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Posted on 10/09/2006 2:26:40 PM PDT by axes_of_weezles
Arizona Sen. John McCain has endorsed conservative Tucson congressional candidate Randy Graf despite a split between the two on immigration and the Mexican border. Graf is also a member of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a controversial group that patrols U.S. border and wants tougher immigration controls. The Minutemen have opposed McCain's approach to immigration, including a guest worker program.
Graf faces an uphill climb against Democratic rival Gabrielle Giffords in a southeastern Arizona U.S. House seat being vacated by retiring Republican Congressman Jim Kolbe. The Arizona House race is one of the most competitive contests nationally and a top target of Democrats.
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Dems hopes the affable Giffords can win the Arizona contest and help them gain control of Congress in the wake of the increasingly unpopular Iraq War and GOP ethics scandals including the recent incidents involving Mark Foley and male congressional pages.
McCain is backing Graf, according to Graf's web site and a Sunday story in the Arizona Daily Star. McCain and Graf have profound differences on the issue of illegal immigration. The Republican senator favors a guest worker program and some sort of legal path for some illegals already in the U.S.
Graf opposes McCain's guest worker plan and favors the Minuteman approach to immigration including tougher security and opposing legal paths or 'amnesty' for illegals already in the U.S. Graf has been critical of President Bush on immigration. Bush favors a guest worker program. National Republicans and business groups backed state Rep. Steve Huffman, R-Tucson, over Graf in the September GOP primary but the latter prevailed. Graf challenged Kolbe in 2004. The retiring congressman backed Huffman in the primary and is not supporting Graf. Kolbe also supports a guest worker plan.
Graf, a former state lawmaker, has the backing of the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and security-first immigration hawks. Polls show Giffords, a former state senator, leading Graf and national Republicans have been hesitant to focus on the race.
Giffords has the backing of Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva, D-Tucson/Yuma/Nogales; labor unions and environmental groups. Giffords - whose boyfriend is an astronaut and U.S. Navy fighter pilot - is telegenic and considered an upcoming star in the Democratic Party.
If Giffords defeats Graf in November, she could also be eyed in future runs for Arizona governor or U.S. Senate.
McCain is expected to announce a second run for president after the November elections. He has been campaigning hard for Republicans in key contests and has sought to heal old wounds with conservatives. That includes backing conservative candidates such as Graf.
Giffords has recently joined other Arizona Democrats, including Grijalva, in calling for House Speaker Dennis Hastert to step down in the wake of the Foley scandal. They say Hastert and other GOP leaders did not act fast enough when first informed of Foley's inappropriate advances towards male pages.
Let's hope Giffords good sense rubs off on McCain.
What? Wrong Giffords?
Never mind
Yep.
I thought it's kind of funny this article is reduced to pointing out her "boyfriend" is an Astronaut.
Hahahaha.
Good post Johnnie. With the bogus USA today polling coming out today, it is nice to get some facts from Rasmussen.
"Let's hope Giffords good sense rubs off on McCain."
What, you want McCain to marry an astronaut?
Axes, if McCain can pull out a Graf win, he will get credibility from the Conservatives.
I want Hastert to stay and McCain, "The Manchurian Canidate" can shut up.
I wonder who the astronaut is. They should have named him. I am a space enthusiast so I am curious.
Gah, I meant Graf. I'm underslept.
Oh, OK. LOL.
How many Navy Astronauts are there?
No, he won't.
At least not this conservative.
McCain is endorsing a number of politicians (or wannabe politicians) because he wants their support in his '08 Presidential run. I will not extend ANY praise or credit to Johnny for a political calculation that as always is meant to serve himself. I am willing to use McCain to get the petulant Kolbe Reps onboard...if he even has the ability to bring them on...but I won't empower McCain in any way, shape or form.
The last time I praised him was the '04 Convention when he smacked Michael Moore with Moore in attendance. One of the highlights of the convention and most of us cheered him for it. Not an hour later he was on cable apologizing for having done so. He'll take the praise and turn around and smack you with it.
I don't know but check out her web site, she is definitely easy on the eyes even though she is a dim....
Not sure but I checked her website and got the answer. I feel dirty just for going to a Demo website. ;) But the astronaut is Mark Kelly, who flew on mission STS-121 last July.
She has such a weak personal identity (id/ego/superego) that she has to identify with an Astronaut, instead of talking about issues.
I can only think of the Rolling Stones song StarF***aStarF***.
ping
If I were a GOP candidate for office, the LAST thing I would want is an "endorsement" from John 'closet lib' McCain!
McCain is living in a dream world if he thinks he has a hope in h**l of ever being president!
This story has no legs and will be yesterdays news in a day or two, despite all the desperate attempts by the left and the MSM to revive it. ........and Giffords can eat my shorts!!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1716530/posts
Secure Fence Act Has Secure Support
Captains Quarters ^ | 10-09-06 | Captain Ed
Posted on 10/09/2006 6:59:59 PM CDT by jrooney
Yesterday I analyzed the possibility that the lack of a presidential signature on the Secure Fence Act (HR 6061) might be an attempt at a pocket veto. President Bush has never given very enthusiastic support to any border solution that didn't include a plan for normalization for illegal immigrants already inside the US. Mickey Kaus started counting the days since Congress passed the bill and wondered whether the White House had decided to simply ignore the bill to death.
I took a few minutes at my lunch break to contact a senior staffer on the Hill who has worked the immigration issue. He told me that, as some CQ commenters had speculated, Congress has not formally sent the bill to the President. That means the clock has not started for his signature. The 10-day period starts only after Congress formally prints and delivers the bill for the President to sign into law.
Why has Congress waited? The Secure Fence Act, which requires that the border barrier be constructed, is a very high priority for Republican leadership in both chambers. They and the White House want to schedule the signing for what they see as the maximum impact to the midterm elections. This means waiting for other stories to fall off the front pages. My source told me that the terrorist detention and interrogation bill will be signed on October 17th, and they want this to come after that.
Expect to see this get signed somewhere between October 24th and November 1st. The White House considers this bill a front-and-center accomplishment and wants the boost to last all the way through Election Day. Bush and the Republican leadership in Congress (especially Bill Frist, I'm told) want this to get as much coverage as possible. After the signing ceremony, expect to see this bill get trumpeted in the final advertising push for all Republican incumbents running for re-election.
No one on the Hill or in the White House has missed the message from the base. Everyone understands the importance of signing this legislation for the midterms. My impression is that they didn't realize that people expected the bill to get signed at the same time as the Homeland Security appropriation, and now they understand the confusion. Bottom line: the Secure Fence Act will get signed into law.
"Out of ALL respondents, Democrats and Republicans only 36% felt Hastert should go, 64% either did not or did not care. Pretty much nukes the "Everyone hates the GOP because of Foley" story line being spread by the Leftist Noise machine now does it not?"
Yes.
Good news... you'll get 36% of responders to *any* poll to take the 'moonbat' position, so it pretty much tells us it is a wash ... Damage was done to the momentum and the GOP message, but people are not going to oust their own congressman/woman over it, except in Foley district. IMHO.
It won't. McCain is a perfidious snake, a loose cannon and a threat to the Republican Party and America.
If he's supporting this fellow now, its only because it is politically prudent to do so, but he would stab him in the back instantly if the press makes a fuss over it and condemns him (McCain) for it.
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