Thread: Group of Arizona Republicans to censure John McCain for siding with ‘liberal Democrat

By Associated Press
Originally published: Jan 24, 2014 - 4:04 pm



PHOENIX -- A group of Arizona Republicans said Friday they are seeking to pass a resolution censuring U.S. Sen. John McCain for a voting record they say is more aligned with liberal Democrats.

The group plans to introduce the resolution at the Arizona Republican Party's state meeting Saturday in Tempe.

According to the resolution, the 2008 Republican presidential candidate has campaigned as a conservative but lent his support to issues such as immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship and funding Obama Care.

Arizona Republican Party spokesman Tim Sifert says before it can be voted on, the resolution needs signatures from at least 20 percent of state committee members to head to the floor. Several county-level party leaders have passed their own censures in recent months.

Timothy Schwartz, the Legislative District 30 Republican chairman who helped write the resolution, says he is confident there will be enough signatures.

The resolution is about making sure those who are unhappy with him, ``they're not without a voice,'' Schwartz said.

Brian Rogers, a spokesman for McCain, declined to comment.

Retired Arizona State University political science professor Bruce Merrill, who continues to do a statewide monthly survey of Arizona voters, said he doubts there will be any significant voter fallout for McCain if the censure passes.

``The research I've done on the Republicans in Arizona shows it's a minority of the Republican party that takes this position,'' Merrill said. ``To censure someone like McCain who is so well-respected in Arizona is just nonsense.''

McCain has been dogged by conservatives objecting to his views on immigration and campaign finance, among other issues, since his days running for Congress in 1982. Republican activists were also turned off by his moderate stances in the 2000 presidential race.

His war-hero status as a former POW in Vietnam and his political reputation as a maverick have endeared him to voters. According to Merrill, between 60 and 65 percent of people in the state support McCain's position on an earned path to citizenship for people living in the U.S. illegally.

Still, the group hopes to present a challenge when McCain runs for re-election.

The senator announced in October he was considering running for a sixth term in 2016. McCain, who will turn 80 in 2016, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982 and won his Senate seat in 1986.

http://ktar.com/22/1694794/Arizona-G...-of-Sen-McCain

By Associated Press
Originally published: Jan 25, 2014 - 2:49 pm

PHOENIX -- The Arizona Republican Party formally censured Sen. John McCain on Saturday, citing a voting record they say is insufficiently conservative.

The resolution to censure McCain was approved by a voice-vote during a meeting of state committee members in Tempe, state party spokesman Tim Sifert said. It needed signatures from at least 20 percent of state committee members to reach the floor for debate.

Sifert said no further action was expected.

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers declined to comment on the censure.

McCain isn't up for re-election until 2016, when will turn 80. He announced in October that he was considering running for a sixth term.

According to the resolution, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee has campaigned as a conservative but has lent his support to issues "associated with liberal Democrats," such as immigration reform and to funding the law sometimes known as Obamacare.

Several Republican county committees recently censured McCain.

Timothy Schwartz, the Legislative District 30 Republican chairman who helped write the resolution, said the censure showed that McCain was losing support from his own party.

"We would gladly embrace Sen. McCain if he stood behind us and represented us," Schwartz said.

Fred DuVal, a Democrat who plans to run for Arizona governor, called the censure an "outrageous response to the good work Sen. McCain did crafting a reasonable solution to fix our broken immigration system."

McCain has been dogged by conservatives objecting to his views on immigration and campaign finance, among other issues, since he first ran for Congress in 1982. Republican activists were also turned off by his moderate stances in the 2000 presidential race.

McCain was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982 and won his Senate seat in 1986.

http://ktar.com/22/1694959/Arizona-G...liberal-record

Arizona GOP censures McCain for 'disastrous' record

Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, The Arizona Republic

Delivering a strong rebuke to U.S. Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republicans passed a resolution to censure the one-time presidential nominee for what they characterize as a liberal record that has been "disastrous and harmful" to the state and nation.

While McCain is a political star on the national stage, for years he has had to contend with vocal critics in his home state, who accuse him of betraying the Grand Old Party's principles.

Saturday's censure came two weeks after the Maricopa County Republican Party passed a resolution to censure the senator on a 1,150-to-351 vote.

The state GOP party's censure passed by acclamation, meaning by a voice vote. It has no practical effect, but serves as an attempt to embarrass the senator.

McCain and his office have not commented on the county censure although his supporters point to the party's reputation for ultra-right partisanship. The senator's office on Saturday declined comment on the state censure. McCain is considering seeking a sixth Senate term in 2016.

Former three-term U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., dismissed the anti-McCain resolution as "wacky."

"I've gone to dozens of these meetings and every now and then some wacky resolution gets passed," Kyl, the former Senate minority whip, told The Arizona Republic on Saturday. "But most people realize it does not represent the majority of the vast numbers of Republicans."

