Thread: The Situation Room: Interview with J.D. Hayworth

February 15, 2010

Interview with J.D. Hayworth
By The Situation Room

WOLF BLITZER: Today is presidents day and on this day, the last Republican who ran for president but lost receives a fresh threat to his job. We're talking about Senator John McCain. Today former Arizona congressman and now radio talk show host JF Hayworth announced he wants to force McCain into retirement. Hayworth announced he's running for the U.S. Senate saying McCain just isn't conservative enough for Arizona. The former congressman is joining us now from Sun Lakes. Congressman, thanks very much for coming in.

JD HAYWORTH (R) ARIZONA SENATE CANDIDATE: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: A lot of folks immediately when they heard you were challenging John McCain, they said, you know what, JD Hayworth couldn't get himself reelected a few years ago against a Democrat. What makes him think he can beat a legend like John McCain for the Republican -- I'm sure you've been asked that question many times.

HAYWORTH: Well, it's interesting, Wolf. If we played that kind of game, we could say why on earth is John McCain running again because he suffered a massive defeat nationally. The fact is that elections come. They're decisions at fixed points in time. Certainly my name was on the ballot in 2006 and I did finish second in the fifth congressional district. But we all learned in civics classes and I think is evidenced by the news that Senator Bayh is going to step down in Indiana, quite often midterm elections are a referendum on the performance of the chief executive. And certainly Barack Obama has failed to perform up to expectations of great change. There's been change, all right, the wrong kind of change. And when I get to Washington as a United States senator, I will be a consistent conservative voice as opposed to my old friend John McCain. This isn't personal. It's a matter of policy and that's why we go to the political process. But John is a moderate who proclaims that he's a maverick.

BLITZER: On what issues are you most concerned about John McCain?

HAYWORTH: Well, there are a litany of issues, Wolf. First of all, it's worth noting that a Rasmussen poll showed that over 60 percent of Arizona Republicans do not believe that John McCain shares their basic values.

BLITZER: Give me a specific issue. Let's go through a specific issue which you disagree with him on.

HAYWORTH: OK, happy to, the bailout. The bailout vote for the banks late during the Bush administration. When John McCain suspended his campaign and we thought we would see some sort a stand against that ill-advised bailout. In the final analysis, John McCain complained about it, said it was probably the wrong thing to do but he voted the $700 billion to the banks and also $150 billion in earmarks, the very kind of spending he rails against and falsely accuses me of engaging in. Now, that's a situation where John is saying one thing and doing another.

BLITZER: But let me -- hold on a second before we move on to immigration. A lot of the economists at that time during the tail end of the Bush administration, including Ben Bernanke who was named by Bush the Federal Reserve chairman, Henry Paulson, the Treasury secretary. They said if they didn't do this bailout, the abyss would've happened. I would have gone over the abyss and it wouldn't have been a recession, it would have been a depression.

HAYWORTH: Well, you know, a lot of people did offer that chicken little scenario. And equally other economists and people in the real banking world, for example, a communication that I received from the president of BB&T, a southeastern bank concern asking the 435 members of the House and the 100 members of the Senate not to vote in favor of the bailout because the money would not end up being used by banks to be loaned to consumers and you would have banks under the thumb of greater government control. And, indeed, though I don't like to use Hank Paulson as a source, in an excerpt of his book that appeared in last Saturday's "Wall Street Journal," he made it very clear that while McCain in the end supported it, when John suspended his campaign to go back to Washington, and voters thought, wow. John McCain is going to make a stand for us. John, instead of being the tell it like it is straight talk express guy we tend to believe in, he meekly read a couple of talking points and went along with the whole deal. I believe it was the wrong deal for America, not only the bailout for the banks, but the $150 billion in earmarks. John called the vote wrong. He said spending was an obscenity, but he voted for it.

BLITZER: So that's a bigger issue in you mind than his support for comprehensive immigration reform?

HAYWORTH: You asked me and there's a litany of issues. There's more than amnesty. Although, goodness knows Americans will take that -- take a hit in the pocketbook there, as well. According to the Heritage Foundation, the long-term effects of retirement benefits alone for illegals who were granted citizenship would be $2.6 trillion. That's trillion with a T. And then, of course, you have a variety of other issues, taxes, for example. When I was in Congress on the Ways and Means Committee, I fought for the tax cuts in 2001 and 2003. My friend John McCain went to the well of the U.S. Senate calling those quote tax cuts for the wealthy, sounding a lot more like John Kerry than the John McCain I'd been accustomed to.

BLITZER: Here's what he said when he got word that you were thinking of running against him for the Republican nomination. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN McCAIN (R) ARIZONA: I know for nearly a year on his radio show, Mr. Hayworth used to attack me in the most disrespectful fashion. So I would imagine over time that we might see a repetition of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: How ugly is this Republican primary going to get?

HAYWORTH: Well, I have made it very clear. And the radio is one thing and we all engage in satire and humor. I didn't intend to savage John in any way making some points. But I've been nothing but respectful on the trickle (ph) and I will remain respectful in stark contrast to what Mr. McCain and his operatives told politico that they were going to run quote, a scorched earth campaign against JD Hayworth. Now what people tell me in Arizona is, my goodness, why is John McCain personally attacking you in radio ads all the time for? Why didn't he have that type of aggressive campaign, for example, against Barack Obama? It seems to show with apologies to Lerner and Lowe that McCain saves his disdain for conservatives in the main. We'll have a spirited discussion.

