A source inside the Maricopa County Executive Guidance Committee (EGC) has told us that District 11 Chairman Rob Haney is moving forward with a resolution opposing McCain at the next EGC meeting on February 7th. The information was provided to us by someone normally opposed to McCain who none-the-less wanted to move on to other issues and opposed bringing forward the motion. Despite some opposition from certain members there are still enough Haney allies opposed to McCain that the resolution has a very good chance of passing at the EGC meeting on the 7th. We are not in contact with all 28 members on the committee but we do know that Haney does have some strong allies and can be very successful at lining up votes. Haney was forced to send out an advanced copy of the resolution because of past complaints from committee members about not having enough time to read the resolutions before the meeting. We were able to obtain a draft copy of the resolution printed below.
STATEMENT OF OPPOSITION TO THE CANDIDACY OF SENATOR MCCAIN FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
Whereas, Our National Republican Committee members, Bruce Ash and Sharon Giese have chosen to endorse the presidential candidacy of Senator McCain during the primaries thereby reviving the angst, revulsion and polarization amongst the majority of the Arizona Republican activists who oppose said candidacy; and
Whereas, Senator McCain’s, dual-citizenship holder and Spanish liaison advisor, Dr Juan Hernandez, (who was an advisor to former Mexican President Vicente Fox), has repeatedly stated his “think Mexico First” position and repeatedly, when American interests were at odds with the interest of Mexican illegals, Hernandez has sided against America; and
Whereas, Senator McCain repeatedly proclaims that his Amnesty bill is not Amnesty, refuses to vote to allow drilling for oil in Alaska thereby weakening our national security while causing as steep rise in inflation, buys into Gore’s unproven hysterical rhetoric stating Global warming is caused by human activity, and makes the disingenuous claim that he is pro-life while repeatedly voting for embryonic stem cell research and fetal tissue research with tax payer money; and
Whereas, In a straw poll during the Maricopa County Republican precinct committeemen meeting of January 19, 2008, Senator McCain was voted as the most unacceptable Republican presidential candidate by amassing an overwhelming negative vote of 427 of the 721 ballots cast; and
Whereas, Leading conservative voices, including Delay and Santorum, have warned us that McCain is not a conservative and poses a great danger to the Republican Party; and
Whereas, McCain has demonstrated his ease with the truth by mischaracterizing Romney’s statement on timetables for Iraq; and
Whereas, This grassroots leadership body censured Senator McCain in 2005 for his failure to faithfully perform his duty to uphold the Constitution and for his undermining the Republican mandate of the 2004 election: therefore
Be it resolve, That we, the Maricopa County Republican Committee state most emphatically that Senator McCain is not our favored Republican candidate for President of the United States.
McCain got only 11% of the vote by Precinct Committeemen two weeks ago at the MCRC Mandatory Meeting with 60% voting McCain in the Most Unacceptable category.
And someone is shocked that a resolution is possible stating where McCain has been out of step with the PC’s and further states that he is not the favored candidate of the MCRC.
I can’t believe that anyone is surprised, including McCain.
And the purpose of this idiocy is what again? I’m not sure what all of these district chairmen are supposed to be doing, but something tells me that this isn’t it.
What is this moron thinking? I could almost understand a resolution BEFORE Arizona’s primary, but passing a resolution AFTER it? What’s his next trick, running a get out the vote program for November 17th?
Maybe following the secret ballot wishes of the people who elected them?? What a concept! Perhaps something McCain, Kyl, Flake, etc. should emulate.
OK, that was funny John… I’m ordinarily a big Rob Haney fan, but at some point “dedicated” becomes “obsessive” and it goes from healthy to unhealthy. Here’s hoping he gets himself under control before Thursday.
Frankly, leaking the resolution might just be his way of taking a shot at McCain, Giese and Ash without having to actually introduce it.
Good job AGAIN Rob.
1. Those who can’t see are blind…….
2. Those who can see and don’t are……..
As I visit with AZ voters, I find that it is the uninformed who still support our Senior Senator, and I am sorely frustated by that. See #2 above, and fill in the blanks…..
If by secret ballot you are referencing the straw poll, we should be careful to not assume that very informal vote represented anything other than it did. There are how many PC’s in the county? How many voted? There are how many registered R’s in the county that have no clue that there is such a thing as the ECG and could really care less?
Furthermore, it appears to me that Mr. Haney has become what he so openly despises. He has become completely ingrained with his own agenda and surrounded himself with like minded folks, he overly assumes his importance, power, and relevance to the masses. He has become totally out of touch with any but those who are also obsessed with personal might makes right.
He has an agenda, he has some allies that he thinks will enable him to push this through, he has favors and hopes of favors, he very falsely assumes he is so correct that any damage done is completely overshadowed by the damage he is preventing.
Sounds like the same complaints we heard about those that presented the amnesty bill last year.
