Posted on 02/19/2010 7:36:15 PM PST by rabscuttle385
Ex-Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R) is grateful his primary rival, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), is getting endorsements from prominent DC conservatives. It allows Hayworth to cast the race as Beltway power versus the grassroots, he said in an interview today.
"You can expect a steady stream of the Washington establishment to endorse John McCain. So here's the way the race breaks down: It's John McCain and the Washington establishment versus we the people," Hayworth said.
"We have profound policy differences that we solve through the political process, but with all due respect, I think it's indicative of John just having been there too long," he added.
Meanwhile, Hayworth said, McCain's efforts to cast himself as the fiscal conservative in the race are misplaced, given votes in favor of bailout legislation and his support for comprehensive immigration reform.
"John McCain of all people can't really claim the mantle of the fiscal conservative," Hayworth said. Instead, McCain's record "is Obama-like."
In DC to sit on a panel at CPAC, Hayworth is optimistic about his insurgent campaign against McCain. He lost his seat in '06 to Rep. Harry Mitchell (D), and McCain's team has argued a Hayworth candidacy would put McCain's seat in jeopardy.
But Hayworth says McCain's early assault on his candidacy has led to a backlash. McCain has already launched radio ads attacking Hayworth by name -- including ads that ran on KFYI, the Phoenix radio station on which Hayworth hosted a show until last month. Hayworth called the ads "fiction."
"I think really led to a backlash. People said, 'Hey, wait a minute, there's John McCain going after a conservative. Why, he never ran this way against Barack Obama,'" Hayworth said.
"For whatever reason, team McCain is bragging about running some sort of scorched earth campaign against me," he said. "Politically, the one-word term is threatened, and I can see why since I've been out of the trail."
On Friday, McCain's campaign launched another broadside, knocking Hayworth for failing to reach a publicly-stated goal of $100K during a "money bomb," and for having to defend himself for previous ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
"It is clear that Mr. Hayworth has failed to galvanize support for his campaign, just as he failed to hold his solidly Republican U.S. House seat in 2006," McCain spokesperson Brian Rogers said in a statement.
Hayworth said he is ready for attacks on his Abramoff ties, and that McCain has his own skeletons in the closet.
"I would appeal to John's deeply held sense of honor. He knows that's false, and it doesn't help him," Hayworth said. "If he insists on staying in the muck and mire, I can answer the 2 words he's been bandying about with two words of my own: Charlie Keating."
McCain was implicated in the scandal surrounding the AZ developer. He was one of 5 senators given a slap on the wrist.
I think the tea party should hold a rally for JD the same day Sarah has to do her “pity-stump” for McCain.
LOL!
“John’s campaign slogan is “Strong and Wrong.” P.J. O’Rourke
When is she stumping for McCain??
Don’t know—but it’s a long primary campaign season. Let McVain buy the ads and annoy people. (Hey, were you amused by “pity stump”? Even sounds like “pity sthtup”)
“When is she stumping for McCain??”
Fundraiser in Phoenix March 26, and another event or two immediately afterwards:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2010/01/620007624/1
Besides being incorrect, I never remember a candidate making fun of an opponent's fund raising. This just shows again what a snide, spiteful, vengeful and mean spirited little weasel Juan McCain is.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/wire/sns-ap-us-conservatives-senate,0,5813641.story
“If you want to see how politicians undergo campaign-year conversions, you’ve got my friend,” Hayworth said before pausing. “I hate using that term, because he uses it all the time — you have my senior senator, John McCain.”
Hayworth is more brash than Rubio, but he also believes there is a national movement against party establishment candidates.
“What we’re seeing across the country is not anger as much as it is frustration and the feeling that there’s a disconnection among the current crop of elected leaders,” Hayworth said. “In much the same way that Governor Crist embraced Barack Obama, so, too, my opponent, our senior senator, has enabled President Obama to make some very unwise decisions.”
Hayworth cited McCain’s support for closing the prison for terrorist suspects at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and his opposition to harsh interrogation techniques that are widely considered torture.
And Hayworth questions why McCain brags about launching a “scorched earth” campaign against him.
“Arizona voters are coming up to me and saying ‘Where was this against Obama in the presidential race?’” Hayworth said. “John is saving his scorn and his vitriol for a conservative. I don’t think that helps him.”
What are the U.S. Army and U.S. Department of Defense doing in the list of top donors? What am I missing here? How and why would these entities be giving to any candidates?
bttt
I’m devoting my whole year to defeating him here in AZ.
What makes you so sure McCain is a Republican?
Individual donors list those “entities” as their employers.
You are right, but don’t you think AZ people stand with DC!
Noted. Please tell JD he has a lot of support here on FR,and say hello for us.
If anyone can unseat John McNuts, it is JD.
I’m glad he is not shrinking from taking McLoser head on.
McStupid deserves ecery bit of it.
He is a weasel; that is what endears him to AZ people, most of whom think he is “conservative”.
Right you are, but you have the people of AZ to convert, and it won’t be easy.
That reflects not so much on J.D. but on the stubborness of the people of AZ.
It is all true.
McCain is an asset to my state, JD is an embarrassment, he was voted “dim bulb” by his cohorts in the (republican) congress. McCain has a solid record of not voting for wasteful programs, and he is very senior in the Senate, he is a plus for AZ and for America.
JD is not a good guy, he is not a smart guy, and he is not the right guy. He is losing, big, and Arizona voters know who he is and he is not well liked by the voters. He lied about term limits, he funneled PAC money to his wife and he was in the pockets of lobbyists, and he is a freaking birther. Them’s the facts.
No way in hell am I voting for that corrupt windbag, and I get to vote.
JD may have faults, but McCain has actively tried to harm the Republican party for a long time. JD will win the general if he gets the nomination.
Hayworthless is a phony. If you send him money, it goes to pay off his debt from losing to Harry Mitchell, a liberal in a Republican district. I live in his district, people don’t like JD, he is a bloviating gasbag. And, he is not too smart.
He says he will only serve two terms, he said that when he ran for congress, and he lied. JD has burned a lot of bridges here in AZ, and he is not that popular here. You all in other states like him because you haven’t had to listen to him for all these years, he is an arrogant jerk, and not well liked. McCain is the devil that we know, and he has seniority and he has a great record for opposing waste. JD is well known as a toady for special interest.
Too bad for you, I get to vote, and it ain’t for the gasbag.
I’d love to see Shadegg or Flake run, but it ain’t happening. Kyl will support McCain, as will nearly every AZ republican, except for the one issue birther kooks.
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