By Lawrence Sellin
Republican Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake are liberals representing a conservative state. By their statements and actions, they have proven that they are no longer worthy to be the U.S. Senators from Arizona.
Senator John McCain (R-AZ), who once described the mainstream media as his political base, has declared war on conservatives and the people of Arizona; reportedly leading a purge of the state’s GOP apparatus to pave the way for an easier reelection bid should he decide to run again in 2016.
In January 2013, Tea Party members and other conservatives managed to get John McCain censured by the Arizona Republican Party, for what they characterized as a liberal record that has been “disastrous and harmful” to the state and nation. It was not even close; the Republican Party of Maricopa County, Arizona’s most populous, passed a resolution to censure the senator on a 1,150-to-351 vote. The state GOP party’s censure didn’t even require a recorded vote, it passed by acclamation, meaning by a voice vote.
Now, according to the left-leaning outlet Politico, McCain is getting his revenge.
In Arizona, Republican precinct committeemen elect local party chairmen, who, in turn, determine how state and local GOP funds are spent, which candidates are promoted in an election year, and which political issues are highlighted — all matters of central concern for McCain heading into 2016, when the threat of a primary looms.
Prior to Aug. 26, 2014, when the races for the party offices were held, the vast majority of the 3,925 precinct slots were filled by people McCain’s team considered opponents. Now, after an influx of candidates were recruited by the senator’s allies, around 40 percent of those offices — 1,531 to be exact — will be held by people McCain’s team regards as friendly. They will have the power to vote down hostile Republican chairmen in each of their respective localities.
After securing the support of conservative Sarah Palin, running a campaign as a conservative and gaining reelection in 2010, McCain immediately swerved to the left again, denigrating conservatives and Tea Partiers as “hobbits” and “wacko birds” while championing the Gang of Eight’s comprehensive amnesty legislation in the Senate.
McCain’s junior colleague, Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ), a member of the Gang of Eight, is also a strong supporter of comprehensive amnesty for illegal aliens.