Posted on 08/29/2010 9:11:30 AM PDT by rabscuttle385
PHOENIX—An ebullient John McCain celebrated his resounding GOP Senate primary win with Gov. Jan Brewer, Sen. Jon Kyl and the state’s Republican congressional delegation at a unity fundraiser Friday night.
Conspicuously absent: former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, whom McCain soundly defeated Tuesday following a bitter and acrimonious campaign.
Organizers said he received an invitation to the event, just as others losing candidates did, but Hayworth claims the opposite.
“I never received an invitation – nothing ever crossed my desk,” the former six-term congressman told POLITICO Saturday.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Although it would have been great to beat McCain in the primaries, obviously, Hayworth was the wrong man for the job.
Seems there was other information also weighing into the decision.
Mr. Hayworth’s extensive ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff may still have been fresh in the minds of voters.
While in Congress, Rep. Hayworth accepted donations to his campaign and leadership PAC from convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s clients. Rep. Hayworth also used Mr. Abramoff’s skyboxes five times without reporting the costs in his Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings. Rep. Hayworth’s failure to report the skyboxes as campaign contributions violated federal election law, and Rep. Hayworth was later forced to repay the skybox owners.
Rep. Hayworth’s ties to Abramoff also enriched his family. Between 1999 and 2007, Rep. Hayworth’s wife, Mary, worked as the sole paid employee of TEAM PAC, his leadership PAC. During that time, Ms. Hayworth was paid over $140,000.
Mr. Hayworth served in the U.S. House of Representatives for twelve years before losing his 2006 bid for reelection in part due to his
People remember!
Yeah, I just forgot that one. There are probably one or two more we're forgetting.
I'm sad for our country that the government has become what it is.
A pox on both parties.
Do you remember that all those things that you and otheres keep bringing up were investigated for months and years, and no wrongdoing by JD was ever found?
Anyone who based their vote decisions on that is just plain ignorant and too easily led. There was also the Keating Five episode. And McCain is guilty of so many obvious flip/flops it's amazing that anyone can still take him seriously. There were many more weird dynamics at work in that race than you have bothered to mention.
Were you impressed with McCain's ad where he was walking along the border, saying build the dang fence? Old, tough on border enforcement McCain.
What an outrageous accusation. McCain-Feingold had to do with campaign contributions, which was found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. It hardly caused us to lose our country.
I’m not defending Hayworth. I’m telling the truth about the evil John McCain and Sarah Palin’s support of him.
Ever heard of: The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The five senators...including John McCain...
A strong conservative woman could have beat McCain, Palin’s endorsments be damned.
JD is texas toast.
Everyone and their Momma knew that Sarah was going to support McCain way before JD even entered the race.
She did one or two fundraisers & campaign events for him - and that was way back in the Spring.
The fact that Sarah is being blamed for JD's loss shows just how weak JD's candidacy was.
BS. Many of them complained on Sarah's Facebook page about her endorsing McCain.
Hayworth lost by 30 FRICKING POINTS. Again, how in the Hell is that Sarah's fault?
ROFL. You guys are coming unglued.
Here's the simple fact EEE, whether you like it or not, Sarah still supports McCain. She tried bringing him into the Beck Rally yesterday, but got such a tepid response she dropped it.
Sarah is a nice lady, and I used to support her, but her judgement is flawed. Do you really want someone as president who thinks McCain is a conservative? Do you really?
She's that powerful, huh? Conservatives aren't able to make up their own minds? Then why did some of her other picks lose?
How did her endorsement and campaigning sway conservatives in AZ when it was a forgone conclusion she was going to support him anyway?
Those robo calls and ads were replayed for months and months and months.
I don't care if the ads played 24/7 uninterrupted. JD knew he had a race to run and even acknowledged he had no problem that Sarah endorsed McCain. In the end, JD lost because AZ voters conceded that the POS RINO McCain was still better than giving the seat to a Rat, in which BTW JD would have likely lost in the general to anyway.
I know for a fact that many in the tea parties were confused by it.
No, they weren't. Everyone knew that Palin would come out in support of McCain and they rightly complained about it on Sarah's Facebook page. Conservatives aren't supposed to be sheep.
Sarah stood there at the rallies and looked everyone in they eye and claimed McCain was part of the tea party.
Yeah, so what? Doesn't mean a thing when you boil it down. Her statement was nothing but politics.
It was enough to really throw everyone and most held off until it was too late to decide to throw their support behind JD, but the fact that McCain has spent $21 million smearing him was to much for anyone to overcome.
Rubio raised millions. He also had to go up against an establishment RINO backed by the elites. How did he do it and Hayworth didn't?
Here's the simple fact EEE, whether you like it or not, Sarah still supports McCain. She tried bringing him into the Beck Rally yesterday, but got such a tepid response she dropped it.
The rally was to honor our troops and faith. McCain is a military veteran so Sarah's statement was another appreciation for his service.
Sarah is a nice lady, and I used to support her, but her judgement is flawed. Do you really want someone as president who thinks McCain is a conservative? Do you really?
How is her judgement flawed when she has clearly refused to support other McCain RINOs such as Crist and Mark Kirk in IL? She was his running mate - why would she not endorse him for Senate when she thought he was good enough for the Presidency?
You think what you want, I know what I know. I won’t be voting for her and, I will continue to blame her for coming out for McCain.
It means that either she looked them in the eye and LIED to them, or she actually thinks that McCain is a conervative and a member of the tea party.
There you go again.
They are a dead monster that conservatives think they have to drag around behind them while trying to progress into a better future. They are a dead wood legacy, run by Vichy traitors.
Where did you ever get the idea that I was “for McCain”? I was just putting out there some of the reason people in Az voted the way they did. Yell, I don’t even live in Az and what I thought didn’t matter anyway.
Seriously, what should the majority of Arizona conservative voters do about the Arizona U.S. Senate race, on November 2?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.