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JD Hayworth to Challenge McCain

By: Brian Faughnan (Diary)  |  January 23rd, 2010 at 08:45 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

There’s been speculation about this for a while, and now it’s all but official. Former Congressman JD Hayworth – a staunch conservative during his 12 years in the House – will challenge John McCain for his Arizona Senate seat:

Former Arizona Congressman J.D. Hayworth says he is planning to run against John McCain for his U.S. Senate seat…

“We will formally announce at a later time, but we’re moving forward to challenge John McCain,” he said. “I think we all respect John. I think his place in history is secure. But after close to a quarter-century in Washington, it’s time for him to come home.”

He said he wasn’t serious about running against McCain until a recent “outpouring of support” from Arizonans asking him to run changed his mind.

“Arizonans have a clear choice _ a clear, commonsense, consistent conservative, or they can remain with a moderate who calls himself a maverick,” Hayworth said.

This move comes just a few days after Cindy McCain suggested that millions of American supporters of traditional marriage are motivated by hate.

In his 12 years in Congress, Hayworth compiled a lifetime rating of 98% from the ACU. The comparable rating for John McCain is 81%.

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  • http://vbushmills.blogtownhall.com/ vassar

    VB

    • mbecker908

      This, assuming JD tilts at this windmill, will take money and resources away from winning House seats in AZ in pursuit of something that can best be called mental masturbation.

      • AceInTX

        McCain is the driving force behind Crist, Kirk, Pawlenty, Fiorina, and any number of other RINOs and it’ll do him som good to have to fight to keep his seat….if Hayworth is as bad as you say…and McCain can cream him as easily as you say…I suspect we’ll know that in fairly short order…and no harm will be done!

        • winghunter1

          And his friendship with the Regressive McClown is not a reflection on him.

          John “Juan” McCain
          http://juanmccain.blogspot.com/
          “I believe my party has gone astray. I think the Democratic Party is a fine party, and I have no problems with it, in their views and their philosophy.??John McCain

      • http://vbushmills.blogtownhall.com/ vassar

        On that account, you may be right. I know little about Hayworth, and will read more to see what you don’t like about him. (I used to live in both Cochise and Yavapai Counties).

        On the other side, I have a friend who knew M’Cain in the academy, and later I knew another who knew him in the Senate.

        The consistent thread was his…well not so much his quick anger, but what he got angry about. Some people get angry when they see someone kick a dog, or beat a horse. Others get mad when they don’t get their way.

        And then there was how he got even. M’Cain had some personal grudge against GW Bush that did immeasurable harm to this country, just as Perot’s grudge against Bush One did, And it’s taken how many years for the Supreme Court to pull some of the teeth on M’Cain-Feingold, which Bush refused to veto in part to placate M’Cain. (See how honor hobbles down when you are honorable for all the wrong reasons.?)

        M’Cain is due a reckoning, but you may be right…I’ll keep my mind open…maybe that is God’s job, after all, not mine. But George Armstrong Custer is buried at West Point, and every time I used to visit there, at night, I would take a leak on his grave. When M’Cain passes , I’ll find his grave, too…

        Besides, mbecker908, I think you guys at RedState have immeasurable more power at raising money and electing people than you did just a week ago. The template has changed, and you changed it.

        Cheers

        • mbecker908

          and my dislike, distrust and outright disgust for John McCain knows no bounds. If JD runs against him, I will support JD. If he doesn’t I’ll vote for Chris Simcox. If JD doesn’t run and Simcox and the other guy drop out I’ll vote for my dead white cat. I’ll vote for the unnamed Democrat in November, knowing full well that McCain will get upwards of 80% of the vote.

          I agree with everything you say about McCain. The guy hung is honor and his sense of duty in closet with his Navy uniforms when he retired and, while his uniforms may come out occasionally, the other stuff doesn’t. He’s self-absorbed, self-serving and life is about him and nothing else.

          What happened in MA isn’t transferable to AZ and this race. Not even close to apples and oranges. As I noted elsewhere, in MA you had a non-incumbent acting like she was entitled to the seat, who didn’t bother to campaign. Running against her was a very attractive and very well disciplined Republican – who, incidentally, is no conservative – and every time she opened her mouth she stuck her foot in it. The Democratic Party didn’t come out and support her until it was too late because they thought she’d win in a walk.

          In AZ, McCain will not be caught napping in the campaign. He’s already running blitz ads against Hayworth. And then there’s Hayworth. He’ll be at least as bad a candidate as Coakley. McCain will have more Hayworth stupid statements than he can use between his history on Fox news when he was in office and his time on talk radio.

          In addition, Palin is schedule to come here in March and you can bet your boots Scott Brown will show up. And that’s just for starters.

          And then there’s the money thing. Scott Brown got lots of it because he is a very articulate and attractive candidate and had a very positive message. JD is a blithering idiot and will go negative as soon as he opens his mouth.

          Thanks for your good work re: Custer. Maybe sometime you and I can get together and visit Teddy Kennedy’s grave.

          • AceInTX

            I mean…if Hayworth is winning convention straw polls and is so bad…why isn’t there someone to step up and take him on who can win?

          • mbecker908

            On Straw Polls, never forget that RonPaul never lost one.

            Nobody has statewide name rec and nobody has the money or organization. And those can’t be assembled in two months.

          • AceInTX

            so are you saying Hayworth has a Paul like following of zombies flooding conventions to vote for him in Straw polls?

          • mbecker908

            And you’ll understand better when things heat up.

            Actually, when JD gets rolling he makes RonPaul look pretty sane.

            And back to straw polls, the overriding point is that, like “internet polls” they can be easily rigged. Kind of like internet voting, but that’s another topic.

          • AceInTX

            I’m just wondering if you are saying Hayworth has a Paultard type following of insurgents who are gaming things?

            in other words…is there an organized effort to rig the straw polls or were they spontaneous…from what you’re saying it sounds like he’s had these people organized for a while?

          • mbecker908

            However, there are any number of JD followers who don’t touch reality or logic. Just look at some of the comments in this diary.

            He’s got a talk radio following. They’re fruitloops. And there are a whole bunch of people that would like to McCain at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Me included.

          • AceInTX
          • Achance

            I’ve long detested McCain for being a disloyal, self-serving media whore, but at least he’s ours most of the time. Maybe we spend some money somewhere else on beating somebody who NEVER votes with us.

            I’m glad nobody was much paying attention because under Irrelevant in the dictionary is Mass. Republican Primary. If we had been a circular firing squad would surely have formed around “not nearly conservative enough” Scott Brown.

          • AceInTX

            but I think we can walk and chew gum at the same time…

            it’s unlikely we can take McCain out in this…but I think there is value in sending a message not to trifle with the base and expect to not have a fight on your hands as well…

            We’re being quiet on people like Castle and others because we want a majority…but the message needs to be sent that we’re not whipping boys and we won’t bend over for the rod without striking back at some point!

          • Achance

            First, that was an empty seat, not a challenge of a Republican incumbent in a primary because of ideological impurity. Second, if the MA election had been a regular election with a long runup, I have no doubt that some “I’m the most conservative” whack-job would have thrown in and another circular firing squad would have been convened to give the seat to the Democrat.

            McCain, like Specter used to be, is a problem of lack of caucus discipline. Both long ago should have had no staff and no committee assignments because of their misdeeds and if they couldn’t toe the line, they could make it official and leave the caucus as Specter finally did. Even now that McCain is trying to be a born again Conservative, McConnell should take him to the woodshed and tell him he’s not the voice of the Republicans in the Senate so he needs to sit down, shut up, and stay off TV.

            In any event, we don’t have any Republicans to spare right now and there’s WAY TOO MANY DEMOCRATS.

          • Aaron Gardner

            Just saying.

          • AceInTX
          • Achance

            taking local and state party offices, going to conventions, and generally organizing at the state party level. We need to make it so that the Party can effectively do things to a for office holders. Right now, once you’re an incumbent, you can insulate yourself from constituent and Party influence just by relying on lobbyists and bundlers to get you the money to overwhelm any opposition in the district or state.

          • AceInTX

            I have no doubt that some ?I?m the most conservative? whack-job would have thrown in and another circular firing squad would have been convened to give the seat to the Democrat.

            There’s no way to know one way or the other on that but I for one backed Brown and I knew full well he’s not what I’d prefer as a Republican…(kind of puts the lie to my being a purist doesn’t it?)…and I’ll continue to back him as long as he doesn’t go off like McCain, or Graham and start attacking me, my party, or my group within the Party.

            That said…if Brown goes off and starts playing the “I’m ashamed of my party and we need to take it back” card…I’ll be on him like white on rice!

            McCain, like Specter used to be, is a problem of lack of caucus discipline.

            I couldn’t agree more here…and I can’t think of a better way to discipline him than to aplly a switch to his back in the form of making him fight to retain his place in the party.

            I’ll also add, McCain is actively supporting and pushing progressive candidates across the country with his big money contributors and his campaign war chest…JD has already forced him to spend money running ads against him…and the more of that money we make him spend protecting his own worthless hide…the less he’ll have to push liberal Republican candidates on us in primaries across the country.

            In any event, we don?t have any Republicans to spare right now and there?s WAY TOO MANY DEMOCRATS

            I agree with that completely…and if I thought JD running against McCain would result in a Democrat taking this seat…I’d oppose it…I don’t believe that’s likely to happen…because I’ll be surprised if JD can beat McCain in the Primaries…I’d have second thoughts about this if I were convinced that if JD did by some miracle beat McCain in the primaries that he would lose to the Democrat….but I don’t think that will happen either…

            as far as I’m concerned this is a win/win either way for the reasons I stated above.

            But I’m willing to be convinced otherwise.

          • AceInTX
          • Achance

            And I particularly despise groups that try to impose their own standards or the standards of another state or region on a candidate in another state or region in primaries. As a rule, we get more than enough opposition from the Democrats.

            I watched as the people of this site participated in and encouraged the FBI’s mau-mauing of my Republican Senator when, frankly, they had little or no knowledge of what was going on or why. I’m still waiting for some apologies from a lot of people for there being one more liberal Democrat in the Senate, a liberal Democrat that otherwise could NEVER have won a statewide election had it not been for purists on the right and libertarians. Even with all his troubles, the Democrats couldn’t beat Senator Stevens. It took the 10K votes to the third party conservative/libertarian candidate to allow Begich to beat him by 3K. And before some of you chime in about his porking, talk to your senator from your state that voted for the budget with Stevens’ pork in it – along with his own pork.

            I watched as my State was sentenced to eight years of mis-rule, three years of which I spent living on scraps, after the “I’m more conservative” purist bolted, ran third party, and elected a liberal Democrat governor. In that case, it was the religious brand of “I’m more conservative,” who out of ignorance or conceit elected an activist pro-choice Democrat Administration because the Republican wasn’t willing to commit to supporting an outright banning of all abortion in the State – Supreme Court, State and federal, notwithstanding. That Democrat they elected vetoed every restriction on abortion passed by the Republican Legislature and the one they couldn’t over-ride got overturned by the SC, and anybody with a brain could see that coming.

            So, no, I generally favor primary opposition to incumbents only as a last resort and I really don’t like outside groups trying to influence state primaries or third party purists running spoiler or “teach them a lesson” campaigns.

          • AceInTX

            and I can see…and somewhat agree with your point about what happened there.

            But even if I agreed with you 100% I would make a distinction with what happened in the instance of Stevens and with what is currently happening with Hayworth.

            1) Stevens wasn’t the former nominee of the Party.

            2) Stevens wasn’t going around the country using his money and his influence and the knowledge he obtained as a co-sponsor of McCain Fiengold to set himself up as a king maker hooking up RINOS like Kirk, Castle, Crist, Fiorina, and others with his big money donors and basically crapping on his own party in the process with his arrogance.

            3) Stevens wasn’t filing suit against a radio personality who wasn’t an official candidate for political office because he was using the public airways to trash him over his upopular stands on several issues. John McCain turns up heat on J.D. Hayworth

          • smagar

            Imagine he and Coburn together in the Senate.

            Of course, this is wishful thinking—I’ve seen no indication that Flake is considering a Senate run.

            But he would definately throw Team McCain into a tizzy.

          • AceInTX
          • jackbenimble

            If Jeff Flake replaced McCain in the Senate we would be replacing one amnesty supporter for another.

            There is a fair amount to like about Jeff Flake but I would never vote for him.

          • raider

            I wonder how many Republicans like mbecker908 will be voting for any Democrat opposing McCain.

          • http://vbushmills.blogtownhall.com/ vassar

            …but only on a point of order.

            The seismic change in Massachusetts was the still embryonic power of RedState and others to focus large amounts of interest, inside and outside the state and district, including money, in order
            to bring about a change.

            Fill-in-the-blank vs M’Cain’s machine in the primary. Can we cause Fill-in-the-Blank to win?

            You may be right, it can’t be done, but damn, I’d like to know for sure…for if we can, we’ve just kicked the can another fifty yards down the field (sort mixed my metaphors, huh?).

            The new paradigm, if it can be established, is the latent power of this group, RedState, and others like them to generate intense heat and dollars. Maybe I’m imputing desires and objectives that don’t even exist here at RS, but I hope not. I think the latent power exists to move political mountains..

            With the dual purpose of defeating the Enemy as well as reclaiming the Republican Party…imagine what a strategy would mean if we could execute then bottle it…hitting both where they ain’t looking, and in truth, unable to respond in kind.

            Cheers

          • mbecker908

            But you’ve gotta have a good – or at least a competitive – candidate. If we were talking about Shadegg or Flake I’d be on board. The problem here isn’t the ability or the desirability to rally the troops, rather that we have no one to rally ’round.

            McCain is 77. Hopefully in six years he’ll be dead – at least politically – and what I think we should do in the immediate future is find candidates to replace him – whether he runs or not – and put together the strategy and tactics to take him out. Same for Lindsay Graham.

            As an example, the good folks just north of me seem to be doing a masterful job of burying Bob Bennett. With any luck they’ll do the same to Hatch. In their case, they understand the political workings of their state party and their state, they put together a working strategy to use the party rules, found several good candidates, won the convention seats necessary and it looks like Bennett will soon be an even lamer duck.

            It’s difficult enough to take on an incumbent (and again, Martha wasn’t) in a general election, but at least in a general you’ve got the advantage of at least some organization and backing and the probability of some state and national money for your campaign. Taking on an entrenched incumbent in a primary is orders of magnitude more difficult. Without significant planning (see UT), you have no organization and no money, unless you can self-fund. You will be going against a machine that’s in-place and well funded.

            Were it up to me, I would pass on McCain and make it well known that in six years he will get taken out. I’d put together a solid organization and develop at least one, and maybe more, solid candidates and focus on the ’16 election. And I would do that after this November because between now and then I would spend every dollar and every waking moment working to get at least three AZ House seats back which will have one heck of a lot more impact that skewering the old fart.

            The side benefit to this strategy is that you put into place an organization that is dedicated to focusing on conservative electoral strategy and conservative candidate development. God knows the Republican Party does NOT do that.

          • http://vbushmills.blogtownhall.com/ vassar

            …but you’re the political junkie, not me.

            My point I think it’s important who helps seat them now. I hope I made that point, that’s all.

          • mbecker908

            I’ve voted for the Democrat every time against McCain. It’s never been close. (I did not follow that rule last November)

          • raider

            against McCain, except for November 2008.

            If 2010 is a very good year for GOP nationally, how will that impact Arizona elections in November 2010? What do you see as the composition of the Arizona legislature after the 2010 elections?

          • mbecker908

            Here’s my guess.

            1. McCain goes back to the Senate, big margin ~80% but with no coat tails at all. This race will not effect a single down ticket contest.
            2. Kyl, obviously, stays in the Senate.
            3. We gain up to three House seats (we have 2 Marxist Ds in Tucson who are there for life unless somebody more to the left challenges them). We go from 3R/5D to 6R/2D.
            4. The primary election to focus on is for Governor. Our current Gov, Jan Brewer, got the office when Janet went to DC. Brewer was Secty of State, we have no LtGov. She’s the third SoS to move up, every one of them has been a disaster. SoS is nothing more than a high level admin job. It’s not a political position – although it is elected – that requires a profile or leadership ability. To say she is in farther over her head than Barry would be an understatement. Combine that with the fact that politically she’s Charlie Crist in Drag. She needs to go. Hopefully our state Treasurer Dean Martin will take her out in the primary. We have huge fiscal problems in Arizona, second only to CA and Brewer is just incompetent administratively, legislatively and politically. Martin will be vastly superior. The Ds will run the AG, Terry Goddard who is well known, perceived as a law ‘n’ order guy and will be tough to beat. If Brewer is the GOP nominee, he’ll clean her clock. Martin will likely beat him.
            5. With Goddard leaving the AGs office, that one should be a GOP pick up in a good GOP year. There aren’t any really high profile candidates for the office so the key here Martin doing well and having coat tails. Again, McCain has no coat tails.
            6. The make up of the legislature won’t change much. Frankly, the problem we’ve got in the legislature is “John McCain Look Alikes”. The Republican Leadership in the legislature have never seen a problem that more government couldn’t solve. The bright spot over the last year have been some freshman legislators who’ve stood up to Brewer (who sounds like Huckabee when it comes to raising taxes) and the Leadership. I think (hope) that Martin can bring some sanity to the budgeting process.

          • raider

            Enjoyed all of the info about Arizona.

            With redistricting following the 2010 census and elections, the state legislative races are always at their greatest importance in the election immediately before redistricting. It is very fortunate for the GOP that a wave of Dem victories came in 2006 and 2008 and won’t (presumably) come in 2010. If the GOP does as well as it appears it will in 2010, redistricting is going to occur at the best possible time. No doubt, though, that Obama’s team are going to twist the numbers to give as many congressional seats to blue states as they can.

            In Tennessee, where I presently livem it is 5-4 Dems in the congressional delegation. Realistically, I believe it could be 6-3 GOP after the 2010 elections. After redistricting following the 2010 elections, I believe it will be 7-2, presuming Tennessee doesn’t gain or lose a seat. Presently, the GOP holds a one-seat edge in the Tennessee House. Democrats control the Tennessee House, though, because a Republican, Kent Williams, made a deal with the Democrats. His deal was for all the Democrats to vote for him as speaker and he would allow them to continue to chair and have majorities on the most important committees and subcommittees, and that he would vote for a Democrat as speaker pro tempore. He no longer calls himself a Republican, but instead a “Carter County Republican” Hard to believe, right? I’m sure someone from East Tennessee would know more about the latest in this fiasco. It is safe to say, he won’t be speaker after the next election cycle in Tennessee.

          • http://www.ssce.net/Web-Articles/Web-articles-indexed-authors.html#authors-l JLenardDetroit

            We have put up with this PROGRESSIVE in our midst for far too long — just because of his “Service!”…. I’ve been on record a long time calling people to support and/or encourage just about anyone to get into the Primary against McCain (Conservative Candidates AZ) — I just DON’T want a situation where votes are divided and allowing McLame to coast through again!!! Other than than, I support anyone against McCain….

            Having also always being on record of saying ANY “R” over Any “D” (CINO/PLINO) – How electing ANY Democrat empowers the antithesis of Conservatism, the Ultra-Far-Left Progressive/Socialist/Democrats — I am beyond tired of McLame and have recently, and will continue to stick by my “MAKING AN EXCEPTION – TO SEND A LONG OVERDUE MESSAGE!” (McCain (R-Aricept) “Senator Aricept” (John McCain); +toss McCain – time to toss McCain under his “supposed” Straight Talk Bus; +McCain HC – McCain HC Townhall details, another sell-out pre-declared! (with more comments 306-7+ here and here w/ limited Video); +McCain Senate debate on HR3590 (Reid) – HR3590 Amendments fiasco plus McLame with Republican Amendment and here) I will/would support a Democrat for this AZ Senate seat this time if it means getting McCain out!!! Because we all know that he is going to just go right back to his being Mr. Bi-Partisanship BS following his re-election — I would NOT be surprised he and Obama haven’t discussed such “items” they will team up to cram down our throats.

            Had we engaged in this strategy and removed him while we had control, we may not have had to suffer through his Presidential campaign. — it would have changed the Primaries had he not been a sitting Senator anymore. How long are we going to keep giving him a pass>?!?!? I SAY NO MORE! Set this seat up to be reclaimed in 6 years when a Democrat that is running this time was never ever really expected to be able to win and should be easily picked off next time out.

            Again, I say this as an EXCEPTION (as I’ve always stated I can, do, will, make from time to time) to the general “principles” by which we would operate under in order to gain and/or hold a majority. We’ve been making an EXCEPTION of allowing this PROGRESSIVE to skate by in what should be a much more Conservative Party for far too long — again!!!!

            Yes, so JD is a bit flakey at times… So what?!?! Better than a Teddy Roosevelt PROGRESSIVE we’ve let sell us out far too many times.

            What of the Campaign Finance Reform (CFR) recently finally overturned by SCOTUS, in part. I’m beyond tired of this man selling out our principles of protecting the Constitution, not trading it away slowly compromising with his FELLOW PROGRESSIVE FRIENDS in the Democrat Party!!! +Party of kNOw – Republicans must be the Party of HELL NO [to Bigger Govt.] not the Party of SLOW[er Liberal Incremental-ism]

          • nessa
          • mbecker908

            Don’t worry JLD, the votes won’t be divided so that McCain wins. The combined votes of the three idiots won’t break 40%. Not even close.

            JD isn’t “a bit flaky at times”. He’s your Christmas Fruitcake.

            Oh well.

          • http://www.ssce.net/Web-Articles/Web-articles-indexed-authors.html#authors-l JLenardDetroit

            For all the headache Snowe and Collins can be at times, considering their State – I can deal, put up with, that/them. I have NEVER understood why we’ve had to continue to deal without a more reliable Conservative out of AZ…. Out of loyalty and laziness, of course, rather than venture into the “less-known”… there is no longer any UP-SIDE to that anymore, IMO.

            toss McCain – time to toss McCain under his “supposed” Straight Talk Bus (further thoughts on the need to Toss McCain NOW!)

