Yep. That's McCain when he wants the Senate back from the nassty, nassssty tea partierssss.
Posted on 12/31/2014 11:11:42 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Sen. John McCain is no fan of the tea party – and he’s now doing his best to purge the Arizona Republican Party of its influence.
According to Politico, McCain is preparing for his 2016 reelection bid by dismantling Arizona’s tea party apparatus. That includes a massive effort to remove or undermine the many local officials who have influence across state politics and could cause trouble for McCain in a primary.
Prior to Aug. 26, 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.
The Arizona senator has long been considered a moderate, but that reputation has caused him trouble since the rise of the conservative tea party roiled Republican politics in 2010.
He hasn’t just gone after the tea party in his home state. McCain spars often with Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, memorably calling him a “wacko bird” last year after Cruz joined a filibuster by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).
Cruz, who is considered a likely presidential candidate in 2016, has been equally disdainful of the kind of moderate Republican that McCain epitomizes, saying in October that “if we run another candidate in the mold of a Bob Dole, or a John McCain, or Mitt Romney, we will end up with the same result, which is millions of people will stay home on Election Day.”
After the GOP wave in November’s midterm election, McCain told Salon that he was pleased with the different kind of Republicans who had been elected.
“I think that you just saw a McCain-Graham injection into the United States Senate,” he said, referring to his close friend, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Pointing to the military backgrounds of newly-elected Joni Ernst (Iowa), Tom Cotton (Arkansas), and Dan Sullivan (Alaska), McCain said that he’s “campaigned for literally every one of them and I have not seen any indication that they [share Cruz’s] desire for confrontation.”
Meanwhile, in Arizona, McCain’s tea party purge has targeted names like Timothy Schwartz, responsible for a resolution censuring McCain as too liberal, and A.J. LeFaro, chairman of the Maricopa County Republicans. Schwartz was voted out of his position as Legislative District 30 Republican chair by newly-elected McCain-aligned committeemen, while LeFaro decided to forego running for reelection when he realized it was a lost cause due to the senator’s efforts.
“For John McCain to have been so vindictive in his actions…it’s just amazing,” Le Faro told Politico, adding that “it’s been all-out war” and compared the situation to “ethnic cleansing.”
According to sources close to John McCain, the senator’s tea party purge was largely a response to the Arizona Republican Party’s censure in January. The 78-year-old former presidential candidate “wanted to make sure it never happened again,” according to Mike Hellon, deputy campaign manager for McCain in 2010. That determination may help secure a sixth term in the Senate.
As if I didn’t detest McStain enough already. He’s no friend of the Second Amendment, or any item on the Bill of Rights, come to think of it.
McCain and Romney: the true faces of the Republican Party.
But, we have to vote for him because he has an “r” after his name! If we don’t we’re just going to elect democrats. /s
Bilbo reaching for the ring, wanting to snatch it from Frodo..may I see it? Can I just touch it - one more time? Retire, stupid demented old man. Surely there’s a Rivendell to hole up in and write your memoirs.
How does that traitorous lunatic have control of the Arizona party? And yeah,,,,i said traitorous.
Yep. That's McCain when he wants the Senate back from the nassty, nassssty tea partierssss.
He is an arrogant control freak with a need to be the center of attention.
No, don’t fight the Dems.
McCain becomes a little more demented like jimmy carter every day.
” ‘For John McCain to have been so vindictive in his actions…it’s just amazing,’ Le Faro told Politico.”
Apparently Mr. Le Faro was out of the country when McCain ice-picked his running mate in the back at every turn in 2008.
I’m generally one of those “half a loaf” guys when there is no better electable option. (Scott Brown in Massachusetts, etc.) But there simply HAS to be better and electable than McCain in Arizona.
And if not...man I never thought I’d say this...if not, it might still be “worth it” to lose the seat to a Democrat if it means getting rid of McCain. I’m serious. The guy is just off the reservation, in more ways than one. He’s hostile to conservatives, he’s wrong on a host of issues, and he’s been far more concerned about his place in the history books than actually leading for a long, long time. There’s precious little upside to having a guy like that in the party. Now he’s trying to purge his own state’s party from any dissenting voices.
With Republican “friends” like these...
I live in Arizona. If McCain’s the nominee, I’m voting for the Democrat and I’ll make the case to do likewise to every conservative I know.
No Democrat junior Senator could come close to doing the damage that this vile old bastard has done.
He can try, but the old fart is more likely to stink them out than use his power to drive them out.
THIS is what RINOs and GOPe spends half of their time doing - scheming on how to stay in power and how to defeat those that they really hate - Conservatives.
The other half of their time they spend on trying to figure out how to give Democrats what they want while simultaneously convincing the Republican sheep out there that they are on their side.
They are despicable, and McCain is arguably the worst after Boehner and McConnell.
I don’t blame you one bit.
Eric Cantor was doing the same thing in the state of Virginia via slating. The tea party in Arizona should never give up!
Thank you again RINO lovers for returning the likes of lipstick Lindsey Graham to office.
Pay up, John. You DID build this McInsane.
Socialism Is Legal Plunder - Bastiat
BIG GOVERNMENT IS CRONY SOCIALISM
POS RINO BUMP!
People in AZ will do anything McPain tells them too. Is there no independence among voters there at all?
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.