Kyl noted that McCain has been repeatedly re-elected despite opposition over the years by many GOP activists.

"Do these guys ever get elected? It's John McCain who gets elected," Kyl said. "To say that John McCain doesn't work with Republicans, doesn't have a conservative voting record – that's just baloney. I served with him in the Senate for 18 years, 26 years all together, and we didn't always vote alike, but his record is very conservative. It's just wacky to say otherwise."

While many McCain allies expressed support of the senator, a wing of anti-McCain activists gathered enough support to have the resolution heard Saturday, on the floor of the state party's annual mandatory meeting at a Tempe church.

"Only in times of great crisis or betrayal is it necessary to publicly censure our leaders," the resolution said. "Today we are faced with both. For too long we have waited, hoping Senator McCain would return to our Party's values on his own. That has not happened."

McCain's offenses cited in the resolution included working on comprehensive immigration reform, or "amnesty," and not going along with last year's conservative strategy to "defund" President Obama's signature health-care law.

The resolution condemns McCain "for his continued disservice to our state and nation," and said state Republican leaders "will no longer support, campaign for or endorse John McCain as our U.S. Senator."

About 1,300 Republicans convened at the Grace Community Church in Tempe. Candidates handed out campaign swag. Committeemen voted for party leaders. And elected officials — including Gov. Jan Brewer, Rep. Matt Salmon and Sen. Andy Biggs — rallied Republicans, saying they needed work together to undo damage by the President Barack Obama's administration.

Speakers criticized the federal government's spending, bulk collection of telephone data by the National Security Agency, and the 2012 terrorist attack that resulted in the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya.

Timothy Schwartz, who authored the censure, said McCain "has abandoned us" and called on party leaders to hold him accountable.

McCain always works with Democrats but not with Republicans," Schwartz said, speaking in support of the censure.

But Carole Klein, of Scottsdale, urged members to vote against the censure. She said she regrets her earlier vote in support of the county's censure of McCain. While she is unhappy with McCain, she thinks Republicans should focus on the party's good work.

"The entire media and those people who are independents and the Democrats look at this and say, 'Oh, look at the Republicans — they don't even know who to bring and put in as their person. And then they censure them. They don't know which way they're going."

Ed Boers, 72, of Mesa, was struggling up until the last minute with how he would vote on the censure. He did not support the county's Jan. 11 censure of McCain.

"I'm torn because the Republican Party is chastising its own people," Boers said. "It doesn't look good. He's a warrior. But I don't know if that qualifies him to be a senator. I'm not happy with a lot of things he did."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...nsure/4909683/

McCain will be 80 in 2016. The censure is too little, too late ..

VIDEO

McCain Adds Another Dubious Honor To His RINO Trophy Case

again... McCain is so screwed up the other 49 states should BOYCOTT Arizona until they Fire / Recall or put him in PRISON

the problem is; there are a WHOLE LOT of Progressive McCain's in both Parties

By Associated Press | JANUARY 28, 2014 AT 2:53 PM



PHOENIX (AP) — U.S. Sen. John McCain hasn't decided whether he'll run for a sixth term, but the former GOP presidential nominee said Tuesday that the Arizona Republican Party's censure of him over the weekend may just have provided the motivation to seek office again.

The censure vote came during a meeting of state committee members who cited McCain's voting record as being insufficiently conservative.

The members said McCain has lent his support to issues "associated with liberal Democrats," such as immigration reform and funding President Barack Obama's federal health care law.

In response Tuesday, McCain said he has a strong conservative voting record and led the fight in the Senate against Obama's health care plan. He blames the censure on uninformed "extremist" party elements, and said, if anything, it only bolsters his consideration to run for a sixth term in 2016, the year he turns 80.
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"If there's such a thing as motivation to more seriously consider it, it's what just happened," McCain told The Associated Press.

Timothy Schwartz, the Arizona Legislative District 30 Republican chairman who helped write the censure resolution, said the vote showed that McCain was losing support from his own party.

McCain called the censure "ludicrous."

"It shows that, again, a very extremist element of the party has taken over the party apparatus," he said, adding that polling shows he maintains strong support in Arizona from Republicans, Democrats and independents.

"I've won every race I've run and I'm proud of my record, and if I run again, I am totally confident of re-election," McCain said.

In a Facebook post this week, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and McCain's 2008 running mate, defended the senator as "an American hero and a friend."

Palin said McCain has helped lead the fight in Congress against the "far left agenda."

McCain was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982 and won his Senate seat in 1986.

He unsuccessfully sought the presidency in 2008 then easily won another Senate term in 2010. He has challenged Obama on foreign policy but has worked with Democrats on immigration legislation, noting "70 percent of the people in Arizona want to see comprehensive immigration reform."

http://washingtonexaminer.com/john-m...rticle/2543019

If McCain runs it is purely to inflict as much pain he can on the people of Arizona ... that's all he has been good for