          • mbecker908

            This is no Crowley/Brown race. Well, maybe on second thought it is. Except that here in AZ JD is Crowley.

            And, once again, I’d prefer Collins or Snowe to McCain. I’d take JD too, but it will not happen.

            Example: the most reliably conservative slice of the state is the Sun City retirement areas around Phoenix. Most of those folks are – with the exception of medicare and social security – to the right of me. They are hard core law and order folks who support Joe Arpaio to a fault (and that is another story). They will come out, ignore Joe’s endorsement of JD and vote en mass for McCain because he’s a POW war hero and “one of them”.

            He doesn’t even have to run an ad to get them.

            Over the next few months I expect McCain to run several million dollars worth of ads almost exclusively in the Phoenix market and parade people like Palin and Scott Brown through here on a regular basis to sing his praise. He’ll probably have a couple million spent on ads before JD gets his legal bills from 2006 paid off.

            JD’s polling at 31% v McCain’s 53% right now. He’ll probably be down around 15% before he runs his first ad. I doubt he’ll break 25% and I fully expect McCain to pull about 60% in the primary and maybe over 80% in the general.

          • aesthete

            JD isn’t Coakley — he’s Kennedy (the fake one).

          • http://www.ssce.net/Web-Articles/Web-articles-indexed-authors.html#authors-l JLenardDetroit

            a real try… a no holds barred challenge try…. Time to finally bring across to folks that McLame’s pathetic 2008 UNWILLINGNESS to run a real campaign is, in part, responsable for Obama being in the White House! That he has NOT rewarded the citizens of AZ’s loyalty with CONSERVATIVE loyalty in return. I will NO LONGER moderate my tone in regard to McCain out of respect for his Service…. It was our doing so that has allowed him to betray us for so long.

            As another example of my willingness to make an exception (suspension of Eleventh Commandment, certainly people have been irratated by me trying to appeal FOR IT during Primaries, while I contend others keep DISTORTING records/stances of others to push a Primary Candidate), I don’t care how UGLY the Primary has to get in going after McCain — one Primary Candidate doing the dirty-work knowing full well they won’t get the votes but to weaken him in hopes of pushing some away from McCain (for finally calling him out on each and every single thing he’s crossed the Platform on – as well as his piss-poor last Presidential run) toward the other Primary Candidate.

            The fool sure isn’t ever going to retire…. And I do actually believe he’d rather remain in the MINORITY and comfy and cooperating in his BiPartisanship (because it allows him to honor his real Progressive core – 2010 gains opportunities being scuttled? – are some Republicans sand-bagging 2010 gain opportunities?).

            I guess this means I’ll have to be sending some money to a Democrat for the first time — yes, I and others feel that strong about it — which will take funds away from other Candidates that will need it. Republicans in AZ should toss him under his bus and throw the General Election toward the Democrat if they cannot get him ousted in the Primary, the way he has tossed us under the bus last Presidential Election. There is no-one that symbolizes what is wrong with the GOP the last years as does McCain, and any way to rid ourselves of him is welcomed. The other RINOs wouldn’t have necessarily gone against us as often if McLame wasn’t there to lead them in SCREWING US!!!! Even if he can’t be tossed, any level of message that can be sent must be.

            Take care friends

          • mbecker908

            please send it to one of our Congressional candidates or to the Franz Fund.

      • kuksool

        When JD officially declares, anti-McCain people will organize a money bomb for him.

        McCain wants to bring Palin and Brown for fundraising to show JD that he can raise money too.

        McCain doesn’t want to just win, he wants to crush JD like a bug.

        McCain should bring in a celebrity each month to fund raise / campaign for him.
        First Palin, then Brown, then Brown’s American Idol daughter, then Heidi Montag, then Curt Shilling, then Jeff Flake, then Orrin Hatch, and finally Romney.

        The last 3 celebrities are most useful for McCain. They could persuade Mormons to stand with McCain.

      • robp

        I had a HUGE hunch after the 2008 GOP Primary, with the press playing whack-a-mole with each conservative candidate, in order to create the perfect liberal opposition candidate. (We all know when liberal lite runs against a real liberal, the real liberal wins every time.)

        My Premise: What if McCain ran against one REAL conservative?

        So, I decided to combine Huckabee, Romney, Thompson, and Paul into one candidate I called Mythical Conservative. I went to CNN’s web site the night of the March Primary, and added up all four candidates in each state to generate Mythical Conservative’s numbers.

        The result? Mythical Conservative in a LANDSLIDE – 900 to 400 – and McCain LOST ARIZONA

        I repeat: McCain would’ve lost Arizona – and the election – against one real conservative in the 2008 primary. And I have the numbers to prove it.

    • gfotwins1995

      I think it is a good thing that JD is challenging McCain. It is time for McCain to come home. I am a VN vet who loves McCain, he has endured things we can only imagine, but it is time to retire him. Say what you will about JD, but he will oppose Cap and Trade (tax) and amnesty for illegals. Those are the next 2 big items on Obama’s table.

    • gemimail

      If you want to get rid of the RINO’s in red states, you can usually safely do that, but it is a fairly short list. For example, several folks want to dump McCain in Arizona. They have their chance since J.D. Hayworth is running against him in the Republican primary. The only problem is that J. D. has a reputation, whether deserved or not, as a blowhard. He lost a safe Republican House seat that contains Scottsdale which is about as red as you can get. Maybe he can beat McCain in the primary but can he defeat Rodney Glassman in the general election? Do we really want to take a chance on losing a safe Senate seat? I am no fan of McCain since I was the campaign manager for a Republican opponent in his very first run for office in Arizona but facts are facts.

      From a front page article at www.marstonchronicles.info entitled “The RINO problem.”

  • saterp

    There are many solid conservatives in AZ who can run and win. McCain ain’t one of them.

  • partyof1

    the media will suddenly go back to being McCain’s buddy again to keep the more conservative candidate out.

    • jasonmvass

      i think they will relish the opportunity to see the 08 GOP candidate taken out.

      • acat

        The Conservatives know not to trust the media. Known it for a while.

        The Liberals have started to ask questions… especially as the media tries to climb out of the tank.

        The Independents are the ones who will decide this election – do they still trust the media? If not – then the impact of the media on this race will be minimal.

        McCain has all the advantages (huge war chest, name recognition, decades of friendly media coverage to cite) and only one disadvantage – he’s McCain.

        It will be interesting to watch, at least.

        Mew

      • mbecker908

        You know nothing about Arizona or Arizona media. They will support McCain right down the line. And they HATE JD.

        • smagar
  • http://thefilthybeast.com KathW

    My parents, solid conservatives, are in AZ and have been wanting for years to vote for someone besides McCain. They have been watching the rumors very closely.

  • freedomfighterforliberty

    PERFECT TIMING FOR JD. AFTER MASSACHUSETTS AND ONE YEAR OF NOBAMA IT’S ANOTHER PERFECT STORM TO INSTALL A STRONG TRUE TO VALUES AND PRINCIPALS CONSERVATIVE.

    I LIKE JOHN MCCAIN BUT IT’S TIME FOR HIM TO STEP ASIDE AND GIVE THE PEOPLE OF ARIZONA AND THE COUNTRY A VOICE AND VOTE THAT IS MORE IN TUNE WITH VAST MAJORITY OF VOTERS TODAY.

    OBAMA AND CROWD EVEN AFTER MASSACHUSETTS JUST DOSE’NT GET IT. THEY’LL LICK THEIR WOUNDS AND COME BACK WITH THE SAME TRIED AND DEFEATED POLICIES AND AGENDA.

    NOVEMBER 2010 CANT GET HERE FAST ENOUGH FOR MYSELF AND I’M POSITIVE MULTITUDES OF OTHER ROCK SOLID CONSERVATIVES.

    • smagar
    • freedomfighterforliberty

      IT’S MY SIGNATURE AND COMFORT ZONE. SORRY YOU DON’T LIKE IT AND TAKE IT PERSONAL..

      • AceInTX
      • Scope

        is about to get alot more than a little uncomfortable. It is impolite, everywhere on the best sites, to post in all caps. No one likes a screamer. If you want to live beyond your 4 day membership, you will respect the manners of this site. Also, lose the attitude.

  • spaceman_spiff

    JD has not said he will run for the Senate, not in so many words.

    John McCain has been running political ads against JD, as if JD was running for the Senate, for a few weeks now on his own radio station putting JD in a sink or swim position. JD was unable to do his radio show do to legal constraints weather e was running or not.

    In JD’s last hour of broadcast he didn’t actually come out and said he was running against McCain he did say his next appearance will be in the ?public arena.?

    IMHO whether JD run or not McCain just made a huge political blunder.

    • smagar

      Especially one who embodies heroism.

      No, McCain’s not much of a conservative. But he does deserve a bit more respect than to be called a “snake.”

      • AceInTX

        Telling people from the campaign stump that Obama would make a fine President is just one example…

        and he has proven himself to be a snake in his time in the Senate on more than one occassion

        • smagar

          …but I’d be comfortable with another, viable R running against McCain in the primary. I don’t see Hayworth as being viable.

          In 2006, Republican Randy Graf, who has a reputation (perhaps undeserved) of being a Know-Nothing, anti-immigrant kind of guy. His supporters, helped by ads run by the Democrats IN the GOP Congressional primary*, won the nomination for the seat being vacated by Jim Kolbe. Graf then lost to Democrat Gabrielle Giffords.

          CD8 leans Republican, but it’s not rock-ribbed conservative. It makes up half of the Tucson metro area’s Congressional representation. CD7 is represented by Raul Grijalva, chair of the House Progressive Caucus—-’nuff said.

          If Hayworth has troubles in Maricopa County (metro Phoenix), coupled with the troubles he WILL have in purple Tucson, and he’s on thin ice in a general election.

          I’d rather have McCain for six more years, than see Scott Brown’s vote canceled out by a D pickup in AZ.

          • smagar

            The local media was just fine with Democrats playing in GOP primaries.

          • aesthete

            For that very reason.

          • mbecker908
  • itdiehard

    my guess they are lost in the wilderness… Will Gov. Palin back McRINO..

    • AceInTX
      • BlackConservative

        Contrary to all of the fawning, Scott Brown is not one of us, which is why all of the Scott Brown for President talk is ridiculous. He is there to be the 41st vote and shut up. McCain backed him all the way-do you think Maverick is backing anyone with conservative bona fides-McCain has endorsed in primaries-Mark Kirk, Fiorna, Crist and Brown. Not to forget t hat politico article a few months ago about how McCain was on a countrywide mission to move the party to the center left. Hey Becker what about Shadegg coming back to run against McCain? Or is he going for governor?

  • bk
    • mbecker908

      I’ll probably give JD some money if runs. I may even do some work for him if I’ve got time and have nothing better to do. Sancho Panza I ain’t.

      • eburke

        you won’t be hitting the bricks for them?

        I hope you broke it to them gently.

        (I still can’t believe I voluteered for his Congressional campaigns when I lived in Tempe and he was running in CD-1; On my list of life’s regrets……..sigh!)

        • E Pluribus Unum
          • eburke

            I’m a bit on the technologically challenged side.

            Since you’re on my RedState Hero list, I’ll ask: Should I be?

          • E Pluribus Unum

            But I’m not putting my contact info out here, nor should you.

            So anybody out there, that has contacts for both me and eburke, hit me up — offline, of course.

          • eburke

            probably the same reason you do. So, how do we get past this since I’d be interested in chatting offline as well.

          • E Pluribus Unum

            would be for you to get a twitter account, then put the acct name out here (almost everybody you know has one, you troglodite! — :) ) , There’s a way to have direct, one-on-one conversations.

          • eburke

            is a yellow legal pad and a pencil is no cause for you gettin’ all uppity about it :-)

            That’s ok…I’m used to it. My oldest son (whose 24) delights in telling all of his friends that he was raised by an Amish family…ours.

            So, let’s see…we got our first computer in ’98….cable in ’07….and broadband in ’08, and, as of this Christmas, my daughter is no longer the only student at her college w/out a cell phone. With that track record….has Twitter been around long enough for me to sign up?

            I don’t wanna screw up the karma in the universe or anything.

          • Scope

            Go to-

            www.rpvnetwork.org

            sign up, it doesn’t matter if you care about the site. Let each other know what posting name you have chosen. Go to my page on the site, and send a private personal message to each other. You can talk about all the sweet nothings then- LOL

          • E Pluribus Unum

            user name, big surprise, is E Pluribus Unum. OK, eburke, yourturn.

          • eburke

            look me up under…yeah, you guessed it…eburke :-)

          • E Pluribus Unum

            you have to accept my ‘friend’ request in order to have private conversations.

            I can’t recall ever working this hard just to make off-line contact.

            By the way, thanks, Scope.

          • eburke

            Man, the sacrifices I make :-)

          • E Pluribus Unum

            Most folks don’t recommend it.

          • Scope

            Isn’t is just cozy and all. Public declaration of friendship is so Obama. LOL

          • eburke
          • Scope

            You are both now qualified to become upstanding members of the FBI.

          • eburke

            ya big lug, you.

          • E Pluribus Unum
          • eburke
  • kabane52

    John McCain is not a RINO. He votes 80% of the time conservative. That is not a RINO. Stop misusing the term. He has fought the stimulus and the healthcare bill as hard as anyone. He isn’t as conservative as Hayworth, okay, but if he lost the nomination then that will be portrayed as chaotic infighting. Give the poor old man a freaking break.

    • forrest

      John McCain has become a “career politician”.

    • jasonmvass

      i was scared of getting banned for expressing this sentiment

      • Scope

        the true sentiment that McCain is a “career politician” then there probably would be about 5 members left here.

        I used to live in New Joysey. Driving Route 1 from Princeton to Trenton to work every day was as bad as their tax rates, all of them. Are they charging tolls to drive Route 1 yet? BTW what exit are you from. LOL

    • itdiehard

      That 20 % has cost us a nation of prosperity… Gang of 14… Unable to fight for what is right always willing to reach across the isle and work with lion liberals… Why? I can see working with centralist liberal and trying to pull him to the right, but pulling the party to the left for what?

      • nycenterright

        Know what we’d have right now without the gang of 14? A few more conservative judges, socialized health-care, Cap & Trade, higher taxes, and amnesty. Criticizing them for saving the filibuster is ridiculous.

        • eburke

          did not deal with the filibuster as a whole, just as it pertained to judicual nominations.

          So your point is almost accurate; it should read: It cost us several conservative judges but we still could have filibustered socialized health-care, Cap & Trade, higher taxes, and amnesty.”

          Other than that, you were dead on.

          • jeremyz

            would have taken the inch that we were proposing and pushed it a mile. You think they would have actually stopped there and just said, “okay you can change the rules and when we get to power, we won’t change the rules any further”? We were lucky considering the massive wave of Dems to come into the Senate.

          • eburke

            Democrats need to have an excuse to do anything they want. We *didn’t* invoke the nuclear option and, yep, Dems are all over the place saying “Well, ya know we could just get rid of the filibuster but because the Republicans didn’t do it on judicial nominees, we’re not going to do it on everything else”.

            NOT!!

            I don’t know what in the world it’s going to take for us/you to realize that we keep not doing things because we don’t want to want to look bad…or it’ll make the mean, wascally Dems do something bad to us…or ‘we should always take the high road no matter what they do.’

            Newsflash: THE DEMS’S DO WHATEVER THE HELL THEY WANT TO DO WHETHER WE GIVE THEM A ‘REASON’ TO OR NOT!!!

            All playing ‘nicey-nice’ ever gets us is neutered and in the minority.

          • jeremyz

            I agree that the Dems will do anything and everything they want, including implementing the Nuclear Option, which I believe has some realistic probability now that Brown has been elected. But had we implemented the option back in 05, we still would have lost the Senate in 06 and 08 because of Iraq and Bush’s inability to coherently defend himself or persuade the American people.

            Moreover, we are the CONSERVATIVES, not the liberals and like it or not we are held to and desire a higher standard. Just like Redstate is not the Daily Kos. And please do not mistake “nicety-nice” with foolish. The reason the Repubs are in the minority is because they were foolish. Not because they had a higher moral ground and held to their convictions. No, because they gave up their moral ground and “played the Washington game”. Character wins…always!!! Even when you lose having kept your character and your conscience, you win!

            As far as the primary in AZ, I would gladly vote for Hayworth over McCain, believing that Hayworth is the better candidate and more solid conservative. However, would you not concede that as much as you may disagree with McCain on some issues that he is not the same as famous RINOs like Chafee, Specter, Snowe, Jeffords, etc?

          • eburke

            in all honesty, the answer to your last question, with the exception of Chafee, is “No, I would not concede that.” Jeffords and Specter at least had the ‘moral’ decency to switch parties.

            My biggest problem with McCain isn’t his voting record, it’s his massive ego which makes everything all about him. One of my senators, before he managed to somehow lose to Al “Douchebag” Franken was Norm Coleman. Normy’s voting record wasn’t any better than McCain’s but I still voted for him, put his sign in my yard, and sent him a few shekels because

            a) MN is a purplish-blue state and he had to throw a few bones to the moderate loons here; and,

            b) when Norm felt it necessary to do so, he did it quietly. He didn’t preen in front of the cameras; he didn’t whore himself on the network news so that he could be held up as a “Republican” criticizing the ‘loons’ in the GOP. He made his vote and went on his way…and, for the most part, he was with us on the big issues. And when he wasn’t, he wasn’t the guy in the forefront brokering deals just when we were on the cusp of victory.

            John McCain isn’t a conservative, a liberal, a moderate, a maverick, a Republican, or a Democrat. It took me a while to figure out why he was and is all over the place, manning the barricades one minute, stabbing us in the back the next, screaming “fight, fight, fight” one minute during his acceptance speech, and bashing fellow Republicans the next for calling out Obama for the Marxist radical that he is.

            What I finally figured out is that John is all about John; (or as one poster here put it “John McCain (R – Egoland)) and could give a rat’s hinder about anyone or anything else. He’s the worst kind of ‘friend’ because he’ll betray you in a second if it’ll satiate his massive ego. Anyone who thinks John invited Sarah to campaign with him because he wanted to do her a favor is smokin’ some stuff that they really ought to share.

            Johnny Mac left Sarah twisting in the wind for a year while his goons stabbed in the back, the front, and everywhere else and he never said a word. John stopped the backbiting and invited Sarah to campaign with him for one reason and one reason only – it’s an election year, the GOP in AZ is still fairly conservative (even more so since ColdWarrior invaded their PC’s) and he needs someone to cover his right flank. That Sarah doesn’t see the damage that this is going to cause among many of those who voted for McCain only because she was on the ticket tells me she either doesn’t have the political acumen that her supporters say she has, or she was never the outsider she appeared to be and it was all just a schtick (my money’s on the former)

            Sorry, I can’t concede anything positive when it comes to McCain. I had more respect for Paul Wellstone than I do John McCain ’cause even though we couldn’t agree where the sun came up in the morning, Paul at least had the intellectual honesty to tell you where he was coming from and he stuck to it.

            And because of all of the above, John McCain holds a spot in my top 5 people responsible for the blurring of the lines between the GOP and the Donks which is the primary cause of the pasting we took in the last 2 elections.

            Sorry, no sale.

          • JadedByPolitics

            EVERYTHING you said is exactly what I think and say about McCain and now Sarah Palin….this is one Conservative she has made take ten steps back supporting her. I am thrilled if JD runs and of course will throw some money his way. If for only a minute to believe that John McCain would be sent home to REST with his wife (obtw she can keep the tape on her mouth) that is worthy of CASH!

          • eburke

            you REALLY have my deepest sympathies :-)

          • JadedByPolitics

            …

          • jeremyz

            I do concede your points about his ego and understand why you and many others abhor him. That being said, I am not as “jaded” even though I don’t disagree with the case you presented. It would be great if after serving our country for his lifetime, like MacArthur he too would just fade away.

          • eburke
          • eburke
          • jfindl2

            that if we used the nuclear option on judicial nominees, the dems would not have expanded its use? Using the nuclear option would have opened the door to eviscerating the filibuster permanently

          • cwilson

            We *didn’t* use the nuclear option, and yet they are STILL planning on using reconciliation to do heath care. This is the “nuclear option” by another name, only this time with regards to ALL filibusters not just the ones concerning nominations.

          • jfindl2

            Reconciliation places a 10 year time limit on measures and is limited to revenue measures. It cannot be used for new statutes so no it is not the nuclear option. It is still disgusting but it isn’t full blown nuclear option.

          • SteveLA

            cwislon

            Correction, talking about using reconciliation, not quite the same as using it.

            I think you’ll find no love in the Senate to change the rules of the Senate to back the Boy President Obama. This is all talk, and nothing will come of it.

            But if there had been a change to the rules under Republican leadership, that talk would be much more real and probably would come closer because the game of changing the rules had already been done once.

          • AceInTX

            had the Gang of 14 not have ridden to their rescue…the Dems would have caved because they didn’t want to lose the filibuster as a tool…

            second…public opinion was running white hot against the Dems on it…they’d have had to back down based on that alone…

            McCain didn’t accomplish anything except pulling their fat out of the fire and getting a hand full of judges confirmed at the expense of dozens of others who now have tire tracks on their backs from being thrown under the bus…and at the expense of hundreds of other judges who can now face the threat of a filibuster based on the president set by McCain and his Democrat Friends

          • SteveLA

            Ace

            While you are probably wrong about how the game of chicken would have turned out, you really should step back and look at who was pushing the game of chicken. In my view, mostly SIVV conservatives like you who wanted to pack the courts with Judaical activists, but ones who would push and legislate bench on in the right direction and overturn Roe.

            I agreed with not overturning the filibuster then, because of just what we are facing today, Democrats in the majority wanting to use that majority to push through what they want. Throw in some of the old I don’t like messing with tradition for short term objectives along with I don’t like judicial activism from ether the Left or the Right, I was pretty happy with the Gang of 14.

            As it worked out, we got two pretty good Supreme Court Justices and that is a good thing. We’ve also got a check on the next Supreme Court nominee, becasue of the Gang of 14, with Senator Brown, which is another good thing, despite Brown not being your sort of “true conservative”.

