Posted on 06/12/2005 11:51:11 AM PDT by Spiff
By Dennis Durband, Editor
June 11, 2005
SCOTTSDALE -- No, Donald Trump, U.S. Senator John McCain has not been fired. On Saturday, the Arizona Republican Assembly (ARA) voted unanimously during its annual state convention to censure Arizona’s senior senator.
McCain has seriously alienated his conservative base in the 21st century. However, he has greatly enamored himself with liberals and he easily won re-election in November with his new liberal support base. The conservatives who make up the ARA membership have had enough of what they consider a betrayal by McCain and they took advantage of their annual resolution ritual to take action against the liberal metamorphosis of the presidential hopeful.
The censure measure will be sent to Matt Salmon, chairman of the Arizona GOP -- with hopes of a state party censure as well -- to all Republican county and legislative district chairmen and will be issued as a press release to the media. No one spoke in support of McCain during discussion of the resolution.
ARA member Bruce Barton, of Safford, authored the resolution. The reasons behind the censure focus specifically on McCain’s amnesty bill for illegal aliens, for deserting the ranks of the Republican Party by undermining Senate President Bill Frist’s recent attempt to change a filibuster cloture rule and for ignoring constitutional concerns with his campaign finance reform law.
Public opinion on the ARA censure ran favorably all week long. A non-scientific GOPUSA/Arizona poll drawing 213 responses resulted in 93.4 percent approval of the censure.
Though a motion for censure Saturday drew unanimous approval, the ARA’s senior member, Louis Stradling, of Mesa, offered up an amendment that would have added stronger language to the document. Stradling suggested an amendment to the resolution that would have charged McCain with “malfeasance.” That move failed when Barton said he agrees with the spirit of Stradling’s suggestion, but he felt the word “malfeasance” might have added a legal sticking point that ARA would be better off avoiding. After the proposed amendment failed, ARA delegates enthusiastically and without dissent approved the resolution to censure McCain.
The resolution reads as follows:
WHEREAS, Senator John McCain is presently co-sponsoring, together with his Democrat soul-mate, Senator Teddy Kennedy, a Bill to Reform the Immigration Policy of the United States promoting amnesty for illegal aliens and for their U.S. employers, thus ignoring the opinions of his constituents expressed in numerous polls and personal pleas; and
WHEREAS, Senator McCain deserted the ranks of the Republican Party and the Leadership of the U.S. Senate on the issue of limiting the filibuster of judicial nominations, some of which have been on-hold for several years, thus stalling the President’s agenda for judicial reform; and
WHEREAS, Senator McCain led the Democrat Party in “reforming” campaign finance, providing for a clear usurpation of 1st Amendment free speech rights during the last 60 days of an election campaign, and leading to an orgy of spending in the 2004 elections;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Arizona Republican Assembly (ARA) officially and publicly censures Senator John McCain for dereliction of his duties and responsibilities as a representative of the citizens of Arizona; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the ARA strongly urges State Republican Party Chairman, Matt Salmon, the Arizona State Republican Party and its County and Legislative District affiliates to officially and publicly express their displeasure with Senator McCain by means of a public censure; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that copies of this Resolution be sent to the Chairman of the State Republican Party, to all Republican County and Legislative District Chairman and be issued as a Press Release to the media.
The likelihood of persuading Arizona GOP to get on board with the censure is practically nil. The state party typically takes a neutral approach to wayward Republican office holders.
Saturday's censure was just the latest incident of protest against McCain in the past four years. Last year, several people demonstrated peacefully outside McCain's Tempe office over his refusal to support the proposed federal marriage amendment. In 2001, two McCain recall movements arose against the senator. The leaders of those two organizations combined their efforts into one joint recall and then permanently suspended operations upon the events of Sept, 11, 2001. Also that year, opponents of McCain gathered for public opposition rallies in Scottsdale and Tempe.
McCain is expected to seek the GOP presidential nomination again in 2008.
It does when you force legislation that subverts the Constituion like the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill.
