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Friday, February 12, 2010

John McCain, Who's Running for a Fifth Senate Term, is Leaning to the Right in the Primary

Senator John McCain in this year's run for a fifth U.S. Senate Term is likely to face a very tough challenger in the form of former Congressman J.D. Hayworth of Arizona. According to a website called "The Hill", this could be one of Senator McCain's toughest election challenges in a number of years. According to some reports, McCain's overall popularity is around 40%, which is the lowest job-approval rating since January 1994 when John McCain was recovering from the McKeating banking scandal that erupted in the late eighties as a part of the savings and loans scandal. A Rasmussen report at one time had McCain leading Hayworth at 22 points but now it's down to single digits. McCain is under fire from some conservatives due to some of his more liberal positions he holds such as his views on global warming, campaign finance reform, and amnesty for illegal aliens. Also, McCain ran a very poor campaign when he ran for president in 2008.

John McCain was born of a Navy admiral named John Sidney McCain II. McCain grew up in a military family. Upon graduation from high school McCain enrolled in the Navy and served for over 23 years. McCain was famous for being a P.O.W. from 1967-73 when he was captured by North Vietnamese forces after his plane was shot down in Hanoi. He endured the brutal torture he faced for 5.5 years until he was released from captivity in 1973. Afterwards he served as a Navy liasion to the Senate until he retired in 1981. In 1982 he ran successfully for his first two Congressional terms he would serve in the House. In 1986 when Barry Goldwater announced his retirement from the Senate, John McCain ran for his seat and was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986. He's held that post for nearly four terms. He ran for president in 2000 and 2008; winning the Republican nomination in 2008.

J.D. Hayworth has been charging McCain with being a big spender in Washington when he approved of the bailouts to the banks in the fall of 2008 to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and to AIG. The McCain campaign has shot back at Hayworth and said that Hayworth supported the prescription drug coverage item in Medicare in 2003 and supported both of Bush's tax cuts in 2001 and 2003. McCain claimed that the reason why he (McCain) opposed the tax cuts was because of the out-of-control spending that was taking place in Washington. Throughout his tenure as Senator McCain has opposed spending on earmarks, which is to his credit. McCain's record on spending is better than some Republicans.

Senator McCain has been known for some of his famous legislative attempts and accomplishments such as the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform of 2002, which supposedly limits the amount of money corporations can donate to presidential campaigns. The U.S. Supreme Court just recently rejected provisions of the McCain-Feingold act and eliminated the corporate spending restrictions on campaign finance. McCain also tried to push through a bill with Senator Joe Lieberman which is called McCain-Lieberman, which deals with global warming or climate change. McCain would probably also be a likely candidate to support the cap and trade bill if it were to come before Congress. The most infamous bill which Senator McCain has drawn ire from conservatives was over the McCain-Kennedy amnesty bill for illegal aliens in 2007, which went down to defeat due to protests from many of the Congressional constituents who were opposed to the bill. Those three issues alone along with McCain voting for the bank bailouts in 2008 is why this year's Senatorial race will be a challenge for McCain. Overall according to some reports I've read McCain votes conservative approximately 60% of the time and liberal 40% of the time.

Giving the fact that McCain is receiving a tough challenge from former Congressman J.D. Hayworth, McCain is going to temporarily lean to the right and not fight for the terrible legislation he's been fighting for the last several years. McCain knows if he is to have a chance to win, he must downplay some of his past votes and legislative attempts. However, let's not allow ourselves to be fooled, once the election's over with and if McCain turns out to be the victor, he'll go back to championing the liberal causes he pushed for prior to the 2008 presidential campaign. When the time is right, Senator McCain will be there to push for amnesty legislation for illegal aliens. It might have to wait until next year. But he'll do it if the opportunity avails itself. McCain has served for four terms. It's time for the Republican voters to vote out Senator McCain in the primary and vote for a more conservative candidate. Hayworth may not be ideal, but he would fight for the traditional values that have made America great before McCain will. It's tragic former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and former Massachusetts Governor and 2008 Presidential candidate Mitt Romney are campaigning for McCain. These old-line Republican loyalists are part of the problem and they need to be removed in the primary. It will be too late to wait until the general election when the Democratic candidate will more than likely be worse than McCain. If nothing else, the Democrats in Congress must be removed from power. President Obama doesn't need accomplices to achieve his socialist agenda.

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