          • AceInTX

            but tradition had already been messed with when the Dems chose to filibuster judicial nominees so spare me your concern about tradition p.

            Second…whether it was values voters or whoever else that wanted the filibustering of judicial nominees is irrelevant. The fact is the filibuster had never been used to block a president’s judicial nominees up to that point in history and the Constitution makes it clear nominees are to be voted on by a simple majority…not a supaer majority…

            Your anti SoCon Bigotry is legend Steve so I guess I’m not surprised you were OK with Dems abusing the filibuster to block conservative judges…at least you’re willing to admit it.

            and maybe you haven’t noticed as far as where we are now is concerned but we haven’t filibustered Jack…and probably won’t….Oh…and the Dems are talking about doing away with the filibuster in all instances…not just where Judicial Nominations are concerned…so where did McCain’s Appeasement get us?

          • zbigreddogz

            but we haven?t filibustered Jack

            If the filibuster didn’t exist, they would have passed the Health Care bill, and the furthest left version of it, 6 months ago.

            If you disagree, you are either uninformed and/or stupid.

            I’m not taking sides in this debate, but your comment has to be one of the most ignorant, totally lacking in merit comments I’ve seen in these parts recently. And that’s saying a lot.

          • AceInTX
          • zbigreddogz

            I said the comment was ignorant. And it was.

            There’s a difference.

          • AceInTX

            and McLame’s treachery on their behalf in the gang of 14 isn’t even a consideration for them…

            I guarantee when they invoke the Nuclear option at some future date…McCain will be squealing like a stuck pig like he did when Franken objected to Lieberman having a few extra seconds to0 finish his remarks saying…”I don’t know what just happened here…but it isn’t good”!

            Well Johny boy…the Democrats are being Democrats and the fact that you don’t understand that isn’t as poor a reflection on them as it is on YOU!

        • AceInTX

          as it would have been applied since it was only narrowly focused on the point that the filibuster of Judges when the Constitution clearly states judges are to be confirmed through a majority vote not by a Super Majority.

          The history of the Nuclear Option is that it’s been threatened over and over again when the minority abuses the filibuster as was clearly being done here and those abusing it have always backed down at the last moment rather than having the filibuster removed as an option to the minority.

          in any good negotiation, one needs to be able to play brinkmanship to get the best deal possible. What is so enfutiating with what McCain did in this is by taking the nuclear option of the table when he did…he disarmed Frist in the middle of a Mexican stand off…The Dems got away with their obstruction and hundreds of conservative judges were thrown over the side as a result .

          You can’t negotiate with someone who has a gun to your head after you’ve had your gun taken away from you…had McCain not cut his deal…the Dems would have backed off their filibuster rather than seing the filibuster option destroyed by the nuclear option…Thanks to McCain…they didn’t have to worry about that…did they?

          • eburke

            my feeble attempts (I was still seeing through the fog of stunned disbelief that McCain’s sellout on the G of 14 was being hailed as the brilliant strategic move that saved the Union)

          • AceInTX

            but nothing will get my blood up faster than crediting McCain with saving the Republic with his tactical brilliance and heroic self sacrifice!

            I’m a Christian and don’t want to Hate anyone…but McCain is as close as I can come to white hot hatred as any other living human being without actually hating someone!

          • zbigreddogz

            There was not even close to “hundreds” of conservative judges that were denied a vote. There weren’t even more then about 15 or so filibustered.

            Some of those that were are the finest we’ve got, i.e. Janice Rodgers Brown, and their blockage was outrageous, but they were all confirmed.

            There was less then 10, and I’m pretty sure less then 5, that didn’t receive a vote under the Gang of 14.

            And if you are going to continue this asinine claim that there were hundreds, I expect you to provide me their names.

            And your “D’s were about to capitulate” thing is correct. THAT’S WHAT THE GANG OF 14 WAS. They capitulated on every important judge and other than a few that were already having problems that might not have received a majority vote because they didn’t have the backing of all the Republicans. No new nominee was filibustered after the deal.

            And before you start naming names of people nominated after ’06, they were not filibustered, they were merely blocked by the majority from coming to a vote. That has nothing to do with the filibuster.

          • AceInTX
          • AceInTX

            They capitulated on every important judge and other than a few that were already having problems that might not have received a majority vote because they didn?t have the backing of all the Republicans. No new nominee was filibustered after the deal.

            nice to see I’m not the only one who can be hyperbolic

          • AceInTX

            My original premise was the historical FACT that this isn’t the first time the nuclear option has been threatened against a minority party who is engaged in abusing it…

            every time it’s been threatened those abusing the filibuster rule has capitulated rather than face having the tool removed from their tool box.

            We’ll never know if the Dems would have capitulated on it though will we? McCain made sure they’d never have to face the choice between having the filibuster stripped from them in the narrow instance of judicial nominees. They got their half a loaf…

            as for how many judges never got their vote..I don’t have the time or inclination to look it up but there were more than just 10 or 15 that were held up with procedural tricks throughout the appellate courts and down the line….it certainly wasn’t hundreds which I readily concede….but the Dems had their way far more than you are willing to admit becaase of McCain’s treachery….

            and I’ll reiterate…the gang of 14 kept alive the posibility of future filibusters of judicial nominees

      • jeremyz

        I may agree on some points, but we need to clarify your critiques about McCain and the “Gang of 14″. As much as I too disagreed with it, it saved us from blowing up the Senate and giving the Democrats free reign this three years when they took over teh majority in 2006. Secondly, We got Roberts adn Alito (2 solid conservatives) for Rehnquist and O’Conner (1 solid conservative and 1 flip-flop). This was a big win for “the Gang of 14″ however you want to frame it. Morever. this weeks decision to tear down McCain Feingold (which is more of a problem than the Gang of 14) was a result of replacing O’Conner with Alito (even though that was an accident as Bush initially nominated Miers).

        My point, McCain’s biggest detriment is his assault on free speech. On judges, spending, earmarks, he is solid and we should thank the Gang of 14 for not breaking down the wall that currenty protects conservatism from the tyranny of 59 Democratic Senators.

        • mbecker908

          The ONLY thing G14 did was cost us a bunch of very well qualified nominees who got tossed under The Straight Talk Express. It did absolutely nothing for either Roberts or Alito and you’ve got a single digit IQ if you think that happened.

          McCain is NOT a fiscal conservative in any sense of the word. He’s against “earmarks” (except for the Sandra Day O’Connor federal courthouse in Phoenix) that don’t reduce federal spending by a nickel. He’s never met a problem that couldn’t be solved by a new or expanded federal program.

          • eburke

            jeremyz has been registered for 6 days and jfindl2 for a whopping 11 and they’ve decided to invest all their time and energy spewing fatuous nonsense about McCain being a conservative.

            So is Franz smelling troll or McCain staffer?

          • mbecker908

            I’m not even thinking troll. They don’t appear to meet the minimum IQ requirements for a troll.

            My vote, without consulting Franz because I only pester him with important stuff, is just plain stupid.

            They may be BunnyBait™ though.

          • eburke
          • mbecker908

            He considers it overtime.

            I doubt I’ll have to though. They seem to be of the “I’ll throw this great fount of knowledge to peasants” type and when they get hammered they go back to their tabbed porn site.

          • eburke
          • jfindl2

            Where did I say he was a conservative eburke? Your going to call me and another guy out for not being long time members of the community, so that automatically negates our arguments. Thats pathetic.

            Also a question for all those who say the nuclear option was just a brinksmanship tactic. So if it was just talk and it was never going to be applied, why is it such a great strategy? I mean if its one that you can see right through and you know the other side will never actually use their power why would a rational being cave?

            Basically if the Republican leadership actually intended to use the nuclear option, than I don’t think its a crazy argument to say the Dems would try to expand its usage beyond judicial nominees. At the very least they probably would have expanded it to other presidential nominees and we would be stuck with a TSA chief who is a total union puppet.

            If the Republicans leadership wasn’t ever intending to use the nuclear option, which it seems many are suggesting. I don’t see how its such a horrible thing that we got a votes on a few nominees when thats probably all we were likely to get out of the negotiations if the Dems, and everybody else, could discern the leadership was not making a real threat.

    • Scope

      of Americans, who had to put nose clamps on to vote against Obama, that McCain is not a RINO. He is the RINO poster child. His picture is in the dictionary next to the word RINO.

    • eburke

      from the beginning of his career til now.

      Second, take a look at what happens to it everytime he’s up for election vs the other years.

      Third, these ratings are next to useless as they are unweighted meaning that a vote to ban research on the mating habits of yaks in Tibet count as much as, oh, let’s say…co-sponsoring a bill to overturn the First Ammendment.

      Fourth, please consult the 4,667,330 diaries in the archives which delineates the countless numbers of times Johnny Mac has stabbed the conservative movement in the back not on some arcane legislation but on issues that lie at the heart of conservatism.

      As mbecker, in his own ‘subtle’ way, phrased it a couple of days ago, Johnny Mac isn’t *anything*, except a massive egotist who can be counted on to do whatever will put him in front of as many cameras as possible as often as possible.

      Or, as a poster yesterday so succinctly put it – John McCain (R – Egoland)

      I’d send money to beckers dead white cat if I thought he had a chance to take out McCain.

      • Scope

        reminding us all of just how conservative McCain is. I’d leave the mating habits to Cindy and Meghan.

        • eburke
        • aesthete
    • konstantine

      I am tired of the circular firing squads against McCain.

      This has been a very dark time in our history as conservatives. One that I hope that we will never relive. And we will, as long as this arrogant and selfish attitude continues to exist with so many conservatives. Do you remember when the democrats were fighting between Hillary supporters and Obama supporters? Yeah, good times. I wish that brand of stupid had been contained to their side.

      Disagree with McCain? Fine. Challenge him within the rules, and at a time when he is up for reelection at the primary? Fine, got no problem with any of that. Lie about him and misrepresent what he did, what he believes and how he thinks? Now that is what I have a problem.

      This behavior, lying about someone you disagree with has and continues to be something that is destructive to us all. And I would like to see this end soon.

      But I’m not hopeful that I will see it will stop.

      • eburke

        My bad….and here all this time I was thinking that beyond the serial apsotasies that McCain had as delineated ad nauseum, I must have missed all those times during the campaign that McCain called out Obama for the Marxist, anti-American, radical ideologue that he was/is.

        But I *didn’t* miss John saying that Obama would make a “fine President”.

        Dang it all, those facts are stubborn things.

        • jfindl2

          for having sanity during the gang of 14 thing. If we had used the nuclear option we would already have socialized medicine and Brown’s election wouldn’t have mattered b/c the Dems would have expanded the nuclear option greatly and not just have kept it for judicial nominees.

          • eburke

            *solely* with the filibuster of judicail nominees not being enumerated in the Constitution as an area which required a ‘super-majority’.

            To morph McCain’s Gang of 14 crap into “he saved us from socialized health care” is a fatuous dream that bears no basis in fact.

          • AceInTX

            so how the Go14 has anything to do with what the Dems have done on HCR is beyond me!

          • jfindl2

            would have only have kept the nuclear option to judicial nominees. There is no way they would have said, “Well the Republicans broke the filibuster process for less pressing matters, why shouldnt we use for a matter that is much more important?”

            And the MSM would have eaten that up all day long.

          • AceInTX

            we lost because of him…not the other way around!

          • jfindl2

            McCain’s fault for the economic disaster hitting when it did and for Bush’s disapproval’s being in the 60s when he left office.

            Did McCain run a perfect, or even a good, campaign? No, sticking to the federal fund raising was innane and probably cost us Indiana, North Carolina, and another state or two at the presidential level which also hurt the Republicans down the ticket as well. No his campaign was lackluster, but was it all his fault for Republicans losing that year? I doubt it

        • konstantine

          If I recall. the ‘fine president’ remark was in response to the crazy town hall woman who claimed that Obama was a seekret mooslim or whatever. The left media had been tarring McCain with the views of his supporters, all the way from the ‘how can we stop the b*tch’ question about Hillary. It was McCain’s decision to run a clean campaign, and he decided not to go dirty or negative with Obama’s association with Wright, or the birth certificate crazy. He did run the ads talking about Ayers.

          Just because he said ‘fine president’ in response to her, didn’t mean that he wanted Obama to be president. Something you can’t figure out on your own, apparently.

          Your bad.

          • eburke

            like: I admire Barack Obama for where he’s come from and where he’s now at; it’s an American Dream. But his policies are dead wrong for this country and would lead us in a direction that is the antithesis of the America that allowed him to be who he is today.

            That, coupled with his steadfast refusal to *ever* call Obama out on his radical agenda, his voting record (what there was of it) and his past, signals an epic FAIL.

          • AceInTX
      • http://impudent.blognation.us/blog kyle8

        the truth is bad enough. like how he authored a horrible assault on the first amendment, and then co authored a total amnesty bill, then called those who opposed it nativists and yelled at them. And how he NEVER has anything good to say about the conservatives in his own party but could never stop fawning over his “Dear Friend” Ted Kennedy.

        • Richard Mullins

          he’s a Populist and I don’t like Populist. For you, in ways you’re the pot calling the kettle black. I think we need to advise JD to be really nasty when taking on McCain.

        • konstantine

          are reasons to not support McCain the the Arizona Primary.

          But back when the 2008 election was not yet decided, none of these facts meant squat when it came down to McCain vs Obama, or voting third party to protest how much you despised McCain, when the only other choice was Obama becoming president. If the list you mention didn’t contain any lies, then fine. But there are many who do lie about him, because they disagree with him. And that’s something that we should leave to liberals – lying about their politicians who they disagree with.

          • Scope

            needs your useless lectures.

            Number 1- Not one word printed above, about McCain’s many sins, are “lies.”

            Number 2- Just about everyone here, for any length of time at all, put the nose clamp on, and the gas mask, and voted against Obama. We really aren’t suicidal.

            Number 3- McCainiacs have to dig really really deep to find the first conservative thing about McCain’s record. Oh, I thought of one, he doesn’t like earmarks. You’ll have to give me a few more days to think of anything else.

            I am not quite sure if you are here in the now, we are talking about the2010 AZ primary, not last years failed campaign.

          • eburke

            Having vowed that the only way I would *ever* vote for McCain was over my dead, cold, frozen Minnesota body, in my case it also took almost an entire bottle of Cuervo to boot.

            What a waste of good tequila.

          • Scope

            did you eat the worm? If so, you have done your pennance.

          • eburke
          • eburke

            prior to the Primary isn’t ‘lying’…and it’s not a ‘circular firing squad’.

            It’s what primaries are for.

          • http://www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com ColdWarrior

            Good analysis, in my humble opinion:

            http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/mmalkin/2010/mm_01221.shtml

            Thank you.
            ColdWarrior
            No More Scozzavas!

          • mbecker908

            The analysis is OK, but I think she’s way off on the impact.

            McCain is first striking JD with ads, JD doesn’t have money to buy us lunch and can’t respond. He’ll be down another 10 or 15 before he even gets pointed in a direction.

            This one is a big time lost cause.

          • AceInTX

            to put JD over the top….I’m no Hayworth fan…but he’s not John McCain…which is good enough for me!

          • eburke

            just about the time JD moved from sportscasting into politics. I’m not quite as negative about his chances as mbecker but I also haven’t been in the state for the last 10 years. But becker’s right – Hayworth’s biggest enemy is his mouth and the fact that his ego is almost as big as McCain’s. And the Arizona Repugnant will become the 2nd arm of the McCain campaign in the primary.

            The difference is…Hayworth’s ego is on the right side of the issues and McCain is just a senator from Egoland.

          • AceInTX

            I probably would have voted for McCain without Palin…though I might have stayed home out of pure frustration…I honestly can’t say one way or the other…

            But 2008 is over now…and we’ve had that argument…I don’t want to talk about whether I owe McCain my vote as my Party’s nominee….because he’s not any more….He’s in a Primary fight right now and I don’t owe him a damned thing…

            and again…I challenge you to point out where ANYBODY has lied about his worthless hide? There’s no need to lie…his record…his arrogance…his ego says all anyone needs to say….

      • AceInTX

        if you can’t dispute it…with facts and evidence…then the fact that you called anyone here a lier makes you unworthy of further comment and discussion…

        barring facts and evidence from you…I invoke Hinz Rule!

        • eburke
    • vamoose

      “The comparable rating for John McCain is 81%.”

      Hold on! The 81% career rating is deceivingly high. In his first couple of terms he was in the upper 80′s; in the last decade he’s been in the lower 70′s.

      McCain has been thoroughly Washingtonized and becomes more so each year. His political instincts are awful. He needs to be replaced.

      • kabane52

        I guess you missed his vigorous attacks on health takeover and the porkulus. He’s one of the most principled Senators on spending. Look, if McCain wasn’t in office, I would support a more conservative candidate. But this is going to look like a circular firing squad, and it’s dumb.

        • eburke

          Ooops!

        • Scope

          McCain has a terrible habit of running to the center, supporting Republican issues, and finding a strong voice in the year before his re-election campaigns. Oh, he’ll be in DC come 2011, and, he will be sitting at the Obama socialist table. He’s already making noises in concert with the Democrats that will try to overturn the recent SC decision honoring free speech. He’s as devasted as the Libs because the new meaning of Campaign Finance Reform doesn’t favor incumbents. He’s holding hands with Chuckie Shumer on that one.

          • AceInTX

            which is what McCain Fiengold was all about…he set himself up as a king maker…he set’s baby RINOs up with his money machine…and then he owns them…

            man of principle and honor my rosey read AXX!!!

        • AceInTX

          he’s running for re election….

          He threw Lyndsey Graham under the bus on Cap and Trade recently…even though McCain is big on Cap and Trade himself….he even ran on it in his lame aXXed campaign for POTUS…but that didn’t keep him from throwing his little butt boy under the bus and spinning out on him did it?

          I can’t say I wasn’t enormously entertained by little Lord Fountleroy’s pouting reaction…but it proved to me everything I always knew about him instinctively…in that he’ll sink a knife into a friends back and twist if that’s what it takes to earn the slightest benefit to John Sydney McCain!

          • Scope

            but, much better than I could ever say it. Kingmaker for sure. Look at his latest move with Brown. Before he got to DC, McCain had him taping robo-calls for his lily white ass. He was next in line in 2000, but, Bush won. He never got over it, and, he took it out on all of us citizens in the country. He is revengeful, and, he never fails to pay back those that he even thinks have gone against him. Palin is his latest victim, simply because she gained a heck of alot more support than him. But, she is enabling him to make her a victim, and, she will pay for that.

          • cwilson

            After W trounced McCain in the primary, and then won the 37 days of heck in FL, and then was finally sworn in, what did Stalwart Sydney do? He demanded two solid weeks of Senate floor time be devoted to HIS pet issue — campaign finance reform — before Prince John would deign to allow the actual, you know, ELECTED president’s agenda to be considered. The agenda with which Republican primary voters agreed more than they did with McCain’s, and on which W won the general election, however narrowly.

            Now, this was in the 50-50+Cheney Senate — never mind that old Ironsides, backbone-of-steel Trent Lott had entered into a “power sharing” agreement with the Daschle’s minions, thus diluting what little nominal power the 50+1 R’s had in that chamber.

            But McCain’s Delay, that sop to his gargantuan ego, meant that W’s tax cut proposals were delayed until AFTER Jumpin’ Jim Jeffords jumped. This meant that the only way W could get his tax cuts passed was via reconciliation — which is why your taxes are going up this year, when they expire.

            You can thank John S. McCain and his ego for that.

            And what did ole’ Johnny boy get for his backstabbery? CFR came around and bit him in 2008, when he ran against the Trillion Dollar campaign. And now, it’s hit the dustbin of history. Heckuva job, Johnny!

    • jacon4

      Mac is correct on most of the big isses, hes a patriot and votes his core values no matter the political heat. One really cant ask for more than that.

      • mbecker908

        McCain is not just wrong on a host of “big issues”, he’s spent most of his career undercutting conservative positions in the Party and undercutting Republican Presidents (GWB).

        John McCain’s only core value is that nothing but John McCain matters and if you haven’t figured that one out by now you either live in a cave or have a football injury from not wearing a helmet.

      • eburke

        votes his core values no matter the political heat.

        Unfortunately, his ‘core value’ is whatever stokes his massive ego, gets the greatest number of cameras in his face, and makes ‘important people’ fawn over him.

      • Scope

        he puts his price on what will get him on the next Sunday morning talk fest. He especially does really well with Meet the Depressed, and, Face the Nation. He sure hasn’t had a contract with Chris Wallace, at least as much as he has with Hannity the repeat machine.

        • AceInTX

          yet McCain never showed his arrogant puss on the most watched prime time news program in the nation….I mean…Come on

          what an incompetent aXX!

          My blood pressure is going up!!!

          • Scope

            and I believe he has signed a contract with Hannity now as a regular.

          • AceInTX
          • zbigreddogz

            go from hero to zero in 2 seconds among some people when they do even one thing one disagrees with.

            My favorite was when people instantly denounced Pat Toomey as a sellout when he lost the primary in ’04 when he endorsed Specter.

            I’m well aware how he’s turned out and all…I still found it hysterically funny. If the guy sucked so bad why did you want him in the first place?

          • cwilson

            So, sure, Toomey, pre-sellout: supported. Toomey, post-sellout: ruthlessly mocked. But now it’s been awhile, and Toomey’s foolishness on the Spectre issue is laid wholly bare. Hopefully, he’s learned a little something from that.

            And around here, McCain has been rated somewhere between slime mold and a tapeworm in popularity, even when he was the Party’s nominee. We — well, most of us — used the industrial-strength clothespin-on-nose technique, and voted against Teh Won.

            But there were few who were excited about him. SWSNBN, yeah — some excitement there; but the top half of the ticket? Not so much.

            So, take your pontificating about “hero to zero” and sell it somewhere else. McCain served honorably in Vietnam — nothing can erase that, but it WAS 40 years ago. As a politician…he’s no one’s hero except Lindsey Mini-Me Graham’s.

          • aesthete

            …as that would imply that he was useful in some way.