I'm with you Mike. I have many bad things to call and say about McPain but traitor is not and never will be one of them.
no that just makes him a liberal democrat.
PING
His experiences in Vietnam have been strongly questioned by some of the people who were there despite what the made-for-TV movie showed. His terrible treatment of the families of MIAs has gone far to undermine any Vietnam war "hero" status he may have held at one time. He reminds me of Kerry in the way he carried around a whole "I was in Vietnam!" display, including cardboard cutouts of him in uniform, during his last presidential bid. His exploitation of his Vietnam "experience" is certainly Kerry-esque, in my opinion. If he does decide to run, I hope we see a whole new "Swift Boat Veterans" kind of thing emerge to knock him down just as they knocked down Kerry. And rightfully so.
I have been amazed every time I see a "poll" on TV that says that the ONLY Republican that could beat Hillary, is McCain...
I totally support what you and other Minutemen have done, and I will work as hard to keep McCain off a ticket, as I will Hillary...although, being a Republican, I doubt I have much ability to derail Hillbilly....
Hopefully, Hillbilly will derail herself!
Me too. But we are not politicians and we don't represent the electorate of Arizona.
That said, this is another small victory, I appreciate it as such, and I'm glad to hear it.
you know, when you scream traitor at EVERYONE, the word loses it's meaning.
McCain WANTS YOU TO SCREAM THAT HE IS A TRAITOR!! He will then do what I said earlier, which is, point to his military record.
That might not be enough for FReepers, but that WOULD do the job for about 80% of the GOP.
Save that word for people who have earned it or DESERVE it. Guys like Johnny Walker Lindh or Billy Bob or Hillary.
For McCain, that is what he wants. It would inflate his ego and prove, to himself, his "maverick" wanna be status.
Public opinion on the ARA censure ran favorably all week long. A non-scientific GOPUSA/Arizona poll drawing 213 responses resulted in 93.4 percent approval of the censure.
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A good article, but these guys shouldn't make claims like this.
Nor have I seen support for McCain here in freepville.
Greetings FRpers. At work, but heading home now.
Good post.
You can denigrate how Repubs in Arizona feel about him, but I believe it was Ann Coulter who pointed out the disgraced Oregon senator Bob Packwood as a good example of a Republican who liked to flirt with the Demo-serpents.
When he started making slithering moves, MSM flattered him as "thoughtful" "moderate" etc. But when he tried to return to the fold, too late.
Of course his personal life didn't help him much.
Moral? Dance with who brung ya . . . I'm sick of RINOs.
http://en.wikipedia.org./wiki/Bob_Packwood
("Dear Diary: My date at the barn-dance caught me smooching with 'Juicy Lucy' in a haystack? What do I do?"
"Dear John: You made your bed . . .")
I agree with you re: Jane Fonda vs. John McCain...
But, there is no law that says just because you are a vet, even a POW vet, makes you a good politician---
McCain is NOT good for the country as a leader at this time.
Besides, I will not forgive how he called into question the integrity of the Swifties....they didn't call his service into question...they didn't deserve the treatment they got from him.
Really! The dude shouldn't be trusted as far as he should be thrown!
It's interesting, but not to the largest newsrag in the state. They devoted a front page story today to speculation about the senator's plans for a 2008 presidential run. This censure somehow didn't get mentioned...
Does McCain give two %*#^ on what the ARA does?
and not one thing you said is up for debate.
It just really rubs me raw how easily the charge of treason and the word traitor gets thrown around here.
It ALMOST sounds like the French REvolution and Robespierre on FR sometimes....
Well this put a smile on my face :0)
Seriously: supporting (or writing) the McCain-Feingold bill does not make one a traitor. To use the word that loosely is to strip it of meaning. McCain doesn't believe the bill is unconstitutional; I do, but there is an argument to be made that speech needs to be rationed for regular people to have a voice. I reject that view: if people want a voice, the onus is on them to speak up for themselves. But this debate just reflects a fundamental, liberal vs. conservative difference on the role of government. It does not reflect a dispute between traitors and non-traitors. Let's chill out a little.
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