BLITZER: You know that Sarah Palin who was his running mate says she's going to support John McCain and try to get him that nomination instead of you. How do you feel about that?

HAYWORTH: Well, I think we all understand the impulse of gratitude in politics and obviously Senator McCain, one of the decisions I applaud him for was putting Sarah Palin on the ticket. I think it gave great excitement to the Republican base and I can understand why she's coming here. But what's interesting, Wolf, in the social media, aas I understand it, there's a new page on Facebook, Sarah Palin fans for JD but in the final analysis, it's not Sarah Palin from Alaska, It's Sarah Boyd in Scottsdale and others like her. Arizonans will decide who will be the next senator from this great state.

BLITZER: I'll ask you a question that the former Vice President Dick Cheney was asked yesterday. Do you think she's qualified to be president of the United States?

HAYWORTH: I think she is an exciting candidate who brings a new type of interest in politics. I think she ran Alaska extremely well. I think that she has broken through in terms of social media quite effectively. In fact, I'd be happy. We always welcome visitors to Arizona, Wolf and we welcome you back sometime soon. But I would be very happy to extend her stay if she wants to do an event for John, that's great. We'd be happy to have her do an event for us, as well.

BLITZER: So is the answer yes, do you think she's qualified?

HAYWORTH: Sure, I think she's qualified. She's already run for vice president. But that's beside the point. The question we have right now, Wolf, is who is going to be the next senator for Arizona? And that's why I think if people go to jdforsenate.com they will see that my issues reflect a consistent, conservative philosophy. That's what Arizonans want. That's why (INAUDIBLE) I believe I'll be nominated in August and will win the general election and be the next senator from Arizona.

BLITZER: That gets me to my final question on a general election assuming -- and this is still a huge assumption right now, you beat John McCain for the Republican nomination. Thirty percent of the population of your state of Arizona is Latino, Hispanic in origin. And many of them totally disagree with you on the whole issue of immigration. How do you win a general election if you beat McCain in a primary given the fact that 30 percent of the people in your state are Hispanic?

HAYWORTH: Wolf, let me caution you against what I call the myth of the monolith. The assumption that the majority of people who happen to have Hispanic last names somehow instantly embrace the notion of open borders and illegal immigration. Nothing could be further from the truth --

BLITZER: A majority does, don't you think?

HAYWORTH: Well, let's take a look. In 2004 with prop 200 on the ballot, 47 percent of Latinos voted in favor of that. That's a greater number than what the 43 percent who supported President Bush when he carried the state in 2004. Again, what I'm saying is that it is not this overwhelming landslide that Latinos want to see open borders. I reach out to American voters of every ethnicity, race, color or creed who say we're Americans first and we want common sense, conservative solutions. And I think in this special year of 2010, where people say they want change all right, but they want conservative common sense change, I think it bodes very well for me not only in the primary, but eventually in the general election.

BLITZER: We're going to continue to watch this story. It's going to be a fascinating campaign, congressman, thanks very much for joining us.

HAYWORTH: Wolf, thank you very much for the time.

BLITZER: JD Hayworth. We go way back and now he's going to be running against John McCain. We'll watch what happens. We invited by the way Senator McCain to join us today. We look forward to having him on the program soon, lots of questions to ask him as well

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articl ... 04423.html

Oh, oh. I smell politician here in JD. He loves Sarah Palin and is spurring her on as a power force when approximately 67 percent of those surveyed do not believe she is qualified to serve. This may just be a ploy to gain popular Palin's support base to believe that he has better toys than McCain.

It's very possible that Sen. McCain does not consider Hayworth significant enough to warrant being on a CNN show with him. It's a bit bizarre for an old longtime Senator would enlist the help of the two fresh faces in the party. I fail to see the correlation.

I certainly hope Hayworth wins. And for McCain to dismiss JD, counting on the support of Palin and Brown to assure his re-election is just silly. JD is wise enought not to lump those of Hispanic heritage into a pro-OBL group. And his statements will appeal to Americans of Hispanic heritage who appreciate what this country is and hate to see it given away. The correlation may be that JD is trying to appeal to the Palin fans.

Thanks Vortex. I'm not very good at making myself clear. What I meant was;
What stretch of the imagination does the new, fresh blood popularity possibly rub off on this old antique presidential loser?

It will be interesting to see how this race plays out. Will the GOP establishment regsain control, or will the upstart grassroots movement win out?

I think the establishment, whether GOP or Dem is going to lose big time.
They have been both catering to special interests.

Originally Posted by Bettybb

It will be interesting to see how this race plays out. Will the GOP establishment regsain control, or will the upstart grassroots movement win out?

I think the establishment, whether GOP or Dem is going to lose big time.
They have been both catering to special interests.

Of course they have. With the obscene ammounts of money required to run for office, they owe the money machine their lives and their soles for obtaining the offices of unlimited power, that at one time were very limited by a GD piece of paper as George Bush called the Constitution.