    • AceInTX

      but undercutting your party at crucial points and crossing the isle at critical points so as to inflict the maximum damage possible to the Republican Party makes him a RINO!

      He’s a member in good standing with the Republican Main Street Partnership and recipient of their prestigious Chaffee Award…he’s a member of the RIPON society and is a progressive in the mold of Teddy Roosevelt….He’s a Cap and Trader and an internationalist!

      McLame is a RINO and saying he isn’t doesn’t make it so…and I’ve got more ammunition if you’d like to continue this argument to the contrary!

      • zbigreddogz

        Oh, I get it, your a Paulbot.

        • AceInTX

          I’m not a Paul Bot

          It’d be a good idea to spend a little time getting to know people before calling members with established histories names….you’ll last a lot longer that way!

          • nessa
          • AceInTX
    • JSobieski

      A couple of factors which factor against McCain:

      (1) Arizona is a red red state, unlike Maine or Mass. Brown is the best we can get in Mass, but in Arizona, actual conservatives could run and win.
      (2) When McCain goes off the plantation, he does so with more gusto and energy than when he is on the reservation. Whether its immigration reform, campaign finance reform, or Bush military strategy, nothing gets McCain fired up like taking on the more conservative position
      (3) McCain kisses the rear end of MSM idiots like Chris Matthews

      • mbecker908

        1a. Arizona is NOT a red red state, or even a red state. It’s purple at best. Janet Napolitano was a two term governor and she will likely be replaced – in a really bad year for Ds – by Terry Goddard who is our Dem AG. Take a look at our Congressional Delegation: it’s split 5/3 D/R. And of the five, at least two are raving Marxists and will be reelected in a rout.

        1b. There are no conservatives to run against McCain who stand a chance in hell of doing anything but destroying their career. Roughly 2/3 of Arizona’s voters are in metro Phoenix and JD is viewed like a dose of clap here. You can read my earlier comments for the why.

        2&3 You are right.

        Not mentioned but I’ll comment anyway. I’d prefer either Snowe or Collins to McCain. I’ve looked at their votes and they’ve never “hurt” us. Sure they vote “against us” occasionally, but they’ve never been even close to a deciding vote on any issue. On the bailout, my opinion – based on nothing but my good looks – is that they voted with BO because, and only because, Specter gave them the cover to do it. It was Specter’s vote that was the difference. In addition, neither of them – the ME Girls – has ever sponsored a toxic piece of legislation like CFR or Torture or Immigration and they aren’t anywhere close to being leaders who matter. They are nothing more than an occasional irritants who vote with Republicans when it matters and for organizational purposes.

        • JSobieski

          The fact that Arizona has democrat Congresscritters and some statewide officials does not mean that in terms of statewide national races, it isn’t Red.

          When is the last time Arizona went for Democrat presidential candidate?

          If we call Arizona purple, then many “red” states are actually purple.

          • mbecker908

            Until the state started to grow like a bad weed it was conservative. When the growth curve hit the liberals moved in. Presidential elections are really bad indicators of where a state is politically.

            Actually, if you wanted to classify Arizona it would be libertarian. And it would be that way at least back to Goldwater.

          • aesthete

            traditional moderate (R) voters, and an enormous USAF base in Tucson (Davis-Monthan). Back in the day, you could probably say that AZ was a red state, but post-Cali and East Coast refugee mass migrations, it’s somewhere around “right of center” and center. Raul Grijalva, one of our illustrious congresscritters, has one of the most, if not the most, progressive voting record in Congress, and was the principal architect of the House HCR bill.

        • JSobieski

          They hurt us far less often than Spector or McCain.

          I have defended them (or at least defended their defendors) on this site many times.

          In sharp contrast to the ladies from Maine is a certain loser from Rhode Island, a turncoat from Pennsylvania and Jumpin Jim.

          Below those three I put McCain and his BFF from South Carolina as those who must be opposed when possible.

          • mbecker908
  • ooga007

    Palin’s political career is over if she backs McLaim…..everyone stay focused now on 2010.

    P.S. has anyone seen Obummers real birthcertificate lying around?

    • kabane52

      No, her political career is over if she backs Hayworth. Imagine the headlines

      FORMER VP NOMINEE DISOWNS RUNNING MATE

      Yeah, that’ll go over well.

      • Scope

        the first time she steps on the stage to back McCain. She owes him absolutely nothing. He and his campaign staff have done everything they can, for the last year, to end her political ambitions, whatever they are. That is not a “maverick”, that is a go along to get along plan, which will backfire.

        • zbigreddogz

          McCain has never done anything to end her political ambitions. He’s done nothing but say complementary things about her and defend her.

          Steve Schmidt is another story, but he is not the same person as McCain. A Presidential campaign is a very large organization. It would hardly be fair to blame McCain for the opinions of every person who worked for him AFTER the race. He can hardly control them.

          • JSobieski

            The logic (which I don’t necessarily agree with) is that McCain is the establishment candidate, not a tea party conservative.

            The MSM media won’t see a Palin endorsement of McCain as a sell-out, but some tea party folks might.

            However. McCain has been a pretty decent conservative voice on spending, which is the big issue at the moment.

    • Scope

      no one wants to here it.

      Palin will do damage to her conservative reputation when she fundraises and campaigns for McCain, but, I doubt she will back down. She was pretty vehement in her support of McCain when she was on Beck’s radio show this week. Her most ardent fans are screaming. If Hayworth gains alot of support, especially nationwide, and is seen as the conservative alternative, Palin is done, no matter what and how much she owes him for bringing her into the spotlight. Before anyone else in the Republican party, McCain is the poster child of RINO’s.

      • cwilson

        I don’t like the fact that she’s supporting McCain’s reelection, but I understand it. I’d put it in the “prior obligation” box: she kinda has to, or she’ll be viewed as just as much of a backstabber as McCain and his campaign staff. She’s really damned if she does, and damned if she doesn’t.

        But…

        If JD beats McCain, I don’t think Palin would be TOO unhappy.

    • SCSoxFan

      and leave her alone for it. For Palin, McCain is a special case. There was a passage in Going Rogue where she describes backing someone other than Todd’s mother for Wasilla mayor and how she ended up feeling — McCain is family and she won’t diss family, no matter how much she may disagree with their stances. She’s also campaigning for Bachmann in April and I would not be surprised to see her back Rubio at some point before the primary.

      Others are also getting on her for backing McCain in the primary rather than waiting for the general — he asked her now, so she backs him now.

      • Scope

        for simply saying something positive about Palin. You just put a defination to the word.

      • eburke

        if she thinks that the same people who only, barely, voted for McCain because she was on the ticket with him are going to jump up and down and shout ‘goody-goody’ and continue to embrace her as she embraces the very symbol of why these people stopped supporting the GOP…she’s not as savvy as I thought she was.

        And before all ya’ll who have a reflexive love of Sarah start piling on me…you may want to check my posting history. I have assiduously stayed out of the Palin flame wars on here because a) I find them counterproductive; b) I was taking a wait and see attitude on her (read: I was on the fence); and, c) I am and remain focused on the ’10 elections.

        Oh, at btw, yours truly falls into the category of those who found a giant clothespin and voted for McCain only because Sarah was on the ticket. I will be *sorely* disappointed in her if she actively campaigns for the person who ranks in my top 5 for destroying the GOP brand.

        And, yes, there’s a huge difference between not openly backing the opponent of your running mate, and standing on a stage and embracing someone who has stabbed you and those you purport to represent in the back countless times.

        If Sarah, and her supporters, don’t think this is going to hurt her, they’re drinking the same stuff that the Dems who continue to insist that NJ, VA, and MA don’t really mean Americans are fed up w/their socialistic policies.

        I’m just sayin….

        • Scope

          didn’t his own mother tell us all we would have to just “hold our noses”? I wonder where she’s been locked away ever since.

        • jfindl2

          almost entirely to McCain’s choice of her as VP. If she isn’t selected as VP do you really think people outside of Alaska would even be talking about her? She owes McCain big.

          • eburke

            and to a bunch of other conservatives, is that she is a breath of fresh air in the whole ‘good ol’ boys & girls…you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ cesspool that has our country’s shorts in a collective bunch. What conservatives and independents are craving are politicians who don’t ‘owe’ politicians *anything*…they want them to ‘owe’ the people. Does the phrase “It’s the people’s seat” ring any bells?

            I will say it again: There are a *lot* of ways for Sarah to duck this behind the scenes. I do *not* expect her to campaign for or support JD Hayworth. But this looks like *exactly* what you say it is, she *owes* him. She either can’t see that (which means I question her judgement and acuity) or she does see it and the whole ‘I’m different and fresh’ was and is just a front.

          • eburke

            for keeping him from an electoral defeat of epic proportions.

          • SteveLA

            Governor Palin does not owe JohnnyMac from giving her the ability to leave her job after three years and make a ton of money as a best selling author of a book?

            Why without JohnnyMac, Governor Palin might have been forced to do the whole four years as Governor of Alaska and maybe run for a second term as Governor.

            But hey, Art would not have been able to become the go to guy here on RS for the low down on Governor Palin, so there is that.

          • eburke

            with millions of Americans was her doing not his.

            Then, his top staffers left her hanging out to dry while John, who went ballistic on anyone on the GOP side who uttered the slightest personal attack on The One, said absolutely nothing.

            One would think that if Sarah was treated during the campaign the way she claims she was, and the guy that hired all these clowns said NOTHING while they were trashing her, that she would want nothing to do with them or him.

            As I’ve said elsewhere, either Sarah doesn’t see how this affects her allure of being an ‘outsider’ and impacts the very people who voted for McCain because of her despite their distaste for him, then she’s lacking the discernment and ‘political antennae’ that her supporters claim she has; if she recognizes it and does it anyway because, as someone said elsewhere, ‘she owes him’, then she just comes off as another pol interested in using whatever she needs to to get where whe wants to go.

            Had John come to her defense have as quickly and vociferously as he does when his Lib buddies get trashed (Kerry/Obama come to mind) I would agree that Sarah owes him.

            He didn’t.

            He left her twisting in the wind for almost a year.

            She owes him nothing.

          • AceInTX

            One would think that if Sarah was treated during the campaign the way she claims she was, and the guy that hired all these clowns said NOTHING while they were trashing her, that she would want nothing to do with them or him.

            it shows a lack of political say and a level of naivete’ of epic proportions…backing McCain and actively campaigning for his reelection is showing a level of political stupidity that is breath taking in it’s idiocy.

            She hasn’t gone all in yet…but she’s anted up…I’ve not ready to burn her at the stake yet either…but I’m building the pier around the stake as we speak

          • mschmitt
          • jackbenimble

            They are absolutely identical on amnesty and while I dislike him for many reasons that is my biggest beef with McCain by far.

            To me it makes perfect sense why Palin is supporting McCain.

            It also makes sense to me why I am not a Palin fan.

          • SteveLA

            eburke

            Governor Palin would be in the final year of her term as Governor of Alaska if McCain had not picked her to be his VP, that’s about all you can say.

            Maybe she was on the radar of the hard core SIVV base of the Republican party, that much I give you, but as a sitting Governor of a remote state like Alaska, without her being selected, not elected as McCains running mate she’s still be hunting moose in Alaska and probably quite happy.

            What does McCain owe Palin? From what I’ve seen when JohnnyMac has spoken on the question of how Palin has been treated and from how Palin has re-payed her loyalty to McCain by coming to campaign for him, seems she’s a much better judge of debts owed and debts paid than her legions of fans and bots.

            But you weave a nice Sea Story, I’ll give you that.

          • eburke

            these stories first started surfacing with half of the indignation he did when conservatives started talking about Obama’s radical background, or introduced him as Barack Hussein Obama, I’d absolutely understand why Sarah would feel the obligation to campaign for him despite what are some major differences in philosophy.

            *He’s* the one that selected her so *he’s* the one who had the moral obligation to defend her and tell his staff and especially Steve Schmidt to STFU. Had he done that, she *would* have owed him big time for a) selecting her, and b) sticking up for her.

            He didn’t. So what John *really* did was pluck her from obscurity, and then allowed the folks inside his campaign to relentlessly feed the liberal MSM meme about her being a dunderhead.

            Sorry…in my code of honor book, her loyalty to him ended when his loyalty to her never surfaced.

          • eburke

            for *any* posts I’ve *ever* made that would remotely place me in the realm of fans and ‘bots.’

            Frankly, I’ve had it with both sides in this whole Sarah thing – those who take anything remotely critical of Sarah as a sign you’re the anti-Christ, and those on the anti-Sarah side that assume that if you’re not rabidly bashing her on any and every occasion for being the anti-Christ that you must be a Palin-bot.

            It’s ridiculous.

          • Scope

            You go all in with Palin having trashed her own party in Alaska, boo hoo, she was after the good ole boys club. Now when others think she is making a terrific mistake in going all in for McCain. Well, she owes him that. You’ve gotten caught up in the wrong argument here, or, you are just going along to get along with your numerous other arguments.

          • SteveLA

            Scope,

            Please point me to where I have commented about how Governor Palin did anything in Alaska with or for the Republcan party, that’s Art with that sort of knowledge not me.

            Far as what Governor Palin owes McCain, assuming that the Governor is of sound mind, and a adult over 18, she can and will back who she chooses to for what ever reason she chooses to. I’m glad to see her backing JohnnyMac, as I personally think he gave her a greater opportunity on the national stage than she ever would have earned as the Governor of a remote state like Alaska.

            I’m sorry, but going to have to give your posting, only one half a Nurse Ratched.

          • Scope

            than to do what will do her in politically. Don’t even think about putting it all back on Achance. You have been there in every bit of bashing you can get in.

          • AceInTX

            but as a sitting Governor of a remote state like Alaska, without her being selected, not elected as McCains running mate she?s still be hunting moose in Alaska and probably quite happy.

          • Scope

            she could just as easily have taken some of her mega dollars from her PAK and sent it McCain’s way. To say she is fundraising for him is laughable. He doesn’t need the bucks. He needs her face and voice. She’s the only thing that kept his sorry sick ass campaign from hitting the bottom of a canyon. He is calling in his chits. What did someone here call him- something like a self-centered egomaniack. He probably promised to call off his campaign dogs that have been bashing Palin if she does this favor for him. Then he will allow her to pursue a spot in the GOP.

          • eburke

            I don’t have the time to do so, but I’d love to see the juxtaposition of the time-line between the Ras poll showing Hayworth w/in 2, when McCain *finally* uttered at least a mealy-mouthed defense of Palin, and when these discussions to have her come campaign for him took place.

            What I am certain of is that this benefits John a helluva lot more than it benefits Sarah. He *always* runs to the right in an election year, and he may be an egomaniac but he’s not totally stupid and thus knows Sarah covers his right flank.

            Sarah’s got millions of dollars so she doesn’t need to do it for the money; and if she’s got presidential aspirations, she’s moving ‘left’ while an energized grassroots (which, ironically, she helped energize) is moving right.

            Interesting perspective, Scope. (So….is this why the mods pay you the big bucks?)

          • Scope

            a 95 Dodge big red broomstick, and cow flops squishing through my toes.

          • AceInTX

            just because you had your head in the sand doesn’t mean we add

          • SteveLA

            Maybe a bit Zen for you Ace, but without McCain putting Palin on the national stage, how would anyone other than “some of us” have ever noticed her?

            For sure, McCain would have really been spanked hard without Palin, nobody can ignore the fire and excitement she sparked that helped JohnnyMac, that’s silly to ignore or even discount. As a national figure, without McCain, Palin would still be the Governor of the State of Alaska, that’s about it and I think and in terms of gratitude and respect, for McCain Palin gets that point even if you want to pretend otherwise.

          • Scope

            doesn’t mean that the rest of us don’t. Palin had been on Fox talking about energy policy, long before McCain tapped her on the shoulder. It seems that your knowledge of Palin started with, and ends with, what you have read here from the anti-Palins.

          • SteveLA

            I’m interested in politicians with a record of competence governance who have actually done something meaningful in the public policy area. Governor Palin had about zero record of being a competent executive leader on issues that might matter outside of Alaska.

            Maybe you can help me out here. Can you point me to a policy position paper she wrote before being nominated by McCain. I’d like to read it and learn about what a policy wonk the Governor actually is.

            Facebook postings won’t hack it however.

          • Scope

            You don’t get to come here, on this thread, and continue your irrational bashing of Palin. Many here are talking about her support of McCain. Holy crap, all of a sudden you found something that she has done right. Go find or start another diary to continue your ludicrous trash. Your talking points are really really old. We’ve moved beyond that.

          • smagar
          • SteveLA

            But bear baiting is illegal in most states….

          • aesthete

            just look at Palin’s actual record and quietly look for someone else to support for what is, after all, the highest executive office in the land. All I’ve seen so far from the hardcore “Palin 2012″ group is projection of their hopes and desires onto Palin. Palin’s main accomplishments aren’t conservative, and she has yet to lower spending in absolute terms as an executive. And yet, she’s supposed to lead us into the conservative Promised Land? Eh, no, and I think that a lot of people are going to be disappointed if they think that she will.

          • AceInTX

            he’s to busy reading High Times and feeling up the local gigolo to know anything that hasn’t been spoon fed to him by the American atheists society and the he man Christian haters club!

          • AceInTX

            you’re a jerk Steve…I’ve never out right said it before but if your asshole is half the size of your mouth you’d turn yourself inside out every time you broke wind!

            There were many here who were talking about Palin and Jindal as future stars…but she’s a Christian and doesn’t worship at the abortion table which is all you need to decide she’s not worth a crap…

            I think she’s showing huge naivete’ in continuing to suck up to McCain when he holds her in as much contempt as you do…and she’s burning her bridges with me and a lot of us who can’t stand McCain and trust him as far as we can throw a locomotive so don’t throw me in the category of a Bot…I’ll trash her when she deserves it…just like I do McCain….and just like I do you…..

          • jfindl2

            misunderstood what you were saying. Yeah she could easily duck out it. Guess I missed the part where you specifically say she could just sit on the sidelines. My bad.

          • eburke

            If you go back and look at my posting history you’ll find out that I’ve pretty much sat out the Palin flame wars. I was jazzed when McCain picked her (it only took one bottle of tequila to get me to vote for him; otherwise it would’ve taken two) but have seen things I like about her and things that give me pause.

            I do understand that she it wouldn’t be wise for her to diss John in public but, like I said, my humble opinion is there were ways for her to handle this w/out dismaying a whole lot of people who love her but despise McCain.

            Nice yakkin’ w/ya!

        • AceInTX

          in backing McCain…as far as I’m concerned…she’ told m to go play in traffic…and I’m off the Palin bandwagon…and don’t plan to even follow in it’s wake!

    • mbecker908

      Obama’s “original birthcertificate” than there are people who’ve seen your brain. Although here, the lack of the latter bothers me more than the former.

      Go play in the fast lane of the closest interstate highway.

    • bs

      Get off that one here. And don’t threadjack.

    • corky

      Registered 3 days and spewing birther crap.

      Methinks this guy needs the banstick.

    • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

      Can’t spell. Raving Birther.

      I’d better blow this thing up before it explodes at a more delicate time.

    • AceInTX
      • Scope

        I seriously doubt she will backtrack on her support. Did you hear the enthusiasm in her voice when Beck asked her what the heck she was doing?

        • Scope

          for when it’s her turn.

  • smitch61

    She said Hayworth is a big spender… any facts on this?

    • Brian Faughnan

      This is just a broad overview, but check out this site for his issue stances:

      http://www.ontheissues.org/House/J_D__Hayworth.htm

      Pro tax cuts, pro spending reductions, pro line item veto, pro balanced budget. I don’t remember him ever having a reputation as a big spender.

    • Josh Painter

      …on its congressional scorecard back when he was still in office. That’s not sterling, but it isn’t as bad as some of his critics try to make it seem.

      JD’s real vulnerablility is that he lost his House seat in 2006 in a district where 60% of the registered voters were Republicans. But at the time, Hayworth was under intense ethical scrutiny for his ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, whose native American clients contributed $100,000 to his campaigns. JD was never convicted of any wrongdoing, but he’s still paying off legal bills from that investigation.

      There was also an issue of Hayworth paying his wife $20,000 a year in money from his PAC over a five-year span. It’s nothing we have seen before from other political candidates, but it’s not a positive for him.

      Meanwhile, McCain is sitting on a very heavy campaign war chest. JD should raise a lot of money over the Web in small donations from McCain haters, but he will need an incredible amount of donations to come close to matching McCain in the cash on hand department.

      In the last poll taken before JD announced his intentions, McCain had a 22-point advantage. such big leads can quickly evaporate, as we witnessed in Massachusetts, but McCain’s support in AZ is fairly deep. His approval rating includes 45% who have a ?very favorable? opinion of the old goat.

      Another problem for JD is that he sometimes lets his mouth get way ahead of his brain, and McCain’s people have a lot of hours of JD on the radio to mine for Hayworth’s own comments to use against him. If they strike gold, they will flood the airwaves with negative ads using JD’s own words against him. This has the potential of being an even bigger negative for Hayworth than the ethical stuff, which is old news in AZ.

      This primary has all the makings of a real blood bath.

      - JP

      • Josh Painter

        That should read “nothing we haven’t seen before”

        - JP

      • bs

        Good to see you back again.

        • Josh Painter

          Wish I had more time to spend hanging around here.

          Now that I’m writing for a living (albeit a meager one), I have even less time for my other projects. But I do get to wander around and occasionally loiter a while on the weekends.

          Best,

          - JP

      • mbecker908

        didn’t cost JD his seat. It was his mouth. People here in AZ are tired of listening to him whine. As bad as McCain is with TV cameras, JD is 100 times worse.

        JD was a sportscaster before he ran for Congress in ’94. Think Olbermann, it’s a good analogy. And I would disagree that JD’s mouth sometimes gets ahead of his brain. It starts out way ahead and stays there. He’s a goldmine of 30 second negative ads that will really work well against him.

        The ethics stuff probably will hurt JD some in a statewide primary because he’ll be in Tucson and that will give them an excuse to vote against him.

