Thread: PHOENIX TEA PARTY- TWO GREAT ARTICLES & VIDEO

Updated March 29, 2010

Hayworth Slams McCain on Immigration at Tea Party

RallyBy Cristina Corbin

- FOXNews.com


As hundreds of Tea Party activists protested in Arizona late Sunday, the Republican candidate vying to unseat Sen. John McCain used the rally as a stump to blast the fourth-term senator on immigration and border security.

Supporters for Arizona Republican Senate primary opponents John McCain and J.D. Hayworth come out to cheer on their candidates. (Reuters/AP)

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- The man who hopes to wrest the Republican nomination away from four-term Arizona Sen. John McCain blasted the 2008 presidential candidate for his positions on immigration and border security at a Tea Party rally here on Sunday.

Former Congressman J.D. Hayworth, who has emerged as a formidable primary challenger to McCain, seized on amnesty for illegal immigrants and border control, which have become defining issues in the state's GOP Senate primary race.

"It is unconscionable that nearly a decade after 9/11 the backdoor of the United States remains open," Hayworth told hundreds of Tea Party members gathered at the Radisson Hotel in Flagstaff. "Our senior senator is looking at this entirely the wrong way."

Citing escalating drug violence along the U.S.-Mexico border and the murder of an Arizona rancher found shot to death on his Cochise County property on Saturday, Hayworth said, "It's not only a matter of national security, it's a matter of personal security."

But McCain still holds some clout among Tea Party activists, many of whom have not taken sides in the GOP primary, especially since he has the support of Sarah Palin, his 2008 running mate, who campaigned with him on Friday.

McCain campaigned alone on Saturday, and while he did not speak about border security, he addressed another kind of security equally important to Tea Partiers.

"The needs of Arizona today is the economy and jobs and jobs and jobs and jobs," said McCain, adding that he will fight for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.

McCain, who did not attend any Tea Party activities in Arizona over the weekend, also addressed his primary challenger on Saturday.

"I need your vote and I need it and I will be grateful for it. And I want it. And I work for you. I know this is a tough race. I intend to earn every single vote. And with your help, my friends, I will have the greatest honor of my life and that is the ability and the honor of being able to serve the most beautiful state in America, again, in the United States Senate," said McCain.

Hayworth on Sunday also frequently referred to his opponent. He mocked McCain and others' use of the phrase "comprehensive immigration reform," and he criticized McCain's co-sponsorship of legislation, including the 2005 McCain-Kennedy bill, which sought to pave the way for millions of illegal immigrants to earn citizenship.

"You and I in the real world know it better by a one-word description -- amnesty! And it's wrong!" he boomed.

Hayworth, a popular radio talk show host who is actively courting the backing of many Tea Party voters, said he wants to reintroduce The Enforcement First Act, a bill he sponsored during his tenure in the House to enforce existing immigration laws.

In an interview with FoxNews.com, Hayworth said he's also calling for increased manpower to patrol the border, including the National Guard and standing military.

The influx of illegal immigrants across the U.S.-Mexico border has become a growing point of contention between Arizona residents and state and federal lawmakers -- and an issue the Tea Party movement says could well determine the outcome of the Aug. 24 primary.

A July 2009 Rasmussen poll showed that 51 percent of Arizona voters said it was more important for Congress to pass immigration legislation than a health care reform bill. And 65 percent said enforcing the border was paramount to legalizing the status of illegal immigrants already in the U.S.

That same polling firm found in a poll taken March 16 that McCain trumps Hayworth 48-41 percent among 541 Arizona voters surveyed, though McCain has fallen below the 50 percent mark and Hayworth has won the backing of former Minuteman leader Chris Simcox, who also briefly flirted with a McCain challenge.

At Sunday's Tea Parties in Phoenix and Flagstaff, dozens of local organizers expressed anger over border security, but few offered viable solutions -- underscoring the complexities and hurdles of securing the 2,000-mile stretch of land along the U.S. southern border.

"There's not a single Tea Party member who doesn't feel immigration is our most important issue in Arizona right now," said Carol MacDonald, a member of the West Side Avondale Party, one of several Tea Party factions within the state.

"They don't pay taxes because they're illegal and they're draining the money we've all worked and saved for our retirement," she said. "And the people who are here legally from other countries are just offended as we are."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03 ... zona-foc...