He will present this on the 7th, two days after John McCain will be overwhelmingly approved by the Arizona electorate. I believe Maricopa County will also vote for him in big numbers.
That vote will not just move John McCain closer to the nomination, it will prove Haney to be out of step with the party membership.
If he has any sense at all, he will back off. If he doesn’t, he will be charting his own path that may very well lead to an unexpected destination.
Bettina,
Rob Haney is not the problem, the lemmings, liberals and RINOs under the Republican Party tent are the problem. There’s not a dime’s worth of difference between McCain and Billary.
Go to the following sites for what has been and what is coming
http://media.citizensunited.org/Surprisingly.htm
http://media.citizensunited.org/pvf/mccain.pdf
If you want to be in the Democrat Party, change your registration, do not be the Trojan Horse foot soldier for the Double Talk Express bent on destroying the Republican Party.
This resolution is a farce. The whole purpose of PCs is to help elect Republicans, register new voters and encourage participation in the party. To issue a resolution and subsequent press release in opposition to an Arizona Republican Presidential candidate is an insult to all of the hard working volunteers and PCs in this state. The District 11 perspective and EGC does not represent the rank and file of Republican voters. See 2006 election results.
You are a sick man and you are a nut job who has been destroying the party. What a sad thing to be so full of racism and hate.
You need help…
What’s truly amusing is that anyone thinks the general voting public gives a rats patootie what the MCRC or any other intra-party organization thinks.
Here’s a three-step process for handling political obsession:
1. Get a grip.
3. Go outside, enjoy a beautiful Arizona sunset and…
3. Get a life.
There’s so much more to life than getting your knickers in a twist over John McCain.
Rob Haney is a good man and a friend of mine. And, no, Rob and I don’t agree on everything. To call him obsessed, or insane, or a moron is purely an ad hominem attack. He’s a terribly intelligent and passionate man. And as a District Chair, Rob Haney has been walking precincts in his district and registering and drafting REAL conservatives to be PCs. When the rest of the PCs in the Arizona Republican Party get off their duffs and do the same, then maybe I’ll be more tolerant of criticism of Rob. I’d be willing to wager that nightcrawler has registered exactly 0 Republicans, or at least fewer than Rob has. Since participating in RNC GOTV efforts in the 2006 efforts, I have wished that EVERY Republican were like Rob. The party would be a juggernaut if we were more like him.
There is a logical purpose to the resolution: since the National Committeemen have endorsed McCain, the resolution gives the appearance that the MCRC also endorses McCain. At the very least, the resolution divorces itself from any McCain endorsement. As a body that attempts to represent all of Maricopa’s Republicans, it’s a needed step, and it should EASE divisions, not create them. I’ll be the first to grant that Rob throws some real firebombs at McCain in the resolution, but so what? They’re true; and as one commenter noted, few know about the exec committe, and even fewer care what it does.
I’ll echo Willard’s comment: well-done, Rob.
One more comment to George of the Desert: To suggest that politics is something to be relaxed aboiut is foolish. We’re deciding who is going to be our leader. That has serious rammifications for all of us. It is of critical importance what each candidate stands for and that we choose the most small-government conservative candidate. If we don’t, we’ll continue our long, slow slide into socialism.
New American Rebel,
I can assure you I have registered Republicans. I have no beef with your friend; I am sure he works very hard and believes in his cause. I have a problem with the resolution, not the man.
As a fellow Republican who lives in Maricopa County I feel it is my duty to speak up against actions that would be an embarrassment to the party.
If the goal is to distance the MCRC from the RNC the resolution can be written in one sentence:
“The MCRC will not endorse any candidate for President of the United States”.
The anti-McCain language makes the resolution personal in nature and does in fact cause further division in the GOP. See number and type of comments above as proof.
nightcrawler
The question from NAR was How many PC’s have you signed up. It is a distinction with a difference.
I would also bet Rob has recruited more PC’s in one-on-one efforts than you have registered Republicans using the same method.
So he gets a pass on all bad deeds? Wow, pre-paid absolution.
For clarification, I have signed up a number of PCs. As many as your friend ? probably not.
Again, this is not about me or the district chairman (who I have acknowledged works very hard), it is about the resolution.
The idea that endorsements from national committeemen somehow speak for a county party is silly. You don’t see La Paz County running around in a tizzy or any of the other counties for that matter.
Is it an excuse for Rob to take one more shot at McCain? Sure it is. Is he right to do it? Of course he is not, and I don’t imagine that it will pass, which will make Haney look smaller within the party. Is that a bad thing? Who knows…
Don’t forget, the shots have not been one way. McCain stooped to a new low when he and his minions raised money from San Francisco Democrats to pay for a full campaign against a District Chairman including convincing a former Governor to run for the office when he hadn’t been to a district meeting in years and has not been back since.