        JD’s got a whole lot more negatives than McCain. The primary will be a blood bath and all the blood will be JD’s.

        • SteveLA

          mbecker

          How about the other guy who’s out in the weeds, Chris Simcox? I read that he’s got some real issues with “truthyness” and his time back when he lived in CA is chock full of interesting behavior.

          • mbecker908

            If there is no “name” candidate in the race, Simcox could probably get maybe 25% tops. All of it would be a protest vote. If the primary had two candidates, McCain and “Becker’s dead white cat”, BDWC would get probably 30%.

            When it gets down to a fight, Simcox will be more radioactive than JD. With JD in the race Simcox will simply be ignored.

            There’s another guy in the race too. I think he had to borrow money to file.

  • Scope

    they will insure that a large part of the population, who have overwhelmingly voted against gay marriage, will turn against McCain. Cindy and Meghan can be the gifts that keep on giving. With Johnny’s wife and daughter supporting something that is highly unpopular, throughout the country, many will believe Johnny holds their same views, right or wrong. It’s unlikely Johnny will be sent back home, but, I pray someone gives him a run for his money. He has been strolling back to Washington for too too long, and, he never gets a hint. With the current anti-incumbent mood in the country, maybe…

    • Richard Mullins

      it seems to be this century’s Scarlet A. The only way to get rid of a guy like McCain is to get really nasty(Time for ole Texas politics to make it to Arizona). JD better become an LBJ or John Nance Garner. I admire nasty in politicians.

      • http://charlemagne-the-hammer.blogspot.com/ DerKrieger

        Let the 527′s and other 3rd parties take that tack. Americans right now are far more interested in fiscal issues.

        • eburke

          you will *ever* find, but you gotta talk about what’s on the people’s minds. You hit the nail on the head, let the 527′s and pro-family groups hit McCain with the stuff that will resonate with the single-issue SoCons. *Any* republican running this year needs to pound fiscal responsibility and ‘the good ol’ boys’ network.

          • AceInTX

            we’ve been at the receiving end of bad juris prudence and we’re the ones who lost when Bush’s nominees were thrown under the bus by McCain…and we don’t forget.

  • smitch61

    Is over as stated above if she supports McCain?.. That is crazy talk..

    • Richard Mullins

      This isn’t going to hurt at all, in fact she’s smart enough to really help her friends(Our Gov. comes to mind) and give passive support when necessary.

    • Josh Painter

      …(no pun intended, Senator).

      If she makes a couple of stops in Phoenix in March, sends McCain some SarahPAC money and then stays far away from the primary battle, it shouldn’t hurt her that much.

      Her enemies are going wild on sites like FR trying to bloody her up with her loyalty to McCain as the club they’re swinging. They are also using her choice of which events she choose to participate in or to skip against her. The Left is always quick to seize upon any issues which divide conservatives, and they play them for all they can in the LSM and on the nutroots blogs.

      Palin’s greatest political gift may be her uncanny ability to make decisions which at first appear to be very bad career moves, but over time she somehow manages to turn to her advantage. She has a history of defiance of the CW, and even her opponents have admitted that her political instincts nearly always wind up serving her well over the long term.

      Frankly, it defies explanation. It’s not something one can be taught or just learn from the school of hard knocks. It appears to be something of a sixth sense which not many politicians seem to possess. The only way I can try to explain it is that though she is really quite politically ambitious, she can go on with a smile on her face even if she never holds public office again. Her priorities are God, family, love of country, love of Alaska, and her causes (our troops, special needs families, etc.) — in that order. Everything else just has to go down further on the list below those five.She summed it up best when she paraphrased scripture, saying, “If i die, I die.”

      I used to believe that she was eying a 2012 Wiite House run, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if she is patiently waiting for 2020, when she will be only 56 years old. Why not let Romney , Pawlenty or whoever the GOP establishment candidate turns out to be fight it out with Huckabee or some unforeseen candidate on the right? She can avoid the bloodletting.

      Meanwhile, she can prove that she’s a good team player and will build up some serious cred with the party establishment and with independent voters. I wouldn’t be all that surprised even if she challenges Begich in 2014 for the Senate (a term which would conveniently expire in 2020) or gets appointed Sec’y of DOE if a Republican wins.

      Whatever she cooses to do, it will likely surprise everyone, and she will be severely criticized for it by the chaterati. Then she will come out of it smelling like a rose. How many times has she been pronounced politically dead and rebounded to prove the experts wrong?

      - JP

      • mbecker908

        JD will make such a fool of himself, and then he’ll get huge media exposure doing it, that she’ll be able to point to the race and say, truthfully, “Do you really want an idiot like that in DC?”

      • redneck_hippie

        could be as simple as “What Would Reagan Do?” Your suggestions are valid, too. WWRD could be the tie-breaker.

  • smitch61

    McCain wins.

    • Scope

      McCain is going to have to do a bang up job of defending his suspension of his campaign to run back to Washington to vote for TARP. Everyone has a major problem with 2,000 page bills, and rightfully so. It is harder to defend supporting something that wasn’t even put on paper, and to date, there have been no details coming forward as to where all those dollars went.

  • kateusa

    … but is just waiting until after he’s re-elected. In the mean time, he’s quietly working behind the scenes to this end.

    According to Tom Nassif of the Western Growers meeting with McCain on Jan 14, McCain said it will likely be impossible to pass AgJOBS as a stand-alone bill in 2010, but he “believes that it will take passage of comprehensive (reform) in order to get AgJOBS.?

    http://thepacker.com/McCain–Immigration-reform-unlikely-in-2010/Article.aspx?articleid=977854&authorid=117&feedid=215&src=top

    • Richard Mullins

      Or course McCain loves it too death partly because he needs there votes too.

      • Scope

        he still didn’t get the message that the most of the Hispanics voted for Obama, and, they will again.

        • Richard Mullins

          besides, our electorate is turned against amnesty and Cornyn knows it. Now, I’m going to wait a while because I’m sure a Ronulan is going to try to set me strait on this.

      • kateusa

        aka path to citizenship. He, via the RSC, and McCain via his PAC are supporting non-conservative candidates who either publicly or quietly support amnesty. Even Mike Pence previously supported amnesty via his 2006 bill that included a “touchback” provision. We need to be very watchful of the rhetoric that comes out of these peoples’ mouths on the immigration issue. They rarely come clean on where they’re at because it is such a hot issue.

        IMO, if you support amnesty, you do NOT support American sovereignty, American taxpayers, or American workers.

        • Richard Mullins

          The Fourth estate of Texas says that’s too his detriment but it’s positive. I don’t think your up to date when it comes to Texas politics at this point.

        • Scope

          n/t

    • sharonmcp

      Q: Should all undocumented immigrants be deported?

      A: There is no way that in the US we would roundup every illegal immigrant–there are about 12 million of the illegal immigrants–not only economically is that just an impossibility but that’s not a humane way anyway to deal with the issue.

      Q: Do you then favor an amnesty for the 12 million undocumented immigrants?

      A: No, I do not. Not total amnesty. You know, people have got to follow the rules. We have got to make sure that there is equal opportunity and those who are here legally should be first in line for services being provided and those opportunities that this great country provides.

      Q: So you support a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants?

      A: I do because I understand why people would want to be in America. To seek the safety and prosperity, the opportunities, the health that is here. It is so important that yes, people follow the rules so that people can be treated equally and fairly in this country.

      Source: Univision Interview with Sarah Palin, by Jorge Ramos Oct 26, 2008

      • EagleWatcher

        And Teddy Kennedy for that mater.

        • SteveLA

          EagleWatcher

          Governor Palin sounds sane, something JD “Ned Lamont” and the other angry people on this issue can’t quite grasp.

          Reality check; without a veto proof majority in both the Senate and the House, no President can get legislation through the legislature and signed that is going to please the JD’s and the angry people.Some level of compromise on what JD and Tom Tancredo considers amnesty is going to be part of the bargain, and Governor Palin recognizes this fact.

          But hey, we can keep waiting for the prefect answer that will appeal to JD and the angry people and more and more illegals will come here, and we’ll be deeper in the invasion hole while waiting and waiting and waiting for that perfect answer to get the legislative support needed so perfect can be passed. Is that what you actually want, do nothing because we are waiting on prefect?

          • zbigreddogz

            What you say is far too sane for most of the people on this thread.

            Yelling is more fun, I guess.

      • Vegas_Rick

        you think she might parrot the Team Theme? Or should she have said that the man at the top of the ticket was full of $@*t?

      • Richard Mullins

        I don’t having them all deported provided that you get them. It would help if they were working in legitimate businesses like Restaurant’s and so other places. We should cut deals with businesses to hire them and let ICE know about it. That way it’s much easier to get rid of them. If we take the approach that some want, we might not be able to get rid of them. Reagan made a big mistake in 1986 of granting amnesty in the first place and everyone else seems to start falling in line. Also, when a rancher in South Texas shots an illegal, lets give him a attaboy for doing it.

  • bk

    the lefties said Cindy McCain was a drug addicted, pill stealing, pro drunk driving, image-obsessed, cookie recipe stealing, home wrecking, lying slut.

    Now she’s one of their spokespeople?

    • Richard Mullins

      What do expect them to do when turn on your own. She tried to get back in the good graces of her peers with this. It never hurt McCain was a pariah to both the left and right.

  • wolfster38

    We have to remember McCain would not got after the connection between Obama, Bill Ayers Rev. Wright, he wanted to tax health care and wanted a cap and trade system. And he’s a progressive. Palin should stay.

    • wolfster38

      away, sorry missed last word.

  • mrorange

    I just want to see them debate. It would be like watching Mike Tyson (Hayworth) fight Gary Coleman (McCain).

    • Scope

      or a face mask to keep the spittle from flying. That would be between him saying I’m a proud Liberal, ohh ohh uhhh I mean conservative.

  • drbob1988

    we need a real conservative senator from Arizona

  • RedBeard

    McCain troubles me because of his unwavering opposition to strong immigration enforcement. If he cannot see that this is an abandonment of sovereignty, then he cannot be trusted with political power.

    Secondly, McCain’s constant inconsistency is maddening. He bounces around the political spectrum like a rubber ball. Some suggest that this is his way of trying to curry favor with the media, but I suspect it’s simply the result of a poorly formed political center.

    Hero, yes. Patriot, yes. Fiscally responsible, sort of. Rock-solid foundation based upon firm principles, no, not so much.

    Thank you for your service, Senator McCain. But please accept retirement graciously.

  • SteveLA

    JD “Ned Lamont” Hayworth, darling of the base challenging the party guy. The excited base gets behind their guy and behind the challenge, lots of heat, noise and lots of energy. It’s like Deja Vu all over again.

    Let’s see, SWMNBN is coming to stump for JohnnyMac, Senator Brown, R Mass., will come if asked, with bells on.

    How’d that work out, JD”Ned Lamont” Hayworth?

    • jfindl2

      So true though! Only I think in this case Hayworth stands nowhere near the chance that Ned Lamont had when he ran. Ned Lamont could self fund b/c he is a billionaire, John McCain also has $27,764,186, CoH, so yeah Hayworth stands about a snowball’s chance in hell.

  • piratecoastbucs

    No Cindy, we’re not motivated by hate…

    We are motivated by making responsible, MORAL, decisions. You know, the ones like denying legislation that would let illegal aliens stay in our country on the taxpayers backs.. Or like needing the SCOTUS to knock down anti-free-speech legislation like McCain-Feingold… Or preserving HUMAN NATURE at it’s core…

    I’m in many ways glad Obama beat McCain because the country would have still been headed in a gradual leftist orientation had McCain won. Since Obama has awakened Conservatism we are going to make a REAL CHANGE back to the right. THANKS OBI.

    • corky

      Do you even think we’d be talking about government run health-care, cash for clunkers, trillion dollar stimulus, international kowtowing, Afghanistan dithering, etc. if McCain were president?

      Ugh…

    • Richard Mullins

      I hope you thinking when you posted it because it seems that you’re really high on something. Sure, McCain might spend lots of money but not in the way the True believer Obama does.

    • jfindl2

      This guy is a joke if he thinks McCain is any where close to as bad as the one. McCain has a 70ish ACU rating, Obama, I’m guessing, has something really close to 0 if not 0. McCain also spent years as a POW b/c he fought for his country. Obama has spent most of his time in fancy mansions b/c he has connections with shady characters and big unions. One is a squishy conservative, one is the closest thing we have seen to a communist since LBJ.

      • Scope

        so therefore that makes him a hero forevermore, no matter what he’s done since then. That was a 102 years ago, and, McCain’s brain is now 102 years past his POW time. He was not the only POW, and, there are still many many MIA’s that never made it home at all.

      • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

        I’ve read them. The votes they score, and how, get pretty quirky.

        • mbecker908

          especially with a high profile guy like McCain.

        • Finrod

          With McCain, his lifetime record is somewhat deceptive, what’s more important is that his record has been trending fairly steadily downwards during his career. Last I checked it had gotten all the way down into the 60s, which made him one of the most liberal GOP senators.

          • AceInTX
          • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

            Her ACU ratings graph looks like our job growth chart under Obama. Down, Down, Down.

      • jfindl2

        the overal point was that McCain is nowhere near as bad as Obama. Also Scopes, the point was McCain is a patriot who served his country in war compared to Obama who is so ashamed of the US that I’m surprised he hasn’t immigrated to France.

  • corky

    Anyone who thinks replacing McCain will do anything other than hurt us is smoking something. McCain has done nothing to warrant this.

    Despite what 99% of the posters thought @ the time, the Gang of 14 has done more for killing health care and preserving our minority rights more than ANYTHING anyone else has done. You were wrong. He was right. Get over it.

    The guy disagrees on a COUPLE things w/r/t conservatives. Immigration (where I actually agree with him), Global Warming (where I disagree with him), and campaign finance (where I agree with his heart, but not with his methods). Oh, he also thinks we should reach across the aisle to get some things done. I think that will really come in handy with the American people stop being blindly angry @ Democrats and starting turning to us to actually help govern.

    McCain is not a Chafee, a Dede, or a Snowe. Seriously.

    • itdiehard

      Just on different issues.. These RINO are the cancer in the party.. and the party needs set of finance rules when you vote out side the conservative base your cutoff from the base financial support

    • Read Chesterton in New Improved Jersey

      I personally believe he took an intentional fall in 2008. If he didn’t, he may as well have as his every move came from the D media playbook that guaranteed his loss. That’s not how a Constitutional Democratic Republic is reclaimed from despotism.

      And I don’t know what to make of Palin coming out for him. If it’s personal loyalty, then she is putting personality above patriotism. Her stock will fall.

      • Common_Cents

        When you reach across the aisle for the sake of reaching across the aisle, IT IS TIME TO GO HOME.

        Sure there is REP vs. DEM fights but the real big picture is all the elected elites in DC vs. the people.

        We need to make some wholesale changes in REP party to true limited efficient govt conservatives.

        McCain needs a strong challenge in the primary to send a big message.

        The only drawback to primary battles is it eats up big money on our side, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

        • Scope

          When you consider the polling that showed a majority claiming to be conservative, the second largest block to be Democrats, and the Republicans coming in at something like 14%, it’s time to send some really big messages to the incumbent R’s. I doubt they will shape up, especially old coggers like McCain that will never change.

        • mbecker908

          from JD. He will absolutely bury the guy. And JD will, once again, make a complete and unadulterated fool of himself on a national stage.

          And it eats up money and resources that could be spent to win House seats in Arizona. Like maybe three or four of them.

          • JoeG

            Any R that voted for tarp is vulnerable.

          • mbecker908
          • JoeG

            n/t

          • mbecker908

            You obviously know absolutely nothing about the players or the race. You are an ignorant fool. One can be fixed, one can’t.

          • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens
          • Common_Cents

            But in general, the tea party movement needs to continue to shake up the career fat cat Reps too, whether that is McCain or someone else.

            I’m lookin at the big picture of both parties kicking America’s can down the road (albeit Dems do damage faster).

            Looking at demographics and our Ponzi scheme of fewer workers and huge entitlements, something has to be done about runaway government growth immediately.

          • AceInTX

            McCain would use what he’;s got to help other RINOs goling forward…

            JD has already done us a favor by making McCain work a little…if he can get close enough to McCain to shake him and his lackeys up a little…he’ll have done a god job IMHO.

            and again…you can’t hit a home run if you don’t swing at any pitches….I remember many here saying Rubio was a lost cause…and NO ONE thought Brown had a chance…but look at them now!

            maybe you’re right…maybe it’ll be a blood bath…but we’ll never know if JD doesn’t try

          • zbigreddogz

            Hayworth is beclowning himself.

    • AceInTX

      this is the third person to mouth the “gang of 14 saved us from HCR” meme in this thread…

      It’s bunk….and I’ve answered it the other two times it was parrotted…so I won’t bother…but I think this meme has been written in McCain campaign headquarters and now his minions are out parroting the points!

      • eburke

        registered less than a year and, for the most part, with spotty posting history.

        becker and I had this discussion earlier today and his uniquely mbecker perspective was that a McCain staffer wouldn’t be caught dead on here and these clowns weren’t smart enough to be trolls.

        Don’t know which it is but this post sure brought ‘em out.

        • AceInTX
      • Richard Mullins

        I’m happy that the Dems don’t want be Bi-partisan because the last thing we need is to be Bi-partisan with this and many other things. If want a Gang of 14, it needs to be one that knee caps those that are out of line with the Constitution. I really admire nasty people because they are the only to save us. Nice ones like McCain want to sell us down river.

    • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine
      • redneck_hippie
      • AceInTX
  • itdiehard

    He will turn off conservatives and Independents and drive them to vote the other guy in..

    • mbecker908

      And, like or not, Brown didn’t really “win” than seat as much as Coakley lost it. McCain won’t make that mistake.

  • IJB

    If JD has a brain, he’ll try to talk as little as possible, and HAMMER this message – “John McCain is a lifetime politician. It’s time for him to come home.”

    Stay away from most everything else, and focus on McCain’s long stay in Washington.

    That is the path to victory over a guy like McCain. It won’t convince McCain Kool Aid drinkers like my brother (who, unfortunately, lives in AZ). But it will pay dividends with voters like my Mother (who is also in AZ now).

    Good luck, JD.

    • Richard Mullins

      John McCain. Personally, there is nothing better than using good ole Texas politics or the oh what never mind we’re dealing with JD here. It’s high time for Arizona to get rid of that ole populist, and JD getting nasty should work.

      • IJB

        For one thing, going nasty will feed into the worst preconceptions people already have about Hayworth. To win this, JD is going to have to mostly take the ‘high road’.

        JD, should effectively thank McCain for his “long service”, but then immediately follow that up with “He’s been in Washington too long – it’s time for a change.”

        Hammer that message over and over and *over* again.
        It’s the best path to victory.

        • mbecker908

          Not only is it not in JD’s repertoire to be “nice” or “gracious”, the media won’t let him. They’ll tee it and he’ll hit it.

          There is no path to victory for JD in this race.

    • jfindl2

      As if Hayworth is not? He was in the House since 1994 and would still be there if he was worth his salt.

    • mbecker908

      will be his last smart statement. JD’s biggest problem isn’t McCain, it’s JD.

  • philbo

    Now that Sarah Palin has lit the fire under us Tea Party people to rally behind JD Hayworth, isn’t it fitting that the next Tea Party frenzy by focused on deposing Ted Kennedy’s good friend and enabler across the aisle? For McCain to be eliminated would have the same effect on the GOP that the loss of Kennedy’s seat to a Republican had on the Dems. Let’s do it!

  • gumbyandpokey

    I can’t believe they would have done this without his blessing. And that is enough to make me support JD and donate a little money to challenge theRINO. And I was a huge Sarah Palin fan. Spoke to her in Milwaukee recently at her Right To Life event, but campaigning for a guy who refused to defend her has really left me disillusioned and disappointed..

    • SteveLA

      You obviously don’t have a 20 something year old child in your family, let alone a female one who loves the media spot light. The thought that on matters like this a child of the media age is going to ask Mom and Dad for permission to do so before they go off and make a statement like this is nothing short of laughable.

      • gumbyandpokey

        So I can understand his not having any influence on her whatsoever. But you would think he and Cindy would have consulted about this. Or he could at least come out publicly against what Cindy and Meghan are doing.

        • SteveLA

          bumbyandpokey

          You can, and should criticize Meghan McCain for being an idiot, a stooge, a tool, a fellow traveler, a useful idiot and number of pejoratives without resorting to Keith Oberdog like slurs like “whore”. Doing so really insults those fine women who work for a living out at the Chicken Ranch in Nevada….or so I’m told.

          • mbecker908
    • Richard Mullins

      That’s not the kind of guy I like. I’m sure there some un-neutered male would feel the same way I do. Any person that lets his wife do this, is not much of a man.

      • Scope

        and you accused me of holding the baseball bat behind my back, and not being “able” to take criticism” because i didn’t agree with your description of me of wearing “rose colored glasses concerning Palin.” You also claimed on another diary that “no-fault divorce was because of feminisim.” Now, McCain is not a man because he doesn’t control his women. The only thing I can say is WOW. Are you married Richard? If so, what closet do you keep your wife locked in?

        • AceInTX

          Kidding in case you missed the sarcasm….LOL

          • Scope

            is her biggest fault. She needs to relearn that her place is in the kitchen, by dangit.

          • Scope

            ack lika lady!

          • AceInTX
          • Richard Mullins

            If he wants to be a christian(lower case because it’s verb not a noun) he would have noticed that this the right thing. No, I’m not some kind sexist, I’m just a one that happens read the plain language of scripture . I guess I’m going to have to email your Preacher(or do you Demoniationalists call it Pastor) and find out more about you. I’m sure it would fun to find out more. Don’t worry trying to tell me I’m wrong, because I’ve heard it all before.

          • AceInTX

            Your comment was just a wide open door that I couldn’t resist crashing through. I didn’t mean to make it personal.

            I will say…the ruling your house well line is meant to apply to deacons and church leaders. It can be argued that it doesn’t necessarily apply to Senators…and I’m positive it doesn’t apply to non believers which is where I believe McCain fits in the question because I don’t even think he’s a practicing Catholic and doesn’t claim to be a Christian unless I’ve missed something.