'Tea Party Express' stop in Phoenix draws crowd

by Parker Leavitt - Mar. 28, 2010 06:18 PM
The Arizona Republic

The "Tea Party Express" was greeted by about 1,200 to 1,500 supporters as it rolled into Phoenix on Sunday, the third stop on a three-week, cross-country tour that ends in Washington, D.C., on April 15.

Activists from across Arizona and from as far as Seattle gathered at the Arizona State Capitol complex to sing, chant and voice their distaste of taxes, health-care reform and big government.


"This is the silent majority that is silent no more," said 54-year-old Jan Manas, who brought his family from Kingman. "For the last two decades, we've sat quietly and watched the government expand and erode our liberties."

Manas, a former Democrat, said he became a Republican during the Reagan years because he objected to "new insidious taxes" from the federal government.

"I can't think of anything specific tax-wise; it just increases incrementally," he said. "A few cents here and there, that's how it's been chipped away."

The message of smaller government and lower taxes echoed the tea-party protesters' message on Saturday in Searchlight, Nev., where the Tea Party Express launched its national tour.

But the Phoenix rally also addressed issues specific to the border state.

Joe the Plumber, whose real name is Samuel Joe Wurzelbacher, of Ohio criticized liberals for what he called lax enforcement of border security.

His solution? "Put a fence in, start shooting," Wurzelbacher said.

The plumber also said the federal government made a mockery of the military by choosing to "coddle terrorists."

"Line up every last terrorist and I'll torture them myself," he said. "And I'm not just talking."

Photos from the protest

U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Hayworth, who is challenging U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told protesters that a rancher in southern Arizona had just been found shot to death on his property near the Mexican border.

While admitting that "we do not know who perpetrated this attack," Hayworth strongly suggested "illegal aliens" were to blame.

The federal government failed to protect that rancher, who was "one of the good guys," Hayworth said.

Tea-party activists often bristle when described as an "angry mob" or as being "on the fringe." But Levi Russell, communications director for Our Country Deserves Better political-action committee, said he could see how such statements could lead to that sort of perception.

But the core principle of the movement is simply "reducing the intrusion of government in private lives," Russell said.

During the last two months, the Sacramento-based political-action committee has added 50,000 members and is approaching 400,000 members total, Russell said.

The rally in Phoenix with 1,200 to 1,500 participants was the lowest attended of the first three Tea Party Express stops, Russell said. At least 8,000 people were at the kickoff event in Searchlight, Nev., and about 5,000 people attended the protest in Henderson, Nev., organizers said.

The Tea Party Express plans to stop in 39 more cities, including Salt Lake City, St. Louis, Mo., and Boston.

WATCH GREAT VIDEO HERE: !!!!

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... ly19686945

March 28, 2010
Phoenix Greets the Tea Party Express


SEE GREAT PHOTO'S FROM EVENT HERE:
http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/201 ... reets.html

MORE GREAT PHOTO'S OF THE TEA PARTY EXPRESS IN PHOENIX AZ:


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2481986/posts

MORE GREAT PHOTO'S AND RECAP OF EVENTS IN PHOENIX ON SUNDAY MARCH 28TH AT THE TEA PARTY EXPRESS - VOTE THEM OUT OF OFFICE TOUR!

http://www.frugal-cafe.com/public_html/ ... afe-blog...

Listening to the radio this morning, a local Detroit station, and it sounded like they were going to counter protest when the Tea Party shows up in Detroit. They had the attitude that we're gonna show them that things are different in Detroit. I could have misread it, but that's what it sounded like. And the folks in Detroit like to drop the "R" word at the drop of a hat.

The first and the last links are dead.

Hi Hylander,

We were discussing health care on another thread, specifically the cost fo the fine if you don't buy insurance. You had the figure of around 1,500. I just read in our paper that it is a sliding scale, (exemptions are possible), and that a single person, with an income of 44,000 would have to pay 1,250, which seems to match up with the number you mentioned.

Hey Betty, Thankyou for looking into it! Although I'm a little worried, and Nancy Pelosi according to an article I was reading wasn't opposed to a 5 year prison sentence, and 250k fine.

With work being difficult to find, I'd be up the crick.