Rob does what he does as a volunteer, using his own money because he believes in certain issues. If we had a hundred people willing to make the same investment of time and money, the Party would be much better off. Even if they were not all on the same page, it would be better than sitting on the couch taking shots.
Every national expert says McCain does not have an ideological foundation – it is all about McCain – thence, Feingold, Kennedy, Lieberman, anti-tax-cuts, anti-second-amendment, etc. The Republican Party has been chosen by many people because if its ideological stability over the last thirty years.
We will be the minority party for a long time if we become the Democrat Party Light, which is where Senor Juan is.
As for Rob’s work recruiting PCs, he’s been great on that. At least he was in the past. As we look at LD11′s ever-shrinking GOP registration advantage, we can only assume that Rob’s district will be better served when he goes back to the job of running his district, rather than pursuing his jihad (that’s for you Ann!
) against McCain.
One of the most LDs in the entire state, the LD11 GOP lost a House seat by 1,000 votes in 2006. Maybe Haney thinks that taking a 2×4 to the side of McCain’s head will help him register lots of voters in LD11? If that is what he thought, there is enough data to show that that he is wrong. His district is going backwards and that’s not leadership.
You know Ben, good deeds and party loyalty don’t excuse stupidity. Give Haney all the credit in the world for his past accomplishments, but they are fading well into the past while his biography continues to be written. And it is far less accomplished.
Getting back to a central point already made, trying to pass an endorsement AFTER an election has taken place is a dumb move born of anger and frustration. There is nothing noble about those emotions.
Several of us are not members of the McCain fan club either, but there is a time to fight and there is a time to move on. After an election is a generally agreed upon time to move on.
There will be a day after the general election and there will be many elections to follow. John and Tim make very good points.
This is about a line in the sand or king of the hill or something, it is not party leadership.
John, it does looks like jihad to me. Complete with suicide bombings.
Some truth serum for the Kool-Aid drinkers:
In the first place, there are many reasons why we lost a seat in LD11. One is the fact that people were angry with Republicans all over which cost us the House of Reps. in Washington and eight legislative seats here – including incumbent legislators L. Knaperek in LD17, D. Quelland in LD10, R. Jones in Yuma, etc. Remember, we had NO incumbents in LD11.
To go to LD11, that was lost by three major factors: The refusal of the WISH people to vote their registration and Ten Million dollars of RJ Reynolds money carefully spent disproportionately in LD11 by the Chairman of the tobacco committee who was the Democrat candidate in that district Mark DeSimone. His name ID in the district was directly attributable to the 10 mil. he spent on TV, Cable, radio and mail. In addition, the Republican that won had waged a strong single-shot campaign in the Primary that had carryover effects in the General. None of those things were attributable to Haney.
As for the shrinking registration advantage in LD11, his district has a larger spread over the D’s than any other comparable Phoenix Metro core district – that would be LD’s 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. To compare wome real facts instead of taking personal shots, the SOS office shows that our LD11 registration advantage has dropped 16% in the last two years, while our neighboring LD10 advantage dropped by 50%, state registration advantage has dropped by over 13% over the same time period and that includes the rapidly growing advantages in suburban Republican areas in Pinal, Cochise, Yavapai and the ring around the Phoenix Metroplex.
The facts lead one to a conclusion that LD11 would be in far worse condition without the hard work of Rob Haney. Your prejudice is showing when you are perjorative against Rob’s efforts against McCain which is supported by 60% of the PC’s at the County Mandatory Meeting while keeping mute when McCain takes unparallelled actions against a LD Chairman without the support of the PC’s in LD11 who are responsible for electing their Chairman.
As to passing a resolution after the election, Rob has sent out an e-mail stating that if McCain has enough delegates to win after Tuesday, he will not offer the resolution – the McCainiacs, on the other hand, continued to attack Rob after he was re-elected Chairman a little more than a year ago. That looks more like a Jihad to me.
To even begin to infer that McCain is the one who continued to mount the offensive after the LD 11 organizational meeting is to say it was only about control of LD 11. LD 11 is a superfluous part of this whole thing.
Haney opposes McCain. Fine. Haney attacks McCain. McCain lives in LD 11 as do others who do not align with Haney. There is an effort to remove someone THEY see as unfit. Not fine?
Haney can dislike and activley use what is at his disposal to fight McCain but such is not allowed on the other side? How is using the New York Times reporters and the buttons and the marching and the rantings not as offensive. The “Deport McCain” sign on television is not using a medium known to be very liberal? They knew what would happen, no coincidence there. Earned media is not lost.
If I, and others in the party, see his actions as offensive as detestable, why are we wrong and your side right? Why is it no matter what we say that is about his actions, it is somehow met with explanations of why it is OK because of all the good work he has done for the party? Why is truth only held by your side and no other can possibly have the ability to reason for themselves and come up with another conclusion or they are marginalized, called names, or told to leave the party?
