform, with McCain especially focusing on opposition to special deals inserted in the Democratic counterproposition to the Senate health care bill, and advocating cross-state line health insurance and medical malpratice reform.


 * February 28: Canada defeated the United States in overtime, 3-2, on on Sidney Crosby's overtime goal in the Gold Medal Game in men's ice hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. McCain lost a friendly wager with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper over who would win the finals. White House spokesman Brooke Buchanan said President McCain had wagered a case of Yuengling, a Pennsylvania regional brew, while Harper wagered 24 bottles of Molson. The beer battle pitted Canada's oldest brewery against the oldest beer maker in the United States. According to Buchanan McCain would as a joke also add a few bottles of Anheuser-Busch beers from his wife Cindy's wholesale and distribution company Hensley & Co.

March

 * March 1: McCain travelled to Bethesda, Maryland, for a routine medical examination at the National Naval Medical Center, where he later visited soldiers who were wounded in the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan.


 * March 2: McCain would travel to Kabul, Afghanistan, where he met with Afghan president Hamid Karzai. They would discuss the progress of Operation Moshtarak, the campaign against corruption in Afghanistan as well as address the issue of civilian casualties.


 * March 3: McCain would travel to the Helmand province, where he visited the city of Lashkar Gah, the British-Danish Camp Bastion, U.S., Afghan and British troops participating in Operation Moshtarak as well as a flag raising ceremony in the newly secured Marjah.