- Joined
- Jul 31, 2005
- Messages
- 36,705
- Reaction score
- 17,867
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Slightly Conservative
I knew it. Next thing you know he will say that he is against illegal immigration and may other things to give the appearance that he is a conservative.
NYT: McCain takes on GOP foe by tilting right - The New York Times- msnbc.com
Now, Mr. Hayworth, a former Republican congressman, is preparing to expand his political appetite for Mr. McCain by formally announcing next week what everyone in this state has known for months: his challenge to the senator in the Republican primary in August.
Mr. Hayworth hopes that by standing at the intersection of opportunity and timing, he can lure enough Tea Party sympathizers fresh off their convention in Nashville, seducible independent voters (Arizona has an open primary) and conservative Republican grass-roots activists, who have long been disenchanted with Mr. McCain.
Image: John McCain
Lauren Victoria Burke / AP
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. takes part in a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Thursday.
“The political winds of change are here,” Mr. Hayworth, 51, said over lunch. “The conservatives are highly motivated, and there is an intensity level among conservatives to take part in this primary. The atmospherics will help us.”
Still bruised by his presidential run and struggling to find his footing in the fractured Republican Party, Mr. McCain remains a formidable force in his home state, through the sheer power of his name and fat campaign coffers. Most political analysts suggest that Mr. Hayworth begins as the underdog, and Mr. McCain’s supporters say they are confident.
“Senator McCain takes every race seriously,” said Brian Rogers, a spokesman for the senator’s re-election campaign, “and is confident that the voters of Arizona will again return him to office as they have done in the past, and he is working hard to earn their continued support.”
'A campaign conversion'
Yet Mr. McCain now finds himself jammed, moving starkly — and often awkwardly — to the right, apparently in an effort to gain favor among the same voters whom Mr. Hayworth, a consistent voice for the far right, could pull toward him like taffy come summer.
Mr. McCain now sharply criticizes the bailout bill he voted for, pivoted from his earlier position that the Guantánamo Bay detention facility should be closed, offered only a muted response to the Supreme Court’s decision undoing campaign finance laws and backed down from statements that gays in the military would be O.K. by him if the military brass were on board.
“John is undergoing a campaign conversion,” Mr. Hayworth said.
Mr. Hayworth’s radio-personality bluster and big emotions — he teared up in an interview when describing the film “The Blind Side” — were once the stuff of eye rolls, but may now have a part in the greater populist narrative that threatens many of the nation’s more centrist Republicans.
NYT: McCain takes on GOP foe by tilting right - The New York Times- msnbc.com
Now, Mr. Hayworth, a former Republican congressman, is preparing to expand his political appetite for Mr. McCain by formally announcing next week what everyone in this state has known for months: his challenge to the senator in the Republican primary in August.
Mr. Hayworth hopes that by standing at the intersection of opportunity and timing, he can lure enough Tea Party sympathizers fresh off their convention in Nashville, seducible independent voters (Arizona has an open primary) and conservative Republican grass-roots activists, who have long been disenchanted with Mr. McCain.
Image: John McCain
Lauren Victoria Burke / AP
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. takes part in a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Thursday.
“The political winds of change are here,” Mr. Hayworth, 51, said over lunch. “The conservatives are highly motivated, and there is an intensity level among conservatives to take part in this primary. The atmospherics will help us.”
Still bruised by his presidential run and struggling to find his footing in the fractured Republican Party, Mr. McCain remains a formidable force in his home state, through the sheer power of his name and fat campaign coffers. Most political analysts suggest that Mr. Hayworth begins as the underdog, and Mr. McCain’s supporters say they are confident.
“Senator McCain takes every race seriously,” said Brian Rogers, a spokesman for the senator’s re-election campaign, “and is confident that the voters of Arizona will again return him to office as they have done in the past, and he is working hard to earn their continued support.”
'A campaign conversion'
Yet Mr. McCain now finds himself jammed, moving starkly — and often awkwardly — to the right, apparently in an effort to gain favor among the same voters whom Mr. Hayworth, a consistent voice for the far right, could pull toward him like taffy come summer.
Mr. McCain now sharply criticizes the bailout bill he voted for, pivoted from his earlier position that the Guantánamo Bay detention facility should be closed, offered only a muted response to the Supreme Court’s decision undoing campaign finance laws and backed down from statements that gays in the military would be O.K. by him if the military brass were on board.
“John is undergoing a campaign conversion,” Mr. Hayworth said.
Mr. Hayworth’s radio-personality bluster and big emotions — he teared up in an interview when describing the film “The Blind Side” — were once the stuff of eye rolls, but may now have a part in the greater populist narrative that threatens many of the nation’s more centrist Republicans.