Nothing, absolutely nothing, offers dispensation or absolution for what is destructive. This is a pattern of behavior that is beyond working for the party. He is working so hard to be able to oppose McCain with force and to insulate himself from being recognized for what he truly is, nothing more. Party loyalty, or whatever other hogwash you are peddling is just that. Delusions created to keep the effort topical and necessary.
Signing off..have to catch a plane.
I think this article says it all:
A book well worth reading is Washington and Benedict Arnold: A Tale of Two Patriots, by Dave R. Palmer, although I think the subtitle should be a Tale of A Patriot and a Traitor.
The book juxtaposes the careers of Washington and Arnold, giving a chronological description of their respective careers. Both were heroes of the Revolution. At the beginning. Washington had driven the British out of Boston, suffered tremendous losses when the British invaded New York City, but then escaped with the Continental Army to New Jersey. At Valley Forge he launched the attack on the Hessians and put life back into the dying Revolution.
Through the difficult winter at Valley Forge, Washington was beset by a group in the Continental Congress that wanted him replaced by Gen. Gates, the purported hero of the Battle of Saratoga. The Continental Congress through sheer ineptitude, stupidity and greed was responsible for keeping the soldiers starving and in rags at Valley Forge.
Benedict Arnold was the true hero at Saratoga, where the defeat of Burgoyne’s troops coming from Canada was the first defeat of British regulars. Gen. Gates got the credit as commander in chief, although he did little. Arnold was severely wounded and spent months, if not a year recovering. (I am writing this on memory and the details are a little hazy.)
When the British finally left Philadelphia, Arnold went to the city. He was passed over several times for promotion by the Continental Congress. He began to associate with several of the wealthy loyalists in the City. His resentment at being passed over, the desire for money and recognition led him to betray the Army with the plans for the defenses of West Point. He was discovered and died in obscurity in England.
One became the hero and founder of his country and one was to become the watchword of Traitor to the American people. The book is a fascinating study that led to two very different endings for two brave soldiers.
Washington did not shirk from the spotlight, and actively sought to be head of the army and diplomatically countered the attempts to remove him. But, Washington always had a devotion to what the Revolutionaries called, their great cause. After being President for two terms, King George said that he would be the greatest leader ever, if he walked away from the power that is in leading a nation. And Washington did walk away because he knew that by staying he was inviting the same tyranny of an individual leader that he had fought against. His actions were always directed for the best ends of his great cause, his nation.
In contrast, Arnold’s motivations were always for the greater good of Arnold. The cause was a means of great glory, and when he was denied what he felt was his share of that glory, he went elsewhere. His fellow citizens, soldiers that had died on the battlefield, his fellow officers and comrades meant nothing to him if they stood in the way of his personal glorification.
The hero and the traitor.
John McCain is perceived as a hero. A man who fought for his country and suffered through imprisonment and torture. But he seems to have Arnold’s same complete lack of any cause of purpose.
He wants to be President but to do what, except feed his own image as a great man. He is incoherent in spelling out anything about anything. The two major bills that have his name on are McCain-Feingold Campaign Reform, and the McCain-Kennedy Amnesty. The first bill put absolutely unthinkable limitations on the ability of Americans to finance elections. The second, if passed, would have meant for all practical purposes the end of the United States. It would have been, and still might be, the complete capitulation of the United States to its enemies, the new MexAmerica.
The disaster ahead, if McCain is President, or his Democratic rivals, is too gruesome to imagine. A massive flooding of the United States. If there are 20 million illegals now, they will be legal and joined by another twenty million.
The only hope is the knowledge, that even if this awful scenario comes to pass, the American people have thrown out invaders before and they can again. The French do not occupy the mid-west, the English do not occupy our towns and cities, the Spanish are gone from Florida, the French and British from New Orleans and the Mexicans were forced out of the Southwest, and have only recently returned. If there can be Reconquista, there can be Re-reconquista. Visa can be revoked, green cards returned, permanent residencies revoked.
If was a sight to see the Terminator, Giuliani and McCain on a stage congratulating themselves. Giuliani the Amnesty Mayor, the Terminator who has betrayed his adopted country, and McCain, as Arnold, hero turned traitor.
Paul Streitz
amfirst@optonline.net
The Executive Guidance Committee of the Maricopa County Republican Committee can pass a statement of opposition to any candidate, for any office, who they feel does not truly reflect the principle’s of the Republican Party. This is necessary to protect the party from a David Duke type of candidate. I’m not trying to compare John McCain with the racism of a David Duke but many of the Republican parties grassroots activist do feel that McCain’s views on certain issues are not in agreement with the parties principles. What no level of the party, (national, state, county or, district), can’t do during a primary is to official endorse a candidate, that is the purpose of a primary, to have the party official endorse a candidate.
Since the statement of opposition to McCain does not endorse any particular candidate, the statement is a permissible expression of the sense of the Executive Guidance Committee.