            As far as my denomination…I’m a Southern Baptist. In fact, I’m in line with the Southern Baptist of Texas Convention who broke from the mainline Southern Baptist convention because they’ve started moderating many of their stands on scripture including divorce, gay relationships and the like.

            Finally, I’m not about to engage you in a flame war about who is the better Christian especially in a forum filled with non believers. I’ll leave that discussion for heaven and for the Lord to decide…maybe you can come by my mansion when we both get there and we can discuss it in detail!

            :>)

          • Richard Mullins

            and I’ll leave it at that. I can say that I don’t mind being around Baptists provided they don’t try spouting Baptist doctrine. What I just had to go though is one reason, I don’t even try to anything close use Scripture. I happen to like it point that RedState is a Political site and it helps me be more conservative(I’m predisposed to it anyway). BTW, you can be christian(lower case) or Christian(upper case) and support Abortion,Gay Marriage, and any that goes against the bible as it is written. I have Baptist in my family and the differences come down to the simple things. Don’t worry, your on my good side even when you descend in a super passionate conservative that isn’t quite using the brain. I respect my Congregations Elders because it wrong to do other wise.

          • AceInTX

            you’d do well to learn a little humility on that count…

            I can quote scripture…and I can quote a lot of doctrinal interpretations of said scripture from sebveral different denominations…but I stop shot of saying I’m a better christian than someone else because God has a way of teaching me I don’t know it all just about the time I decide I have it figured out!

      • Scope

        one that still retains his whole package? I know they neuter male dogs, and, male cats. Do you know men that have had the same end? I think there may be laws against that. Ask the lady that deposited some male parts along the road a number of years ago. I think she may be out of prison by now. Her name escapes me.

        • muffin

          n/t

    • zbigreddogz

      And obviously, McCain is the kind of man to dominate them and tell them what to do or face his man wrath.

      :dripping sarcasm:

  • DavidSage

    Two main reasons

    A) The Democrats have NOBODY to run in this race. Napolitano was their only hope, and she’s done politically and never plans to run for elected office again in Arizona. I feel much safer voting for the more conservative, less electable JD.

    B) I’m afraid McCain will REALLY go off the reservation once he’s won reelection. I expect to see McCain relish sticking his finger in the eyes of conservatives. This will most likely be his last term in office. I also think McCain’s true colors will show if he loses the primary. I would expect him to go “Arlen Specter”, confirming what the base has known all along. AZ forbids a Lieberman style independent candidacy, so once he loses the primary, he’s off the ballot.

    The absolute ONLY reason McCain has dropped his maverick act and become a staunch conservative is because he is scared to death of losing this primary.

    If McCain gets beat in a primary, I expect even safe Republican Senators (like Lindsay Graham) to suddenly drop the maverick act and start listening to their base.

  • tangohotel

    Everyone outside Arizona thinks they know JD, they don’t. He lost his seat to Mitchell in a Republican district. He is still under investigation. When he was a sportscaster here, he began his career as a moderate. The only thing he believes in is what ever the polls tell him. That’s why we got sick of him and gave him the boot. If anyone would take 5 minutes to research this man, you would find that he is the Republican Martha Coakley. Look at all the posts – the only thing he has going for him is “He’s not McCain.” That will NOT win in a general election here in Arizona.

    The anger in our party right now is huge; so do I think he can win against McCain in a Arizona Republican primary? Absolutely! Will Hayworth then go on and win the Senate seat? Snowball chance in hell.

    To those off you outside Arizona, please understand. A vote for Hayworth will only create Senator Napolitano. Period. 100% guaranteed

    • SteveLA

      If somehow JD “Ned Lamont: Hayworth won the primary, I can see Big Sister Jannet coming back to Az to challenge from the D side and I can see the seat of Barry Goldwater falling to the Donks. I can see the Donk party putting every chip they can on the table to insure that victory and the truth about JD “Ned Lamont” Hayworth coming out in that general.

      But hey, the “base” will have had it’s Pyrrhic victory and shown the rest of us RINOS that they mean business.

      • IJB
        • SteveLA

          JD “Ned Lamont” Hayworth’s history is out there if you care to read it. I’ve been following him sense he made appearances on FOX, mostly Hannity acting and speaking in a very uninformed manner. Let’s not even talk about the AZ Republic non-endorsement.

          He’s a one trick pony, and not even a good one, on the immigration issue. Spout a bunch of nonsense that appeals to people that are angry about the issue but backing ideas that stand Zero chance of making it into law. The word Demagogue comes to mind.

          If the base wants to back JD “Ned Lamont” Hayworth, knock yourself out. If for some reason he takes the race, he will be destroyed by the Democrats in a general, if for no other reason to punch back over the loss of the Kennedy seat. Donks will pour resources, oppo research and every dirty trick they can to defeat JD “Ned Lamont” Hayworth if he is the nominee. If you have done any research on JD, you’ll find he’s an easy easy target to knock off.

          Silly… hardly, real politic actually.

          • mbecker908
          • aesthete
      • Richard Mullins

        I’ve seen a lot of stupid comments but that might be right up there with all of them.

      • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

        Napolitano can’t enter the race after the primary can she? Doesn’t she have to commit beforehand?

        • mbecker908

          AZ’s state fiscal situation is second only to CA’s. That will be tied to Janet. She could have given McCain a run, not today. Especially given her tenure as head of DHS.

      • zbigreddogz

        We’d be just as stupid to go after McCain as the D’s were to go after Lieberman. It totally alienates part of the party, hurts us with independents, and shows we

        And frankly, Lieberman was more conservative then McCain is liberal.

        • mbecker908

          Lieberman is “off the reservation” only on defense and Israel. McCain has never been “liberal”, he’s simply been “McCain”.

      • zbigreddogz

        We’d be just as stupid to go after McCain as the D’s were to go after Lieberman. It totally alienates part of the party, hurts us with independents, and shows we are totally intolerant. That doesn’t go over well.

        \And frankly, Lieberman was more conservative then McCain is liberal.

        Oh, and BTW, without McCain, Scott Brown wouldn’t have run and won.

    • Richard Mullins
      • tangohotel

        BHO has yet to fire someone. After the Christmas day attack, she barely survived. Her clock is a tickin’. One week, ONE WEEK, before the election Obama was campaigning in Arizona. The reason: people don’t realize how purple our state has become. Democrats are out registering us 6-1. Independents are on there way to being the top registered political affiliation. That blue from Colorado and California is bleeding it’s way into Arizona.

        I understand many people’s frustrations toward Senator McCain. Hell, I share ‘em! But the reality ON THE GROUND, is that Arizona is prime for a Dem to pick up a seat. We’ve always felt it would be the great Kyl.

        Again, be careful what you wish for. Republican Candidate Hayworth will lose in a landslide to any democratic rival. You can put a D next to the name of a broom stick and it’ll get elected.

        • Richard Mullins

          and merry band minions. Right now please the ole Commie and can do no wrong,so why come back right now. Right now, we here want to get rid of Senor Senator, and She is trying to get rid of herself. Maybe that’s what we need to have McCain do, run for Governor(oh well that could a major disaster).

        • SteveLA

          Let’s see, the sitting head of Homeland Security announces a get tough, beef up the border call out the Guard again move, back by his Obamaness. This is move is made as JD “Ned Lamont” Hayworth is surging in the polls and maybe will beat JohnnyMac.

          That same head of Homeland Security resigns to run for the Senate from her home state, his Obamaness graciously accepts the resignation and offers his support and the support of the Democratic party in capturing the Goldwater seat.

          No that couldn’t happen at all, his Obamaness won’t let her out of her contract, silly politics be darned.

          • tangohotel

            Richard, I’m not trying to argue with you. We probably agree on McCain MORE than you know. But Hayworth will NEVER win as Senator in this state that is moving more independent and blue. I understand you are tired of Senator McCain. But why would Senator Goddard, Senator Mitchell or Senator Gordan be any better? Because that’s will happen having Hayworth on the ticket. EASILY.

            This is not about being for or against John McCain. We all need to realize that this is about keeping a seat in the Senate for Republicans. That’s it.

            Republican Senate nominee JD Hayworth = AZ-DNC’s perfect dream

          • Richard Mullins

            I know I’ve done it before, but not in awhile. The best way to handle a person like McCain is to simply vote for yourself. Really, I’m considering it now as a backup option in case something goes wrong. . No senate races here in Texas in 2010 but the Governors race does have a Ronulan in it. I know that some might be tired of Perry but voting for the Ronulan might get a Progressive(yeah, the Fourth estate of Texas favorite candidate Bill White).

    • youngmonte

      I know I?m coming to this late, but what the hell. Tangohotel is wrong on at least two counts. First, Hayworth is NOT under investigation. The Justice Dept. informed Hayworth’s lawyers that after years of going through emails and documents they would not investigate him. Given how Justice has gone to absurd lengths to prosecute everyone connected to Abramoff, it means that Hayworth was right all along when he said he’d done nothing wrong. The reason Hayworth lost in ’06 is because people thought he was under investigation by Justice. Now we know for a fact he is not.

      Also, people on this site should know that when Hayworth publicly opposed McCain’s amnesty plan, McCain’s office informed Hayworth that because of his opposition they would badmouth Hayworth to the media about Abramoff. Nice.

      Second, it is absurd to argue that Hayworth was a ?moderate? when he was a sportscaster in Arizona and does what the polls tell him. He has been a rock solid conservative since going to Congress. And most folks don’t remember, but before he was redistricted in 2002, Hayworth represented a majority Democratic district (knocking off an incumbent Dem in the process) and still voted conservative. In fact, he has a lifetime 97.56 rating from ACU.

      Also, for clarity, the district in which he lost was 44% R, 29% D, and the rest independents, not 60% R as someone posted. It is a moderate Republican district, in many ways far less conservative than the Democrat district he formerly represented. The only reason Hayworth lost was because of his alleged ties to Jack Abramoff, which we now know are bunk.

      As for J-NO, she couldn’t be elected dogcatcher in AZ after the way she left the state and her embarrassing performance as Sec. of Homeland Security.

      • mbecker908

        Hi JD.

        You lost because you’re a loud mouth, whining jerk. And that was before you got into talk radio. You’re worse now. You won’t get within 30 points of McCain.

        This breaks my heart, I really wish we had a real candidate. We don’t.

        • youngmonte

          This isn’t JD, but someone who has closely followed AZ politics for many years. Someone sent me the post link and I decided to join in. Is that a problem? Do I need mbecker908′s permission first?

          The misinformation spread about Hayworth on these pages is staggering, especially considering the sterling reputation of RedState participants. And the vitriol by some against a guy who for many years was – bar none – the best conservative spokeman in the country and the member of Congress who did more than any other to stop Bush’s amnesty plan is more than disappointing.

          While JohnMcCain may have some of you entralled with his six-year conservative conversion, he will, as always, let you down in the end. And while I am well award of Hayworth’s personality shortcomings, they are nothing compared to McCain’s, who is by all accounts a jerk (see the new book Game Change).

          For those who can’t bring yourself to support Hayworth, I don’t want to hear you whining when McCain sells you down the river…again.

          • mbecker908

            but if you paid attention then you’re stupid.

            I’ll vote for JD – well, against McCain – but JD won’t get anywhere near 30%. It’s been laid out in all kinds of detail and you can ignore it all you want, but JD’s toast.

            And anybody who’s been around here for a while doesn’t whine.

  • Scope

    http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/01/john_mccain_palins_political_b.html

  • neum432

    should not be challenging a sitting senator. AZ should find a political figure that is on a winning streak.

    • gumbyandpokey

      It’s about getting rid of a RINO. And if the political environment is the same in the fall as it is now, a warm body will beat the Dem in Arizona.

      • mbecker908

        He couldn’t get elected in Arizona if nobody was running against him.

    • Bedell

      hot air and baggage of the likes of JD is the order of the day.

  • aglanon

    McCain needs to put aside his personal aspirations and let the next generation of conservatives take over.

    I have no problem with him being appointed as Secretary of Defense or some other cabinet position. His career doesn’t have to end, but it’s time to move on from the senate.

  • EagleWatcher

    Palin has no political savvy. She’s surfing the wave of personality and fame. She needs to put her misplaced loyalty aside and think of what’s right for America.

    Michelle Bachmann is my choice for the first woman POTUS.

    • Vegas_Rick

      Or did you have un uncontrollable need to rant? I’m sure there’s a Palin diary somewhere so that you can spew.

      • muffin

        nt

        • rbdwiggins

          Cheney/Bachmann 2012 would be a much better ticket.

          • aesthete

            Or, in lieu of that, Cheney/Woo.

            Hey, it’d be fun to watch :)

          • mbecker908

            And did you perhaps mean “Yoo” as in John Yoo who sliced and diced Jon Stewart?

          • aesthete
          • rbdwiggins

            But he would be my first choice for Attorney General.

            Sadly, and at great loss for the nation, Dick Cheney has made it clear that he will not seek, nor would he accept, the nomination for President of the United States.

            Although, it’s nice to daydream every-once-in-a-while.

          • aesthete

            Obviously, Liz Cheney and John Woo would be out of their elements if they were thrown into executive positions, but like I said, it would be fun to watch.

          • rbdwiggins

            She’s had the life-long benefit of learning from the most consequential vice-president in US History.

          • aesthete

            In terms of management and administration, not in reference to the savage and deserved canings that they would apply to Dem behinds. Oh, that would be fun…

            And yes, besides Burr and Truman, I can’t think of a single VP more consequential than Cheney; would that he had secretly been running the country, as Dems thought he was — we would have been the better for it.

      • EagleWatcher

        Palin has thrown away her political career on McCain. It’s sad. Time to smell the coffee.

        My prediction: she’s not running for president because she won’t take the pay cut.

        • sharonmcp

          “There’s NO way the people of Massachusetts will EVER let a republican sit in our beloved Teddy’s seat.”

          I’m not what many here refer to as a Palinbot, but how many times since she became a household name have we heard people say her political career is over?

          • Richard Mullins

            Political coffin is in. As the old Sportscaster Dan Cook said “It’s not over till the Fat lady sings” No offense to fat ladies. I’ve seen politician have there careers called finished only to have them come back later.

          • zbigreddogz

            “You won’t have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore.”

          • EagleWatcher

            I went through this discussion with Fred Thompson fans in 2008. There are tell tail signs when a politician has lost their passion for politics.

            Plain is speaking at a FOR PROFIT Tea Party convention and pasing up CPAC.

            She defended Michael Steele saying that he was telling like it is. Really????

            She is diluting her brand by signing with FOX news. People will never take her seriously again.

            If Palin becomes POTUS, I’ll pay off your mortgage.

          • Richard Mullins

            …besides being something close to a statistic. Has anyone been a contributor on CNN or MSNBC and won the WH? No, because has tried. So until then, this worthless.

          • EagleWatcher

            Thompson let us down. Palin let us down. Gingritch let us down.

            They have become political celebrities collecting nice big speaking fees. All they have to do is throw us a piece of red meat from time to time.

            We need leaders not personalities.

          • Richard Mullins

            That why we shouldn’t invite them back for 2012. If your not in it to win it, your not welcome. We should not invite Eeyore’s or better yet Eeyore-ites to the next race for the White House. Our greatest mistake is worrying about a leader instead make sure we are the leaders. You can’t get anyone worrying about the past. You have to take the Present and the Future by the horns. That should go for everyone here.

          • sharonmcp

            My last comment on this subject because I don’t want to hijack this thread, but IMHO, the only people who think she’s “diluting her brand”, are those who only watch MSNBC, CNN, the lame-stream media and will ‘hate’ her no matter what she says or does.

            If anything, I would think by becoming an occasional contributor to the number 1 watched news channel in the country that she’s expanding the number of people she can reach with “her brand”.

          • EagleWatcher

            My last comment on this thread.

  • Scope

    he was so necessary to break the filibuster proof Senate majority, hopefully on more than just Obamacare. I was not unrealistic though in thinking that he would be that perfect conservative. He was the best anyone could hope for in very Liberal Mass. It is actually earth shaking news.

    What I did fear was that the national GOP committees would take it as a sign that Americans want more moderate legislators everywhere. They were right all along, don’t you know. It didn’t even take enough time for Brown to make the trek to Washington, the next day, for McCain to take Brown under his wing, and, put his voice on robo-calls in favor of McCain’s re-election bid. After all, McCain was an early and ardent supporter of Brown. McCain misses the part about him being from a very liberal state. These are the candidates of McCain’s dreams. They owe him, and, he is collecting on those debts.

    Beware-”McCain Regression Syndrome”

    http://michellemalkin.com/2010/01/22/conservatives-beware-of-mccain-regression-syndrome/

    There was an article in the last day or so (I can’t find it now) that claimed that Democrats always come up with new fresh faces to run in campaigns, however, the Republicans always seem to recycle and re-sound bite their same old losers- In 2008, it was McCain’s turn. In the article it was claimed that 2012 is now Romney’s turn. I can easily see that happening, that is, if Huckabee’s numbers take a dive from where they are now. No J. D. Hayworth, no matter who you are, it’s not your turn, and no Rubio, Charlie was in line before you. How sickening!

  • republicants

    McCain not sticking up for Palin on Death Panels should have been the end of her support for him. She was right about the Death Panels and McCain is operating under the false assumption that the media likes him. He is probably far less savy than Sarah Palin, who is smarter than the media gives her credit for. She is smart enough to be president and if McCain had a better primary challenger than Hayworth like Jeff Flake, Dean Martin, Trent Franks, or John Shadegg she may she would not be so loyal. I say this as someone that likes McCain. His daughter and wife are spoiled rich morons that had it easy compared to McCain. McCain could never escape his desire to be loved by the media, even at Sarah Palin’s expense. I hope he has apologized to her for the crap his staffers and daughter said and for not sticking up for the truth on Death Panels. It is a wise move however campaigning for McCain, who will win easily in both the primary and general elections. Hayworth should have tried to recapture his seat with the a good political environment for the GOP, instead he is making a career killing move against the popular McCain.

  • mbecker908

    Here we go again.

    For maybe the hundredth time, and unfortunately not the last time. I’m gong to address some of the fairy tales in the above comments before I rehash reality for those of you who are under the influence of pixie-dust.

    This needs to happen
    saterp     Saturday, January 23rd at 8:53AM EST (link)
    There are many solid conservatives in AZ who can run and win. McCain ain?t one of them.

    Oh yeah? Name one. I’ll give you a headstart: John Shadegg might run well against McCain, but he’s retiring (for the second time, and this time for real). Other conservatives with an iota of statewide name recognition? My dead white cat. There is a better than even chance we’re going to have a Democrat governor after November. Our current Republican governor (who was elevated after Janet went to DHS) is Charlie Crist in drag, she’s being challenged by the state Treasurer who’s a good guy but not well known. The Dem is very well known, is the current AG and is perceived as a “law ‘n’ order” guy. He’ll probably win.

    I’m guessing
    partyof1     Saturday, January 23rd at 9:08AM EST (link)
    the media will suddenly go back to being McCain?s buddy again to keep the more conservative candidate out.

    The only media in Arizona that counts is the Arizona Republic (metro Phoenix) and the AZ Star (Tucson [think Pravda]). They will both support McCain. They’ve never wavered in supporting him. They both HATE Hayworth, especially the Republic.

    JD will take the base
    KathW     Saturday, January 23rd at 9:11AM EST (link)
    My parents, solid conservatives…

    Yeah, I’ll vote for JD too. McCain will carry the “retirement communities” in Arizona by a 90% margin. He’ll trot out the same old tired war horse that he hauls out every six years and it will again work it’s magic. Plus the fact that JD is an obnoxious loud mouth who will trash McCain in a really personal way and all those nice old folks will be put off. Oh, and did I mention that Sarah Palin will be showing up for McCain? And I got real money on the bet that if it looks like Hayworth can get within 15 points of McCain she’ll make at least one more stop. Bottom line KathW, nice thought, won’t happen.

    IT’S JD’S TIME
    freedomfighterforliberty     Saturday, January 23rd at 9:16AM EST (link)
    PERFECT TIMING FOR JD.

    Ahhh, no. JD’s time was up four years ago. JD was in the Class of ’94. Swore he’d serve three terms and retire. After three terms he saw the light about how important it is to have “experience” in DC. The folks in Maricopa County (roughly 2/3 of the voters) have no use for JD. He’s a pointless loud mouth who is more media prone than McCain. We got so damn tired of seeing him show up every night on Fox yelling about something and making an utter fool of himself it cost him his House seat. Harry Mitchell – who’s 100% with Obama would beat JD by at least 10 points. JD’s worn out his welcome here. Oh, and there is no correlation between having a radio talk show that works OK and getting reelected. He’s too well known to the vast majority who DON’T listen to him.

    This is silliness
    kabane52     Saturday, January 23rd at 9:42AM EST (link)
    John McCain is not a RINO. He votes 80% of the time conservative. That is not a RINO. Stop misusing the term. He has fought the stimulus and the healthcare bill as hard as anyone. He isn?t as conservative as Hayworth, okay, but if he lost the nomination then that will be portrayed as chaotic infighting. Give the poor old man a freaking break.

    And you’re an idiot. John McCain is nothing more than a self-serving, self-promoting, egomaniac who hung up his honor & his sense of duty in the closet with his Navy uniforms when he retired. He stands for nothing but promoting McCain. I would much rather have Susan Collins be my US Senator than John McCain, at least she’s honest.

    Does anyone know where the RNC stand…
    itdiehard     Saturday, January 23rd at 9:28AM EST (link)
    my guess they are lost in the wilderness? Will Gov. Palin back McRINO..

    What? Do you live in a cave? They will beck McCain and give him all the resources he needs to win. And Palin’s coming here in March to campaign for and to raise money for McCain. If needed, you can bet your firstborn she’ll be back.

    My sister lives in AZ
    smitch61     Saturday, January 23rd at 9:50AM EST (link)
    She said Hayworth is a big spender?

