According to Republican officials in Arizona, Sen. John “the Maverick” McCain has sided with “liberal Democrats” too many times over the years, and therefore, the Maricopa County Republican Party has voted to censure him:
The Maricopa County Republican Party has voted overwhelmingly to censure Senator John McCain (R-AZ).
Members of the group feel the senator has failed to stand behind the Republican Party's principles and crossed the aisle and voted with Democrats too many times.
Many GOP members are using the term "RINO" to describe McCain, which stands for "Republican in Name Only."
The vote was 1,150 for the censure and 351 against.
Here’s the official resolution. Read it all (via the Arizona Daily Independent):
As leaders in the Republican Party, we are obligated to fully support our Party, platform, and its candidates. Only in times of great crisis or betrayal is it necessary to publicly censure our leaders. Today we are faced with both. For too long we have waited, hoping Senator McCain would return to our Party’s values on his own. That has not happened. So with sadness and humility we rise and declare:
Whereas Senator McCain has amassed a long and terrible record of drafting, co-sponsoring and voting for legislation best associated with liberal Democrats, such as Amnesty, funding for ObamaCare, the debt ceiling, assaults on the Constitution and 2nd amendment, and has continued to support liberal nominees;
Whereas this record has been disastrous and harmful to Arizona and the United States; and,
Whereas Senator McCain has campaigned as a conservative and made promises during his re-election campaigns, such as the needed and welcomed promise to secure our borders and finish the border fence, only to quickly flip-flop on those promises; and
Whereas McCain has abandoned our core values and has been eerily silent against Liberals, yet publicly reprimands Conservatives in his own Party, therefore
BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED that the Maricopa County Republican leadership censures Senator McCain for his continued disservice to our State and Nation, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that until he consistently champions our Party’s Platform and values, we, the Republican leadership in Arizona will no longer support, campaign for or endorse John McCain as our U.S. Senator.
Do they not have a point? This is the same guy who called Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Justin Amash “wacko birds” last year (although, to his credit, he did apologize) and, as noted above, consistently votes with liberal Democrats in support of awful legislation. As to the charge he runs as a conservative but legislates as a liberal, remember in 2010 when he was running for re-election and pledged to build “the danged fence” -- in order to enhance border security in his home state? Well, in June 2013, when he had an opportunity to stand up for conservative values, he voted against that very measure.
In any case, I like John McCain and am grateful for his military service. But he’s no conservative. So if (when?) he runs for re-election in 2016, I wonder how he’ll defend his voting record and move past all the broken campaign promises.
It’s not going to be easy.