Tea parties hold out on J.D. Hayworth
What does the Arizona Tea Party's failure to endorse JD Hayworth or any candidates for the Republican primary mean? For one, it means that JD Hayworth will not get the bump that he desired from the Tea Party, but it is also a message to the Republican Party. The Tea Party is not part and parcel the Republican Party, but an organization dedicated to reducing government spending and taxes while liberating the economy. McCain has had a love/hate relation with conservatives on a wide variety of issues and Hayworth's attempt to become the candidate of the right has been damaged. Neither side in the primary will get the desired bump, but instead, a warning for the general election. Stay on course in smaller government or we will stay home.
As for the Arizona Tea Party, they have decided to stay neutral and become an issue advocacy group with the idea of putting the issue of freedom at the center of the campaign. For the Tea Party, they are not the Republican Party but willing to ally themselves with the Party, a significant difference.
As for the Republican Party, the message is clear. If they want members of the Tea Party to vote for them, they must commit to less government spending and lower taxes. For the Tea Party, their social issue is a government out of control threatening their freedom, in particular their economic freedom. Size of government is the ultimate social issue, and Republicans must be steadfast defenders of that issue.
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BUT.......
Wrong on the Tea Party
Posted by Eric Odom on Feb 25, 2010
Beware of False Prophets
I wonder how many Tea Party members really know anything about John David Hayworth's terms in Congress. I voted for JD for 7 terms and towards the end I did it holding my nose. He promised he would run for 4 terms only, in 1994 and he lied. His Congressional seat was carved out for him so that there was a substantial majority of Republicans (60%) registered in the district, but he still lost this safe seat to a Democrat. He lost it not because he was too Conservative but because he had become a Washingtonian and people stopped trusting him. You might remember that his salary and his politician's perks from Washington were not enough for the family financial needs and so TEAM PAC, (a Political Action Committee) he set up for fund raising, paid Mary, his bookkeeping wife and two other individuals salaries that accounted for 43% of the money collected for TEAM PAC. Tea Party Supporters believe in Fiscal Conservatism. JD may have returned donations of $2,500 to Abramoff back in 2006 but what happened to the huge sums of the laundered Abramoff/ Indian re-election funds that were made available to Congressman Hayworth? It is interesting that it was John McCann who helped bring the corruption of Abramoff to the nation's attention and now who is it that is running against Senator McCann? Very interesting! In my eyes, one of the best characteristics of a Conservative is a representative who fights against pork-barrel spending. Would you agree? Again, John David Hayworth is on the wrong side of this equation too. Hayworth always had plenty of earmarks to help his re-election chances. Personally I would like to vote for someone who fights against spending unnecessary Federal money. John McCann has vocally fought against ear-marks since before JD was first elected. I am sure that it is not just a coincidence that Congressmen Jeff Flake and John Shadegg, both fiscal conservatives, are co-chairs of John McCann re-election campaign and not taking similar positions with JD Hayworth. I see criticism of John McCann for not being a Conservative. Senator McCann is a Maverick, i.e. someone that sometimes bucks the party. He obviously was not popular when he nearly single-handed had our Government cancel a planned aircraft that the military had not wanted or requested. The production of the unwanted aircraft was being driven by politicians who wanted to enhance their own chances for re-election. By bringing this information to national attention politicians of both parties had to fall in line and cancel the project. It saved the country billions of dollars. While John McCann was leading the Armed Forces Committee, JD was a member of the Ways and Means Committee in Congress, where members are notorious for spending money on "favorite" projects to help their own re-election bides. Hopefully you all will remember what happened when the Republicans ran the House of Representatives before 2006. They spent vast sums of our money just like the Democrats had prior to Gingrich's Revolution of 1994. In 2006 many loyal Republicans in JD Hayworth's District eventually became totally disillusioned with the likes of our Congressman, they sat on their hands and allowed Mitchell be elected. If we want fiscal restraint in Washington Hayworth is not your man. In the past three years JD has remade himself so that people such as many Tea Party members, who did not know him before, believe that he is a true Conservative. Sadly his history will not bear out this illusion. Please don't be too hasty in believing in false prophets, Democrats did that in 2007. I don't agree with every piece of legislation that Senator McCann has introduced but at least he takes an active role in attempting to come up with solutions to the country's problems. Please take another look at some of the positives of a John McCann record.