There is one fault with the statement however that must be amended. If the statement is approved by the EGC it should not state at the end that, “Be it resolve, That we, the Maricopa County Republican Committee,” but should be amended to read, “Be it resolved, that we the Executive Guidance Committee of the Maricopa County Republican Committee.” For the statement to represent the sense of the Maricopa County Republican Committee it would have to be approved by a meeting of all of the Maricopa County Republican Precinct Committeemen. Being only approved by the EGC, it is a statement of the sense of the Executive Guidance Committee only.
BOB HARAN,
Phoenix
This story has legs…from the Washington Post…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/01/AR2008020103260.html?hpid=topnews
That article from the Washington Post shows the great work Mr Haney and his followers are doing on behalf of the Republican Party. The Democrats would do anything to give us that kind of exposure. Fortunately for them, they don’t have to. Haney and his crowd do it for them and it doesn’t cost them a dime. When is Randy Pullen going to show some “leadership” and get them to keep their mouths shut before they completely destroy the Republican Party in Arizona?
What caused Rob Haney to propose this resolution in the first place? Was it the courageous stand taken by our two National Committee reps after the state meeting was over? Was it the courageous stand taken by those same two people to guide us during the Republican primary process? We all know that our elected officials know what’s best for the voters of Arizona. Don’t you realize that the power flows from the top? Voters are basically uninformed and stupid, so please shut up, don’t rock the boat, fall in line, and vote the way we tell you to. I guess Prop 200 was a good example.
Look Phil, um I mean Ben F. (whatever), your use of statistics to show just percentages instead of actual votes lost doesn’t show that after losing a seat by 1,000 votes, Haney went and lost at least another 1,000 voters. That is exactly the opposite of what his job is. I know he loves hating McCain and he loves getting to be in the Washington Post and all that. But his job is as a district chairman and he is letting his district atrophy while he tilts at windmills.
Does Rob Haney really feel he can stop McCain from being President? If so, then he should keep on going. But how can a guy who couldn’t stop Mark Desimone from becoming a state rep in his own district stop John McCain from being the winner is Arizona, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, etc.?
He can’t. It is a fool’s errand and only a fool would pursue it.
Interestingly, a search on the FEC database shows that Rob Haney hasn’t contributed anything to the other presidential candidates. You know, the only people who can actually beat McCain?
Ann
Let’s take your points one at a time. McCain and his minions have continued the offensive at every possible opportunity against Haney, Tuttle, Pullen, Goldwater, and other conservative party workers because they will not salute the establishment mantra. Not only does Haney oppose McCain, McCain opposes Haney. The same argument re: an effort to remove Haney is one that is being used to not support McCain.
I never said it was not allowed on both sides, it is interesting that one uses out of state Democrat money to do it while the other uses his own personal time and energy. The Deport McCain sign was used in the heat of the Comp. Imm. Reform Bill battle. That was fair game, also.
It is ok if your side thinks Haney’s actions are detestable, but he has a clear majority of his PC’s who do not and people who admire Rob have the same right to defend him as you do to detest him. The truth is that what I said was IF you are going to oppose the Party Platform, work for political positions that are part of the fabric of the Democrat Party, join them. You and everyone else will be much happier.
Every national pundit with credibility has stated that John McCain does not have a basic Republican Party ideology, but a McCain ideology. That is why he is comfortable working with the Feingolds, Kennedys, Liebermans, Clintons, Daschles, etc. That is his right. It is also the right of conservatives to point it out.
John
The first complaint was to the REGISTRATION figures, so now that you can’t stand the light of day on that, you want to talk about votes. I already covered that with the NO Incumbents, the single shot strategy of one candidate instead of working for the total Republican ticket, the votes of the WISHies, and $10 mil spent by the tobacco industry.
This is disgusting, embarrassing to the Party and totally juvenile. Their hatred overshadows any sense of decency.
Here’s to the magnificent job Rob Haney is doing to uphold basic Republican values all the while he is being attacked by those who don’t and who propose that John McCain faithfully represents the wishes of his constituency (i.e., fulfills the Constitutional purpose that all elected officials must adhere to). McCain couldn’t care less about what his constituency thinks. As stated above, his mission is to elevate the status of John McCain regardless of the consequences to the party (National and state) and to the Country. If more people had the resolve to expose this charade like Rob is doing, the Republican Party would in fact represent the conservative values that have made this Country great, and at the same time has resulted in strong mandates from the electorate.
Rob keep holding strong against the character assassins; they only offer attacks since they are unable to factually support their positions (i.e., the only defense by those whose arguments can’t stand the light of logic).
John, I have if from the very highest sources that Mr Haney has repeatedly contributed to a presidential candidate. But you have to look under Republican donors, not Democrat.
It is impossible to process what someone is saying as their own opinion when they are referred to with a title that suggests representation of a group.