    He no better or worse than McCain, who is not a fiscal conservative. He came out against earmarks, but he’s never seen a problem that more government couldn’t solve.

    Bring on more of Cindy and Meghan McCain
    Scope     Saturday, January 23rd at 9:51AM EST (link)
    they will insure that a large part of the population, who have overwhelmingly voted against gay marriage, will turn against McCain.

    This won’t cost him 50 votes. People will make a lot of noise about it, but as McCain said “They don’t make policy.”

    McCain still supports amnesty…
    kateusa     Saturday, January 23rd at 10:05AM EST (link)
    ? but is just waiting until after he?s re-elected.

    This is as close as anybody will come to finding a chink in McCain’s armor. On balance, it will probably cost him a few votes but not enough to do any real damage. An immigration bill will most likely not hit the floor this year and unless it’s headlines for weeks on end, McCain’s safe on this issue. If it is in the headlines, like healthcare, it could be a problem for him.

    Bye Bye McCain
    wolfster38     Saturday, January 23rd at 10:15AM EST (link)
    We have to remember …

    I’m really not sure what this has to do with anything, but if you’re trying to extrapolate a conclusion from his unwillingness to attack Obama, forget about it. He’ll have JD’s blood running down Central Ave in Phoenix.

    Debates
    mrorange     Saturday, January 23rd at 11:02AM EST (link)
    I just want to see them debate.

    Put your money where your mouth is. JD will drop 10 points if he gets on the same stage with McCain.

    *****************************************************************************
    OK, now for a summary of the race. And again, let me note that while I don’t think McCain is the Anti-Christ, I would probably vote for the Anti-Christ before McCain. (That hasn’t really been put to the test since Hillary lost the Dem primary.)

    1. JD hasn’t really announced. He probably will. Personally I’d rather see him run for a House seat. He’d have a better shot.

    2. McCain has about $5MM in the bank before Palin gets here and before the NRSC gets involved.

    3. The only Dem so far to indicate interest is a city councilman from Tucson who isn’t even well known in Tucson. Given the politics of Tucson, I wouldn’t be surprised to find him a shade to the left of Obama (I know nothing about him).

    4. The Dems ran a sacrificial lamb against him last time. I can’t remember if McCain even showed up to campaign in the general, but he certainly spent more time in DC than in AZ. Remember, this was 2004. McCain had gotten a lot of press – and a lot of heat – about CFR, about his sponsorship of a global climate bill which thankfully lost and he was mentioned frequently, and loudly here in AZ, as John Kerry’s running mate. He won with 77%.

    5. There isn’t a Democrat in the state who could beat my dead white cat with an endorsement from McCain and Palin. It wouldn’t even be close. And, it’s NOT about ideology, it’s about name recognition.

    6. Bottom line, McCain will need to spend maybe fifty dollars to win the general. He could go to the Bahamas the day after the primary is over in September and stay there until Christmas and beat whoever the Dems find to embarass in the general.

    7. Not only will the Democrats not have anybody known outside of their immediate family, they won’t have any money to spend against McCain. There will likely be all kinds of competitive races elsewhere in both the House and Senate that the Dems will need to fund. They’re not throwing money away on a funeral.

    8. JD Hayworth is over $100K in the hole from his last outing (in 2004). He’s gotta pay that off before he gets to a point where he’s $5MM behind McCain. He had a fund raiser last month and since I got a bunch of stuff promoting it and nothing about what happened, I would guess (again, I don’t know) it didn’t do so well. And given that it was headlined by the number one publicity whore in AZ – Joe Arpaio – I’m pretty sure it would have been well publicized if he’d raised a bunch of money. He’ll raise some money in AZ – not enough to be competitive – and some from out of state. All that will accomplish is to take money from candidates who have a shot.

    9. JD is about as popular as a dose of clap around here. In the abstract, as in no personal appearances, people will react against McCain. As soon as JD opens his mouth folks are going to remember just why they tossed his butt out of the House. They were REALLY tired of listening to him whine. JD is a bomb throwing whiner who talks a whole lot and says nothing. Here’s one for you, he’s a former sportscaster. Think Olberfool. That’s the perception here as soon as he winds himself up. It works OK on talk radio – although I’d note not well enough to syndicate and he’s a nationally known name and should be promotable – but it will be radioactive on the campaign trail.

    10. Arizona is a purple state. Too damn many escapees from California and Chicago. Also, lots of retirees who, though they may be “conservative”, will vote en-mass for McCain because he’s “one of them”, a veteran, a POW and an old fart. And you can bet he’ll protect “their” programs and you can also bet we’ll see ads reminding them that JD can’t be counted on to do that because he’s just “mean”.

    11. The Repugnant and the Red Star will haul out every piece of negative ink they can find on JD – and they’ve got an unending supply of it because JD’s a jerk with a big mouth. Add that to TV running clips of JD on Fox from when he was in office and then there will be his new offerings. As a Senate candidate, JD will be our version of Martha Coakley. He’ll not be perceived as “the entitled one”, but he’s sure no brighter.

    12. When the first poll came out touting JD in November – McCain was only up by 2, 45/43 – I noted that JD would peak on the day he announced. Please note that a poll was released yesterday – Rasmussen – McCain is up 53/31. That’s why I published my diary yesterday on this subject.

    McCain will be the US Senator from Arizona as long as he wants to be. Get over it. Personally, I hope John Shadegg misses DC and puts together a coalition and runs in six years. Hopefully McCain will retire then.

    And, JD Hayworth is the last guy in Arizona who will beat him.

    • smagar

      I remember plenty of people from Hayworth’s old district shedding no tears when he got defeated.

      If, somehow, Hayworth pulls a Randy Graf and gets the R nomination, the Ds might be able to take the seat. JD might turn off enough people that a likeable D with money (Giffords, with her astronaut husband?) could win.

      I could literally see metro Phoenix exclaim en masse “Oh no…not HIM again” and vote for the anti-JD.

    • mschmitt

      Seriously though, your dead white cat won’t run, or what? There’s gotta be somebody in the state — whom people don’t already hate — willing to mount a challenge.

      • mbecker908

        There is nobody in Arizona who has even an outside shot at McCain. Frankly, that includes Janet. If the economy hadn’t tanked she probably could have beaten him, or at least given him a real run on the order 2 points one way or the other. Given the current state of the state – we’re second only to CA in budget problems – that can directly be tied to Janet, she’d get clobbered.

        McCain’s already beaten the only other Dem with any statewide name recognition – Terry Goddard, the AG. He’s probably running for Gov.

        As I noted in my long comment, the only person I can see on the horizon right now who could win the seat is Shadegg, but not this year.

        • mbecker908
          • mschmitt

            1. Draft a seemingly solid policy guy like Clint Bolick (theory being that name recognition may not mean much given that people are actually paying attention this time around).

            2. Get Jon Voigt to move to AZ.

          • mbecker908
    • SteveLA

      mbecker

      You’ve now been promoted to the status of “achance” in my book for all matters AZ. I sort of keep track of AZ as a potential retirement state, yes another CA escape plan in the making, but just about everything you have written tracks what I have read about politics in the state.

      Great job.

      • proudgop

        Mitchell, Giffords, and Fitzpatrick then have resources diverted

        • mbecker908

          the whole diary.

          There are at least those three who may be beatable. Every dollar spent on the mental masturbation that is “beating McCain” is a dollar not spent on winning a winnable House seat.

          • IJB

            This is like saying that here, in CA, we shouldn’t bother with Boxer, or even Jerry Brown (or, if you want to focus on the primaries, say, Fiorina, and Whitman) because we “might not be able to win CA-11 if we do.”

            That doesn’t track. Someone like Hayworth can, and should run, if for no other reason than to keep McCain honest.

            And it will have likely *zero* impact on what happens in AZ-01, AZ-05 and AZ-08. There’s no linkage at all.

          • mbecker908

            and you’ll cost us a dozen House seats.

            You’re talking about contested general elections in CA. I’m talking about Sancho Panza & company in an unwinnable primary in AZ.

            Not the same thing at all and there is absolutely linkage. The money pot is not infinite.

          • IJB

            BTW, they (and, by “they”, I actually mean *ME*) said winning a general election in MA was “impossible” too.

            Shows people “in the know” don’t always know…

          • aesthete

            and he said it was winnable. In this case, MBeck, smagar, Flagstaff, and myself are the residents, and we’re all saying that it’s not going to happen. That doesn’t mean that we’re God, or anything, but isn’t it possible that we know enough about the race and candidates to predict a likely outcome?

          • IJB

            If you don’t think he can change, if you don’t think he can put together a team that can facilitate him winning, then yeah I can see it. And the locals obviously think that.

            As a non-local, I’d like to at least see him run first, and give him a chance, rather than slamming the door in his face before then. (If he flames out, it’s not like anyone needs to donate money to him then!)

            You may all be right that JD’s learned nothing since leaving Congress. But I think his opening statement here is a good start, and there’s a message there that JD could build a winning campaign around.

            I guess what I don’t understand is all the AZ locals’ hostility to *anyone* running against McCain – you complain endlessly about him, but then run down the idea of anyone taking him on. That part, I don’t get…

          • aesthete

            If you like what you see, and you see residents start to question their original statements, feel free to donate. If not, I advise you to donate to more winnable races.

            I’m not complaining about JD running, persay: I’m going to support him with my time (not with cash). However, I don’t want money that could be used in a winnable race to elect a conservative wasted on a bad candidate who won’t win in AZ. Once McCain croaks, I hope that we’ll be able to run a good, conservative candidate to win Goldwater’s seat back. Right now, though, reality dictates that this race will not be won by JD. I’d rather people invest their money in non-long shots. If you really want to annoy McCain, there are at least two candidates who’s victories would get under his skin. “True Conservatives”, as it were :)

          • mbecker908

            He’s worse. Think a Republican version of Olbermann.

            There is no hostility to someone running against McCain. I am reasonably sure, to a person, the Arizona residents at Redstate would vote for my dead white cat before McCain. My guess is that we run the gamut from “don’t like him” to “he’s probably the Anti-Christ”.

            The problem is that we don’t want to see resources wasted on a foolish race where JD (or Simcox) has no chance in hell to win. The only benefit of running my dead white cat is that it wouldn’t cost anything and he’d get just about as many votes.

            John Shadegg could have a shot at McCain in the primary. He’s very well regarded in metro-Phoenix, he’s weathered being “the target” of the national D party and the base loves the guy. He won’t run. At least this time.

            We don’t want to throw away good money and campaign resources that could be used to win House seats that are winnable this time out.

          • SteveLA

            IJB

            There is about zero down ticket effect in CA due to who is running for state wide office for the most part. Most seats are so gerrymandered that it takes a Duke Cunningham sort of scandal for anything bad to happen to any sitting politician, of any stripe.

            There is an exception to what I assert, and that exemption is brewing in CA.

            With the CA budget mess, the national rejection of Obama and the general bad taste in the mouths of the electorate for all things Democrat, there is an opening to run the tables a bit, even here in CA. But it is going to take someone up-ticket to rally folks into a feeding frenzy of anti-Donk voting. I’m not seeing anyone out here that is exciting enough or charismatic enough to get people fired up enough to overcome the status quo out here in CA, but here’s hoping.

          • IJB

            So, the point I was trying to make is that same argument could be applied to CA – “we should just leave Boxer alone so we can husband our resources to take out CA-11, and gain down-ballot.”

            What I’m saying is – you can, and *should*, do both. And, as long as you don’t spend resources foolishly, you can wage fights both statewide and locally.

            As for CA, I have no idea what’s going to happen this year. We should take CA-11. We might have chances in CA-18 and CA-20, but I’ll believe it when I see it. As for the Legislature… who knows?!

          • aesthete

            entail sacrifice and budgeting. Giving to JD reduces the money that you can give to other candidates, and will make you feel better, but won’t affect the race very much.

            Simply put, JD is a bad candidate running against an entrenched incumbent. It won’t even be close. If you want to give for a race in AZ, there’s a great candidate running against Giffords (D) in AZ’s 8th district, an eminently winnable district that has been won by Republicans every presidential election since ’00. His name escapes me, but if memory serves, he’s a legislator who served as an Army JAG, and has been terrific in public appearances. Giffords won the district running against Randy Graf, a candidate who insisted on running a “culture warrior” campaign in a district that tends to be more socially moderate. That is an eminently winnable race, and would probably rankle McCain’s feathers (the Rep frontrunner is a staunch conservative, and has been sponsored by Jeff Flake).

          • aesthete

            Jim Ward is another candidate who can win in AZ-05. He’s smart, likeable, ran Lucasarts back in the day (successfully, unlike a certain candidate in CA who was VP in HP). He’s organized, and waas involved in the Tea Party movement before it was cool. Again, he’s a pol who would rankle McCain’s feathers if elected. Here’s his site: http://votejimward.com

            Don’t waste your money on a long-shot to make yourself feel better. Elect these two, and McCain will have plenty of egg on his face.

          • mbecker908

            JD will run a really negative campaign against McCain, because that’s who JD is and it’s all he knows. He will remind voters – statewide – that Republicans are mean, nasty jerks. I think that will hurt candidates running against Democrat incumbents for House seats.

          • aesthete

            Tusconian independents and “moderate” Republicans who don’t pay much attention will assume that JD = other Republicans.

          • mbecker908

            I see where Arpaio is endorsing JD. I’m guessing that will get him maybe 5000 votes in Maricopa County and cost him 5000 to 10000 in Pima and Pinal Counties.

  • http://xmmlbchat.blogspot.com katesmith

    Was a vile and disgusting act. After weeks of campaigning and no sleep, finally winning, Mr. Brown talks to his supporters, has a million things to do, yet is forced to make a robocall tape to go out the next morning telling people to vote for McCain who refused to campaign for those of us whom he supposedly represented, having us wait around like fools hoping he would someday throw us a bone and fight for us? That isn’t McCain taking Brown under his wing, as in helping him out. It is McCain stealing someone else’s limelight. McCain had nothing to do with Brown’s whirlwind victory. It was Brown himself and a flood of independent voters faced with the loss of their country forced to take time from work and family to do the job people like McCain have refused to do. His campaign finance bill enabled Soros to take over the country (which the Supreme Court is trying to undo), he agrees with the far left on the biggest issues of the day, open borders, global warming/cap and trade, and the like. He did nothing to stop the sub prime scandal, and the ascendancy of Soros and Goldman Sachs. And if that isn’t enough, he has been there too long and his family has become a major problem.

    • mbecker908

      I expect to see Scott Brown on the stage with McCain and in McCain ads that will blanket the state.

    • SteveLA

      katesmith

      And where was the first stop and the first thank you given in person by Senator elect Brown?

      That would be John McCain, who by the way was thanked by Senator elect Brown during his acceptance speech for being the first inside the beltway type to give his support to Brown.

      I can only assume you’re so blinded by whatever hate you have towards JohnnyMac, some well deserved by the way on the wrong headed stances on some issues by McCain, that you can’t see the trees for the forest. You might pay more attention to what Senator elect Brown actually says instead of making up your own screeds.

  • aesthete

    any money given to JD Hayworth is purely in protest of McCain; there is no way whatsoever that JD will win. There are basically four areas in AZ: Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff, and All The Rest. Tucson (where I live) is Berkeley + an AF base, McCain will win that one in the primary without breaking a sweat. Phoenix is pretty conservative, but a) McCain owns the media markets, and b) everyone there knows how much of a jerk JD is, and isn’t afraid to show it by not voting, or voting McCain. Flagstaff… is a weird place, but could mostly be considered conservative. Even so, a significant portion of the population works to some capacity in the astronomical industry, and as far as I can tell, JD doesn’t care much for that sort of thing. Besides that, he’s got no base of support in Flagstaff; I doubt that most people there would recognize him.

    All of that is besides the fact that McCain has a sympathetic press, an enormous amount of funds, celebrity, political celebrities, control of party infrastructure, and the ability to flood media markets with his ads at will.

    • Jack_Savage

      I don’t mind seeing someone challenge McCain, but J.D. ain’t the guy that’s going to succeed.

    • Vegas_Rick

      I don’t know and will not argue. But, when I was an Army Recruiter there ten or more years ago, I thought I had stepped back into the sixties. Earth muffins everywhere.

      Maybe it’s changed, or I had a bad impression.

      • mbecker908

        is “weird”. It’s kind of divided into three parts. The old, native AZ’s who are conservative (or more likely libertarian), the fruitloops from CA (see Sedona) and the academics (NAU, etal). It’s a region that I would classify statistically as “third standard deviation”. People on both ends and nobody in the middle.

      • aesthete

        but it coexists with the astro-nuts (who trend left-libertarian) and some conservative folk. Also, there’s now a slightly larger community of AF retirees. It’s all over the place, but it’s not really a hippie commune anymore. For that, you’d have to go to Sedona. First time I went there, I was told by one of the co-op kids that I had the spirit of an “otherworlder”, and was asked how many out-of-body experiences I’d had. Cute girl; I still hightailed it out of there.

        • Vegas_Rick
    • mbecker908

      would be the comment about a “sympathetic press”. I don’t think the press is so much sympathetic to McCain as they absolutely HATE JD Hayworth.

      Other than that, right on.

      Oh, and you forgot to mention the fourth area: All The Rest. They’ll probably vote for Simcox. All nine of them.

      • aesthete

        That’s OK; so does everyone else (at least, for political matters).

      • aesthete

        The Republic is pretty darned sympathetic most of the time; the Red Star, not so much, but when JD steps into the limelight, they’re going to put out all the stops to cast him as the devil, and to cast McCain as some sort of “Working Class Hero” (which isn’t too far off from the truth, now that I think about it).

    • Vegas_Rick

      I always thought that Hayworth was purposely abrassive. I agreed with most of what he had to say, but not the tone.

      • mbecker908

        On talk radio he’s paid to be outrageous.

      • aesthete

        Don’t know about the rest of the border states, but we really have a problem in AZ with our anti-immigration spokesmen. When they don’t sound racist (I heard one guy ranting about freakin’ tortillas), they just sound nuts, and propose way-out-there “solutions” to the whole mess. That’s besides the fact that most of them don’t seem to know the difference between illegal and legal immigration. Illegal immigration is a problem, but from listening to them, you’d think that Hitler had been reincarnated in the form of thousand of Mexican immigrants. Anyone who’s interacted with illegal immigrants can tell that that isn’t the case.

        If we had someone like Fred Thompson promoting a conservative position on immigration, I could see it going over much better than what our current spokespeople sound like. Currently, our spokesmen scare off independents and libertarians, and prevent a rational discussion of policy from occurring.

        • zbigreddogz

          Hit the nail on the head.

  • mikeybike

    Appearances are everything. McCain is a liberal, and I mean a Democrat, not a true liberal. If he is re-elected, and doesn’t survive in office, his wife will probably take his place. If he is defeated, that will be a message to Lindsay Grahamcracker and all the other RHINO posers that we are taking the party in a new direction; the OLD one under Ronald Reagan!
    Where do I send JD the cash? (and I’m in Nevada!!)

  • Third Street

    But I skimmed through enough of them to agree with several key points: 1.) I think ‘becker’s right about the permanence of John McCain; 2.) this truly is our version of the Lieberman/Lamont race and it’s a waste of valuable resources, and 3.) to heck with the Senate race, what’s going on in the three winnable House races in Arizona? Especially AZ-01′s Kirkpatrick, whose win I believe was a fluke, and AZ-08′s Giffords, who really has no business being there especially after voting for the entire Obama agenda?

  • E Pluribus Unum

    You have to accept my ‘friend’ request or we can’t send private messages.

    • eburke

      Hope this isn’t something I’m going to have to explain to Mrs. Burke.

  • Finrod

    McCain’s lifetime rating: 81

    Recent records by year:

    2008: 63
    2007: 80
    2006: 65
    2005: 80
    2004: 72
    2003: 80
    2002: 78
    2001: 68
    2000: 81
    1999: 77
    1998: 68
    1997: 80
    1996: 95
    1995: 91

    If you want more than that, go look them up at http://www.acuratings.org/ yourself. The last time John McCain’s ACU rating for a given year was above his lifetime average? 1996. If he keeps on his current trend that’ll change to 2000 only because his lifetime rating seems to drop another half-point every year– in 1996 his lifetime rating was 88.

    By comparison, Arizona’s other Senator, Kyl, has a lifetime average of 97.

    • Finrod

      Using the usual college 10 points for each letter grading scale, with the 2 points at either end as plus or minus, McCain’s ‘grades’ going backwards in time:

      D, B-, D, B-, C, B-, C+, D+, B-, C, D+, B-, A, A-.

      I wouldn’t call that a solid student of conservatism by any stretch of the imagination, not recently anyways.

      • mbecker908

        But the biggest “problem” with McCain isn’t really his votes, it’s his whole narrative, see vassar’s comment up at the top.

        • Finrod

          But even just looking at his ACU ratings and where they’ve trended shows him up for who he really is.

  • zbigreddogz

    Sorry, that’s just the facts.

    People doing business like him is one of the big reasons we lost the house in ’06. He’s the last thing that the GOP needs.

    I have some disagreements with McCain but he’s an honorable man who fights hard for several causes I believe in, including a strong defense and fiscal restraint. He’s one of the strongest voices in the Senate on those issues.

    If nothing else, he deserves to be re-elected for saving us for defeat in Iraq. Make no mistake, McCain coming out and saying he’d rather lose an election then a war when he strongly supported the surge when everybody else hmmmed and hawwwed was a big part of why Republicans stuck together and allowed the surge to work. He deserves to be re-elected for that sort of tenacity alone.

    • mbecker908

      JD isn’t corrupt. If he was he wouldn’t be working for a living. Ethics or corruption isn’t his problem, if anything I’d say he was more honest than at least 99% of the Members of Congress, McCain included. His problem is his mouth and his inability to form rational thoughts.

      McCain hung his honor and his sense of duty in the closet with his Navy uniforms when he retired from the Navy. They haven’t seen the light of day since. He’s fundamentally a dishonest, self-absorbed jerk.

      He deserves to be sent to Sedona to stare at crystals with the fruitcake California transplants and should never be seen or heard from again.

      As far as his “work on national defense” and “saving us from defeat in Iraq”, that’s about the most outrageous lie I’ve ever read. His blathering about “torture” to undercut the Bush Administration because he’s got his panties in a wad over 2000 – when he lost because he got caught in a flat-out lie – did more to harm our national security interests and tar the US military with an out and out lie than anything John Kerry ever did. And, as far as Iraq is concerned, McCain didn’t support “the surge” until after it was policy. What he was whining about was that we didn’t go into Iraq with a Coln Powell large footprint force, which was flat out not an option in 2003.

      You once again provide demonstrable evidence that you are an ignorant jerk.

      • zbigreddogz

        He was calling for a surge YEARS before it happened, and was largely disowned around here by the likes of people like you for doing so because he was “stabbing Bush in the back” because he was “mad about 2000″ (sound familiar?) .

        Turns out, had Bush listened to him years earlier, it would have saved him the biggest problem of his presidency.

        • mbecker908

          But then you’ve shown that before.

          • zbigreddogz

            Your ignorance is staggering.

            http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-11_22_05_MK.html

            Gee…that’s well over a year before the surge.

          • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

            The surge was more than just ‘more troops.’

          • zbigreddogz

            It was absolutely necessary, and the was willing to do it when it was EXTREMELY politically unpopular.

            It wasn’t his job to write battlefield strategy. He’s not a general and he wasn’t going to do that. He’s not the president and he wasn’t going to get all the briefings on such things. He was going to support the tools that the generals needed and was going to listen to the ones that had the best plan and support them.

          • mbecker908

          • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

            So you want to give him credit for “strategy” when it suits you, but when I expose his stragegly as literally dead wrong, you hide behind his just being a politician.

            I hope the fabric of his pants doesn’t chafe your lips when you keep kissing his butt while dodging and weaving logic here.

          • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

            Had we just sent ‘more troops’ like McCain wanted, back when we were keeping everybody back on bases, it would have been more death and more cost with no gain.

            The strategy was wrong, not the troop level. We needed the higher troop level when we changed strategies after Petraeus took over.

          • mbecker908
          • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens
          • Richard Mullins

            John McCain ever the populist would say any thing to anyone to get heard, his idea or not. There is no time to tell of all the reasons it seems that he wants to feed in to populism, but it might take for ever. Don’t forget that the reason he was wasn’t nominated in 2000 is because the guy was BS. Even now, he’s still BS. It doesn’t who goes on stage with this man, he might be the GOP’s LBJ(LBJ is sort of a pariah in Texas politics). I don’t think I say why he worse than most others because it hard to do so when others have said more than I.

          • mbecker908

            it wasn’t the absolute number of troops that made the difference in Iraq, it was the “the surge” strategy which actually involved a relatively small number of soldiers and Marines. An additional 25,000 or 50,000 troops at the beginning would have made no real difference because the strategy to employ them effectively for this type of guerrilla warfare was not yet online.

  • theoneandonlyfinn

    I know, we hate McCain. RINO RINO RINO! Except he didn’t budge on the stimulus and join Snowe and Collins.
    Except he vehemantly opposed ObamaCare.
    Except HE, not the traditional Republican establishment, brought Palin into the limelight AND has defended her REPEATEDLY against attacks almost to the point of erupting in swears.

    We may hate him for amnesty and the Gang of 14…
    Do we REALLY, REALLY want to give the Democrats ANY side story? The heat is ENTIRELY on the Democrats after Scott Brown (a Republican who is poised to be more to the left of McCain).

    KEEP IT THERE. Strategically we have a very good shot at winning back the Senate right now (or close to it) but that pathway will include so-called RINOs like Kirk, Pataki, Fiorina/Campbell and Castle.
    Its all a numbers game- with 51 votes we force them to play ball, even if we have squishy moderates.

    We do not need to blow our money on races like an Arizona primary- we should be spending it a la Scott Brown’s moneybomb on potential House and Senate races.

    Purity can happen at a later time. Do NOT get greedy or off the message of forcing the Obama Democrats out of their grip on the Senate.

    If you value purity over STOPPING PELOSI-REID/DURBIN-OBAMA , by all means waste your money.

    • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

      If you can’t handle primary races now and then, you’d better give up on having a national majority, because Dede Scozzafava-types, whom we get when we shun primaries in favor of having everything staged by party leaders, don’t win.

      So you’d better get a thick skin about primaries because that’s how you win.

    • nessa

      The Dems are the priority front BUT the Republican Establishment RINOs and squishes, those who have caused our Party to become identified, and rightly so, as Dem Lite are equally as dangerous. For us, as part of the “Conservative Movement” to blindly follow the plan of the Republican elites and fill the 535 with Dem Lites would waste our entire effort. We might as well kneel on the Mall in DC and hold up our wrists so that Obama and the progressives can rivet the chains on. We would happily support EVERY Republican candidate they offered if the Party could be trusted. They can’t be. Hell, I prefer the dems in that aspect, they can be trusted to be as evilly progressive and anti-American as they possibly can be. the Republican establishment will suck up to us and then ask us to support a progressive like Scuzzufava. They are the more dangerous threat.

    • kuksool

      If JD wants to run against McCain, then I say knock himself out.

      I just hope JD focuses on McCain being a long time incumbent and local issues. He needs to avoid making the race into a GOP purity test. If he does do that, then the media will be all over the primary, and the national news will be on “right wing crazies” taking over theGOP than on Obama’s failed policies.

      I think one reason the NY-23 was lost, because the locals resented national celebrities getting too much involved in a local special election race.

  • theoneandonlyfinn

    its insane Neil.
    We don’t NEED THE ATTENTION or distraction of attention and funds there.

    That money is better spent on open seats or UNSEATING Democrats in the House and Senate.

    Every dollar we waste on fighting McCain in a primary
    is a dollar LESS to spend on more open seat primaries like in Illinois,
    or on unseating gasbags like Reid, Lincoln and Bennett.

    You cannot argue that my $20 is better spent fighting Mac than Bennett.

    • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

      You’re proposing the Republican party be like some banana republic where it’s one man, one vote, one time.

      We have elections for a reason.

      If you can’t handle the fact that the proles get to vote, go form your own party with dictatorial control over the nominees.

      We in the Republican party believe in the sovereignty of the members.

  • theoneandonlyfinn

    But if we start to pour more and more money and energy into unseating “backstabbers” instead of unseating the enemy, we start to shoot ourselves in the foot. That is the gist of the argument here.
    We have limited time and money on the grassroots level.
    It took a lot for us to raise that money for Brown…my beer money for three weeks went to him on moneybomb day.

    It paid off- we kicked a Dem out of the Senate chair in Mass for the first time in over two generations.

    I warn against blowing resources when we have 435 House races, 35 other senate races, and numerous attorney general and gubernatorial races we could be focusing on more.

    If you want to throw money at a candidate out of spite, you have the freedom to do that.

    But once it is spent, that money is gone.

    The opportunity cost of that decision is something that must be seriously considered, and I think many who are beefed with McCain aren’t even thinking about that right now.

    • discerningconservative

      you obviously have a problem with mastering the “reply to this” button….

      • theoneandonlyfinn

        n/t

    • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

      a) There is no singular, uniform “we.” The Republican party is a diverse coalition. If you don’t understand that, you don’t understand how a national majority is built in this country.

      b) You have to give people an outlet. If youe xpect conservatives to vote straight ticket Republican, you have to give them an opportunity to express themselves. Th at’s in the primary.

      c) You’re absolutely wrong if you think that the money that will fund Hayworth would go to other Republicans if Hayworth didn’t run. This goes back to a): You don’t seem to understand that different Republicans have different energy levels about different candidates.

      McCain has done some things that are terribly insulting to many, and some would say libelous even.

      Let it go. Put your energy into supporting oth er Republicans in the races you’re interested in. Get off this crusade to demonize people merely for participating in a process which is vital to the long term health of our party, no matter who wins.

  • langhorne

    As always, the problem with the paleoconservative movement is that NO ONE is ideological enough for them. Why are we wasting money in Florida and Arizona destroying Republicans instead of investing in Indiana and Ohio?!!

    Hayworth is a loser in his own right, a loose cannon, and someone who will never win statewide against a decent democratic candidate. McCain for all his faults stands up for us on the big issues, he is able to articulate opposition to Obama and has a thousand times the “gravitas” of Hayworth.

    I do think it is worth it for Rubio to win over Crist because Crist is really useless, but McCain has been standing on Republican principles regarding spending and earmarks and corruption for decades now. that will be useful in 2010 and beyond

    • mschmitt

      In your time here, you’ve advocated that “we” conservatives stay good, loyal Republicans and try our hand at changing the party from the inside, but only as long as we shut the h*** up and do as we’re told.

      Because conservatives win when John McCain doesn’t face a primary challenge; is that it? Stop worrying about us ‘backwerd paleocons’ and how we spend our political contributions.

    • Trelaina

      how do those two statements not contradict?

      Secondly, where we have a strong challenger we have GOT to promote the better conservative if the state/district voters will support them.

    • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

      Heh.

      Read a book will you?

  • fightnow

    I’m going to work my butt off for Hayworth. The people on here who talk about McCain like some unbeatable force and why bother supporting someone else? I’ll tell you why. It’s the right thing to do if you’re a conservative. McCain once said the Reagan era is dead. I’ve got news for him. Not only is the Reagan era not dead it is actually McCain’s era that is dead. Do I need to remind that this is the same McCain that was on the wrong side of conservative issues time after time-TARP, amnesty for illegals to name a recent few and now he’s going to stand next to Palin and Brown and say see look I’m a conservative. Give me a break. Everyone here at Redstate needs to support JD Hayworth.

  • skat

    As an Arizonan who has worked both McCain and Hayworth campaigns, I think there are better candidates for AZ Senator. I am often infuriated with John McCain, certainly he has views I oppose on immigration, campaign finance, etc. However, he is rock solid pro-life, pro-military, etc. JD has real issues as well. Yes, his voting record is stellar, however, you can’t get the whole picture from his voting record. If John McCain is going to be replaced with a Republican it will take a really strong, fresh candidate. If it comes down to McCain/Hayworth, I will support whichever wins the primary. In my opinion, JD will never carry Arizona so I’m leaning towards McCain. It would be interesting to see a poll McCain vs Dem, JD vs Dem. At any rate, there are plenty of derogatory things I could say about both candidates, their wives, etc – a lot of that is going on at RedState – much of which would be hateful distortions. Why would I do that? Why not compare the positives of both candidates and get behind the winner? I would rather have another choice, but I will work for the Republican primary winner.

    I will say in John McCain’s defense that his problems are well known, even outside of Arizona. JD, despite his voting record, has done a lot here at home that has created very negative feelings towards him in Arizona.

    As for Sarah, I admire loyalty and friendship. Sarah probably feels as I do, keep the seat Republican. Between McCain/Hayworth I believe there is a much greater probability that McCain can accomplish that.

    • aesthete

      is that it has effectively pulled the plug on JD’s campaign. Hopefully, conservatives won’t waste their money on this race, and will donate to other, more viable, and better candidates than JD. If she campaigns in AZ-01, AZ-05, and parts of AZ-08 (she’s not loathed in most Tucson suburbs), I’ll be happy.

      • skat

        Arizona Republicans do have some great candidates for the House!

        • aesthete

          Jesse Kelly (AZ-08) is retired Marine, a Tucson resident, and he’s a good, conservative candidate for the district. I doubt that he’ll go Randy Graf on us, and Giffords is beatable.

          Jim Ward (AZ-05) is another good candidate, and has been involved in the Tea Party movement for some time. He was the former President of Lucasarts, and did a great job salvaging them from insolvency, and restructuring them. He’s a pretty good, down-to-earth guy, and is running a low-key, and organized, campaign against Harry Mitchell. Donating to either would be money well-spent, relative to donating to JD.

  • Scope

    for whatever that’s worth.

    • mbecker908

      Dana may give him some money. If he shows up at a campaign rally I doubt if he’ll add a dozen people to the crowd.

      You know this really sucks. I’m going to be one of the 25% or so who vote for JD. Actually, that’s wrong. I’m voting against McCain along with about 90% of those who will vote for JD.

      • bs61

        Me too! Plus there is a huge anti-incumbency move going on this year, and the Tea Party is not supporting McCain. Hopefully this will help!

        • winghunter1

          John “Juan” McCain
          http://juanmccain.blogspot.com/

          • mbecker908

            in the primary. Even the staunchest anti-illegal immigration folks – like me for instance – are really tired of this crap. You want to take a winning issue like immigration and turn it into a sure loser, your stupid little blog is the sure way to do it.

            In this race, the Tea Party is irrelevant. McCain will squash Hayworth like a bug. A very wide swath of people in AZ are simply sick of Hayworth.

            Oh well, you’ll see.

  • 6eorge Jetson

    following the Lehman bankruptcy on Sept 15 was an abominable abdication that led to an across-the-board rout of Republicans.

    McCain’s campaign manager had feasted to the tune of a couple million at the Fannie trough. McCain himself had taken a modest amount of Fannie/Freddie donations, but who’s to say there weren’t some other remaining skeletons in McCain’s closet related to the financial industry.

    There is an economic crisis six weeks before the election. The opposing party played a huge role by refusing to allow Fannie/Freddie to be reigned in.
    But you remain quiet and allow your opponents to paint the Republican party as the party that “failed to regulate”. (“Regulate” as in catch bad loans one-by-one that Democrats were all for institutionally incentivizing. Check that. Democrats didn’t even want the bad loans caught one-by-one.)

    Game over. Not just for McCain, but for Republicans across-the-board.

    • winghunter1

      …that Fannie/Freddie was the beginning!? Time to become capable for your own governance;

      Confiscation by consent decree – Department of Justice extorts money from financial institutions http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n20_v46/ai_15905977

      Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton Share Blame for Subprime Mortgage Recession, Government Overshoot 9/22/08
      http://alfin2100.blogspot.com/2008/09/jimmy-carter-bill-clinton-share-blame.html

      Clinton administration’s “BANK AFFIRMATIVE ACTION”
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivmL-lXNy64

      Timeline of Events Fannie/Freddie
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QBRIsCkGQ0

      Obama Owns Housing Bubble Crisis
      http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d48_1221756836

      The Blame Game by Thomas Sowell
      http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2009/05/13/the_blame_game

      Why the Mortgage Crisis Happened By M. Jay Wells from American Thinker http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/10/what_really_happened_in_the_mo.html

      The Real Culprits In This Meltdown IBD:
      http://www.rrpec.org/documents/Meltdown.pdf

      The Real Scandal How Feds Invited The Mortgage Mess by Stan Liebowitz
      http://www.nypost.com/seven/02052008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/the_real_scandal_243911.htm?page=0

  • jetjock4425

    Go J. D. Hayworth!! I for one. am damn glad you are off the Radio Station KFYI 550 in Phoenix, AZ. You put me to sleep with your droning on and on and your constantly repeating “…H E Double Hockey Sticks….” instead of just saying “Hell” or even “Heck,” so infantile for a former U.S. Congressman for 12 years!! You needed to be on air at 11:00 PM to 2:00 AM to help folks suffering for insomnia.
    BUT I DO LOVE YOUR POLITICS, at least most of them, If you will send out a bunch of good stuff to me on the Internet, I’ll help flood my long Internet list of Arizonans in The Great State of AZ. J.D., You need to mold your speeches and conduct like Senator Brown in Mass. Start drinking a whole bunch of those high energy caffeine laden energy drinks Come on, let’s go! Wake up your GET UP AND GO!!! Get some Good Magnetic Big Bumper Stickers suggested size: 3-3/4″ by 15.”

    Everyone need not forget that McCAIN GRADUATED 5th FROM THE BOTTOM OF HIS CLASS (His was not the sharpest knife in the drawer) at The U,S. NAVAL ACADEMY Class. I’ve heard him mention this failing class position/rank on several of his Mega-Million Times of getting his mug on TV while spewing his opinions in a very heavily rooted and couched Politically Correct Speech while always trying to speak to and please every citizen AND THE ILLEGAL MEXICANS, and for sure to the members of Congress and The Presidents of what seems like the last 50 years. Don’t forget how hard McCain pushed for amnesty and full citizenship for all the ILLEGAL MEXICANS, right up to the umpteenth time he ran another pitiful campaign for The Presidency in the 2008 elections. When McCAIN realized that the folks were not supporting him with donations to his Presidential election campaign plus a whole lot of us folks living in Arizona were bombarding McCain with letters, phone calls, E-mails, Faxes and personal visits to him where we demanded he reverse course on Immigration/Citizenship/waiving prosecution for illegal entry, McCain made a feeble attempt to change course. He still lost the election for the immigration reason and McCAIN’S refusal to attack oBUMma on his background history and qualifications. McCain even ordered his staff and suggested that his constituents that WERE NOT TO EVEN USE OR MENTION OR DISCUSS oBUMma’s MIDDLE NAME OF “HUSSEIN!!” AFTER THE ELECTION WAS WON BY oBUMma, oBUMma then IMMEDIATELY STARTED USING “HUSSEIN” WHEN SPEAKING oBUMma’s NAME AND PARTICULARLY SO WHEN HE WAS IN THE COUNTRIES I REFER TO AS “SAND BOX” COUNTRIES. To this day oBUMma’s history and education documentations have not been verified.
    Can you imagine Exxon Corp. hiring an unknown CEO without reviewing his educational documents and records, his REAL Birth Certificate, passports, old and current and without asking him to clarify any inconsistencies in his life’s records trail? Hell no, they wouldn’t hire someone as just described. McCain has never yet challenged him. Notice that McCain has not pushed for the border fence completion nor has he mentioned his immigration position since he lost the Presidential Election. Hell, the reason we have oBUMma in office is due purely by McCain’s refusal to represent his conservative core.
    Look what Massachusetts just accomplished when they put up an educated, excellent, yet firm speaker with honest core conservative values that he was proud to promise the folks of Mass. that he would represent them with honor and comply with those values. Brown accomplished this in a truly blue state with a 50 year history of voting Democratic.
    Many people think of John McCain as a war hero for he and his fighter jet getting shot down in October, 1967, in North Vietnam and spending Five and one-half (5&1/2) years in a sorry POW Camp (Hanoi Hilton), where he was administered some torture. ( He was offered very early release when the North Vietnamese discovered McCain’s father and Grandfather had been and were of very very high rank In The U.S. Navy. “Crash McCain”, (my name for him) however decided to be a martyr and stay in residence at The Hanoi Hilton), Heck, McCain, in July, 1967, some 3 months before his fighter jet was actually shot down, was injured when somehow he managed to get his (different jet) fighter jet shot by a missile coming from his own ship!! McCain has just about milked dry all the sympathy that shoot down/capture & Hanoi Hilton story was/is good for. He seems to think those failures in his Naval Flying Career entitles him to some sympathy votes from the voting citizens.
    I for one have never ever thought of McCain as any kind of war hero as a result of his jet having being shot twice by missiles, one jet shot by a missile from his own ship!! PLUS a second jet, flown by McCain, shot down by a missile (courtesy of The North Vietnamese), then getting captured and forced to take up residence in The Hanoi Hilton.
    More likely as not, McCain having been shot down was due to his own ignorance and inabilities. After all, when he appears on TV in some of his Mega-Million appearances, he is proud to disclose to The Many TV Viewers about his sorry U.S. NAVAL ACADEMY Record of graduating FIFTH FROM THE LAST (Lowest) in his U.S. NAVAL ACADEMY Class! (Usually he is bragging about this Academic Failure, and most times he is also laughing about it. Most normal people would not laugh and brag about their abject failure in their Military Service.
    NOTE: I have the background to comment on McCain’s aviation record. I have a 33 year background in aviation and flying most types and Models of aircraft literally throughout the World. I have accumulated 17,000 flight hours as Captain/PIC and all Continents save one have been flown to by me as Captain/Pilot in Command. For the last nine years of my career I was a Captain on The B-747 Jumbo Jet. I never received any violations from any Country during all of these years

    Get in high gear Mr. J. B. Hayworth, lets put McCain to bed. Heck McCain’s wife Cindy, has been out in California pushing for reversal of a voters not wanting a law change to allow queers to marry. He doesn’t even have the respect of his own wife.

    GET RID OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS, CALL A SPADE, A SPADE!!!!
    Captain Jim Sanders, Retired
    Scottsdale, AZ

  • winghunter1

    …And there’s a multitude of reasons we can do even better in Arizona.

    We can and should bypass JD as there are far too many loyal Americans in Arizona not to find a patriot to serve the state.

  • chabsentia

    I do not live in Arizona so I do not know all the ins and outs that are present there. I do know that Arizona was the 2nd biggest capital for kidnapping and since it was only second to Mexico then it is the biggest in the U.S.. Janet did a wonderful job, I understand that Joe has done a great job as Sheriff but people want to ignore his recomendation of J.D. so apparently people support Janet including her rise to Secretary of Home Security but not Joe who has done a great job and stood up against the “machine”. I was born in California and my parents moved to Texas about 15 years later so I ma familar with border towns.

    While I cant comment on the various people in Arizona I can comment on the record of Mccain. Apparent;y there arent enough people that were around then or you have a short memory about Mccain and the Savings and Loan scandals in California. Mccain is a Progressive and only marginally better than Obama. I didnt vote for either one. Mccain is also a supporter of the “Rino” Crist who os our Governior here in Florida and Mcain has been in there for over forty years and is much closer to one half a Century then just a quarter of a century. I am Retired Navy and I think it is obscene how Mc Cain has done the Progressive and “Moderate” Rino dance while continually mentioning his war record.

    • aesthete

      but I console myself with the fact that there are two great, conservative candidates running for the House in AZ who will receive my funds and my support.

  • skat

    California has Boxer, Feinstein, Pelosi, etc so I don’t want to hear anything from California about Arizonans being losers for electing John McCain. Would I like McCain replaced with a fresh, true conservative – absolutely. Still I’ll take McCain over any of the California bunch any day.
    chabsentia, you get California straightened out then you can come straighten out all us rubes here in Arizona.