As soon as the title National Committeemen is used, in the same sentence, in the same paragraph, in the same article; as soon as it is uttered or read the person with that title speaks for a group no matter how much they protest that they are speaking for themselves.
I am reading the back and forths here and will offer that if a majority of the people in the group are of one mind then that opinion should be made clear and made public at the first opportunity. Don’t wait for the surprises a the close of the poles.
I was a registered Republican in Maricopa County for thirty years. I have been a registered Republican in Cochise County for ten years. I have been in the trenches and have fought against the state party leaders who have allowed us to be maligned and mangled with the Jim Kolbe debacle. We in Cochise County firmly believe that it was the state party’s indifference that gave away that seat in CD8.
Let me describe for you the view from the bottom.
The people in the rural districts are continually being told how Maricopa County has over 60% of the registered Republicans. Some will come right out and say it and some will only hint at it but the message is WE DO NOT NEED YOU. WE DO NOT NEED YOUR SINGLE MINDED HICK VIEW OF THE WORLD; THERE IS MORE THAN ONE ISSUE.
More and more of the Republicans that I speak with, who have been loyal party members for decades, are edging towards re-registering as Independents. And when it starts it will happen in large numbers. Why because there is nothing being offered by the State Party; no ear to hear our thoughts; no support on local issues; no feeling of belonging.
As things are going I believe that Maricopa and Pima Counties will soon have 100% of the registered Republicans. Try and maintain a majority in that scenario.
Bye the bye; the immigration issue is about ten issues conveniently crammed into one title.
Backlash?
I guess everyone went to dinner.
I wanted to announce that I was thinking of starting my own party.
Will call it the Best party.
That way the party candidates are automatically referred to as the Best candidate.
The opposition will say they hope you win: May the best candidate win.
And most voters are always asking: How do I know who is the Best candidate?
Just thought I would try to throw in a little humor. No charge.
Hello all,
I’m just a brand new precinct committeeman in LD-9, and I’m pretty passionate about the party and conservative philosophy, so I thought I’d weigh in.
Like me, many of Arizona’s conservatives have come to understand that McCain is no longer a hero (McCain-Feingold), no longer a conservative (McCain-Lieberman), and no longer a Republican (McCain-Kennedy).
Among the equally passionate Republicans that I talk to, I assure you we have moved past the discussion of supporting Senator McCain should he become the party’s nominee.
Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL WE VOTE FOR HIM FOR PRESIDENT!
Our discussions at this point center on whether we will sit out the election or go so far as to vote for Clinton or Obama. I will vote democrat if McCain is the nominee. Others are starting to agree with me.
Conservatives – RINOs have HIJACKED OUR party. They can not be allowed to succeed. A vote for the Democrat candidate equates to TWO votes AGAINST %^_$#) MCCAIN (and his liberal supporters)!
FIGHT BACK!
We survived 4 years of Jimmy Carter, 8 years of Clinton – The Movie. We’ll survive 4 years of Clinton – The Sequel.
A vote for McCain will ensure that we loose both the election AND the party. You CAN’T let that happen!
Seven years ago our Party got it right. McCain is too weak on Republican principles to have earned our nomination. He has 7 more years of anti-Republican antics since then. RINOS hikacked our Party? Well, here is one corroborating example: Ash stood before the State Committee meeting in April ’07 campaigning for National Committeeman and allowed no indication he supported McCain. If he really believes in McCain then why didn’t he even mention the word? It’s because Ash knows how far outside our Platform McCain’s positions are. Even Ash knows not to mention McCain to Arizona Republican Party gatherings…you’ll lose favor and credibility real fast!! So hijacked? In some ways, no doubt. We don’t want to be a Nation of Democrats and Half-Democrats. We are Republicans because we (at least at one time) claimed to be Conservative.
Onward with Mr. Haney’s Resolution! RINOS–It’s supposed to be redundant to use the phrase “conservative Republican.”
Wrong “Ben”, it isn’t about votes, it is about voters. Haney has LOST more than 1,000 VOTERS since the last election. You try to present it as a percentage to make it look better than select other districts, but the fact is that Haney’s district is going backwards, not forwards.
Cast dispersions all you want, but in your recap of that race, you claim to know how money from a ballot initiative was disproportionately spent in LD11? What is your source from that? Hate to think you’re just blowing smoke here.
By the by, I understand that you might be leaving out your own personal role in that campaign. I guess it wasn’t a factor in the defeat?
AZ Rick,
Prepare to vote blue or abstain. As noted at other blogs, McCain has this thing sealed, and as an Indy, I cannot vote Tuesday. Your party is choosing McCain. For different reasons, I am not happy about it. I would love to see Romney win the GOP nod. Go Mitt!!
Alas, I will not get my way, and neither will you.
Enjoy your denial for the next three days. On Wednesday, it’s TOAST. Wednesday AM headlines cement McCain as the GOP nominee. Enjoy with some butter and coffee.
A McCain Clinton race, nauseating half the country, might bring Bloomberg into the mix. You could vote for him.
Haney represents nothing more than himself and the PC’s he recruited to pack LD-11. McCain represents himself and the R’s he recruited to nominate him.
In all the posts on this site thus far, I find it curious that no one has offered any justification for supporting McCain’s nomination. Perhaps this isn’t the point of this conversation, but this parallels what I’ve seen on other sites. No one offers reasons for supporting McCain except that polls 10 months out (and invariably wrong) show that he might beat Clinton.
In fact, no where on any blog, radio broadcast, campaign flyer or television show has anyone offered any principled thoughtful reason for me to support McCain as the party’s nominee.
There are, however, many obvious and frightening reasons for not supporting him, and most of them are offered up by McCain himself. His own arguments are more than sufficient to cause thinking people not to vote for him. Forget the party stuff, its his dangerously idiotic positions on the issues and his infamous temperment that make him unacceptable as a candidate for President.
Hillary and Obama likewise are wrong on the issues, so why is voting for McCain better than voting for either of the democrats? (ignoring for now down ballot candidates and propositions)
Not to pick on “nightcrawler” specifically, but he/she made this comment earlier:
“The whole purpose of PCs is to help elect Republicans, register new voters and encourage participation in the party.”
I stated earlier that I’m a new PC (though I’ve donated money, volunteered time and registered voters on my own for years). I’m so new in fact I haven’t even been to an LD-9 meeting yet, though I did attend the manditory county meeting last month.
That said, under no circumstances will I submit to nightcrawler’s definition of my purpose. I work to promote conservative values and convince new-voters of the correctness of the conservative principles that I belive in. I do not work to create Republicans, I work to create conservatives.
If the Republican Party has chosen to reject conservatism simply to acquire the power to inflict on America that which the opposition will do, I will not help that party.
Clearly and alarmingly, this is exactly what Republican leadership appears to be doing. How else can you justify nominating a man that has clearly rejected the principles for which we ostensibly stand?
I’m afraid my first post may have led everyone to believe that I might be a bit of a crazy person. It has even been suggested in the comments above that those of us adamently opposed to McCain are somewhat like the “jihadis” our troops are currently fighting. I think that that may be overstating it a bit. A better analogy is a that of a man who suddenly realizes he has gangue green and is facing the choice of death or cutting off his left leg. A horrible choice no doubt but the one we face this fall if McCain gets the party’s nomination.
I have already decided – off with the leg! Given the choice between Disaster-D and Disaster-R, I’ll stick the -D team with the blame. I have no choice but to work as hard as I possibly can to see that McCain is defeated – either in the primaries, or in the general election. We are not the crazy ones, the McCaniacs are.
So if LD11 elects two Republicans is it solely because of Haney? As plausible as the opposite.
When the elites decide that it is more important to fire at the conservatives than to worry about the Log Cabins and WISH groups, it is the elites that are out of step.
Is Haney responsible for the other seven legislative seats lost in 2006, from LD10 to Tucson and Yuma? The most important thing in a successful life is knowing where to place the blame. This does not look like a success story.
I have received an interesting email. If anyone wants to give me their email address I will forward it to you. I don’t know where Haney lives but the emailer states it is a picture of the Haney house. The interesting thing is it has a McCain sign posted out front. Kind of confusing to me.
AZ Rick-
How can you call anyone a RINO and then say you’ll vote dem.
Gee, I wonder how Lynn got such a picture of a typical dirty trick drive-by placement – with camera conveniently at the ready.
That is not confusion, it is collaboration. Typical Sproul activity
PS: Romney wins Maine in spite of the support of the Liberal Ladies endorsement of McCain and now leads in Cal. I really believe it is too little, too late for Romney, but this will continue to unravel on McCain thru First Tuesday.
AZ Rick,
I admire your passion. The definition of a PC is exactly what I stated. If you don’t believe it, call the County and/or State Party and ask.
The GOP is not a conservative “club” it is a political party. If you climb the ranks, you support Republicans, period. Before your time, there were a few folks who had their names printed in the newspaper as “Republicans for Janet”. The MCRC in particular went ape over that fact. At the mandatory meeting a year ago, I voted in favor of the MCRC resolution to ask any PC who openly and publicly supported a Dem to resign. I still feel that way. If you will truly go on record and publicly state you will vote for Hillary rather than McCain, you need to resign your PC appointment. I am sure you are conservative, that is not the issue.
I think that Romney has just picked up my vote.
Because Dr. Kris Kobach, of the Immigration Reform Law Institute, is now serving as an advisor to Gov. Romney on illegal immigration and border security.
If you want all of his credentials I will be happy to furnish them.
His most recent accomplishment was to lead the defense team, for the city of Valley Park, Missouri in Federal District Court that resulted in the Federal judge validating the city’s illegal alien employment sanctions law last Friday Feb 1, 2008.
And it was done in such a fashion that it is precedent setting, meaning our Federal judge can use it in evaluating the Arizona sanctions law.
Again if you want the complete copy of the judge’s ruling let me know.
McCain’s immigration guy is a former cabinet member of President Vicente Fox and is most noted for his screaming at rallies in the U.S. ‘Mexico First’. Mexico First is apparently McCain’s attitude also.
Nightcrawler,
First, I didn’t mean to give the impression that you’re definition of a PCs role wasn’t technically correct. I’m sure it is.
But I’d also add that if McCain’s positions have truly come to represent the Republican Party, then (a) there is no difference between it and the Democrat Party, and (b) I will resign my PC position AND stop working to get people to become Republicans.
I’ve been a staunch supporter of the Republican party for 30 years. Only once have I voted for a democrat at the national level and that was for Patrick D. Moynihan for Senator NY – when I was still in high school. By the way, even back then I was smart enough to see what a disaster Jimmy Carter was going to be and I voted for Ford.
On my own I’ve registered voters, donated money, I’ve ran tally sheets to HQ on election day, and I’ve worked at county party HQ on the phone banks in support of Republican candidates. It was LD-9 leadership that asked me to become a PC, and I’ve resisted their requests because my business and my family need more of my time than I have to give. If the LD-9 folks ask me to resign, I’ll certainly honor their request.
It shocks me to no end that you guys can not see what an unbelievable bad candidate McCain is. We only damage ourselves when we promote the likes of him – just because some silly irrelavent poll makes you all think he can beat the democrat 10 months from now. And let’s be clear and honest here – that is the ONLY reason any Republican might legitimately support his candidacy. Of course if you are a democrat (ie. you believe in the tenants of modern liberalism), then supporting McCain is an easy choice.
If McCain is the Republican nominee, I’ll still vote Democrat to save the party (since at that point I can’t help save the country) from the repercussions of the DISASTER that he will rain down on us. I won’t help Republicans turn over the country’s future to liberals by supporting four years of democrat policies implemented by McCain.
Before I’m a Republican, I’m a conservative, and before I’m a conservative, I’m a patriotic American. Liberalism is the greatest threat facing western civilization. I’ll do everything in my power to fight it, be it advanced by Democrats OR Republicans.
I spent nearly a quarter century working inside a large corporation. One of the lessons I learned there was that “One aw-s#1t erases ten atta-boys”. Evidently, in politics it’s the other way ’round. It doesn’t matter how many different times and ways John McCain has gone against the philosophy of Conservatism, his status as war-hero and “R” registration must give him a pass with us.
Extending the logic that most of Rob Haney’s detractors have put forth above, if Hillary came to Arizona with an “R” beside her name, we would be duty bound as PC’s to support her.
Almost a year ago, on March 7, 2007 Peggy Noonan put it as succinctly as I’ve ever seen: “It is better to see activists driven by philosophy than by personalities. Better to be faithful to the cause than to individuals with whom you merely have a history. Better to have fidelity to principles, and not to political figures, no matter how interesting or compelling they are.” The whole article is worth a read and a re-read. You can find it here: http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110009790
Ronald Reagan said something to the effect that he didn’t leave the Democratic party, the Democratic party left him. I suspect that a lot of folks with liberal tendencies but for whom the Democratic party is now far too left-leaning came over to the Republican party during and following the Reagan years. The problem is they didn’t realize that the roots of the Republican party were far too right-leaning for them and now they want to pull the party leftward to where they’re more comfortable with it.
Ronald Reagan proved that in America, a consistent, cogent, conservative message wins. Bush-1 and Bush-2 proved that a semi-conservative, Liberal-lite message looses. It will be far better for those we refer to lovingly as RINO’s to go and try to move the Democratic party back from the far-far left than for us to allow them to move the Republican party leftward, leaving the American people no viable alternative. Some day another descent, conservative, principled, thoughtful and eloquent candidate will emerge again. He needs to have a welcoming home in the Republican party. Freedom is not free. Conservatives know it and we will fight the Socialists, the Collectivists, the Liberals and the RINOs until we either win or die.
I don’t need to re-iterate all the issues where John McCain has sided against Conservatives. Rush, Hugh, Hannity, and a host of others are doing that every day. Only the imperviously blind, deaf or comatose are still ignorant on that score. I was already furious with McCain five years ago when Rob Haney came to my door and I started shooting my mouth off. Why would McCain, when confronted with corruption of government officials evidenced by a quid-pro-quo for campaign contributions, infringe the rights of all the people rather than prosecute the corrupt officials? John McCain himself has since answered that question for me.
No, we cannot grudgingly elect a McCain as our leader just because he sports an “R” on his sleeve. As someone else implied above, that’s what led to the fall of Troy.