Senate Rejects GOP Bid to Block Arizona Lawsuit

From the Arizona Republic

Our colleage Raju Chebium of the Gannett Washington Bureau contributed the following item.

WASHINGTON – A Republican bid to stop the federal government's lawsuit against Arizona’s
immigration law failed Wednesday.

The vote was 43-55 along mostly partisan lines.

Republican Sens. Jim DeMint of South Carolina and David Vitter of Louisiana sought to prohibit the White House from using federal funds to finance the lawsuit, which the U.S. Department of Justice filed earlier this month. The senators wanted to attach their measure to legislation extending unemployment benefits.

Before the vote, DeMint accused President Barack Obama's White House of trying to “intimidate” Arizona for seeking to enforce federal immigration law.

The federal government failed in its duty to secure the border and Arizona is merely trying to protect its citizens, DeMint said on the Senate floor, adding that the law doesn’t advocate racial profiling but expressly forbids it.

“This is something we know the American people – if they could vote here today – would vote in favor of,” DeMint said. “The question is will the majority vote to support the people of Arizona or to support this political move that we’re now seeing from the White House?”

The Justice Department argues that Arizona is violating the Constitution by trying to usurp the federal government's sole authority to regulate immigration. The lawsuit seeks an injunction to block the law from taking effect on July 29.

South Carolina has joined eight other states – Michigan, Alabama, Florida, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas and Virginia – and the Northern Mariana Islands in filing a legal brief supporting the Arizona law.

The Senate also rejected, by a vote of 39-59, a separate DeMint measure to permanently repeal a real estate tax that critics call the “death tax.”

Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl, both Arizona Republicans, voted for both DeMint proposals.

Erin Kelly of The Arizona Republic's Washington Bureau contributed to this report.

POLL FINDS BREWER, McCAIN WOULD WIN GOP PRIMARY - MARTIN, MILLS DROP OUT

A Behavior Research telephone poll conducted June 30 to July 11, indicates that incumbent Republican Governor Jan Brewer would win the GOP primary for governor with the support of 57% of Republicans and Independents who plan to vote in the GOP primary on August 24.

Arizona businessman Buz Mills, who contributed millions of dollars to his campaign, had the support of 12% of those planning to vote and Arizona Treasurer Dean Martin had the support of only 9%.

Jan Brewer has also been endorsed by the National Rifle Association, Arizona Right to Life and, both Arizona Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl.

Martin and Mills have boyh suspended their campaigns.

The sample of 236 registered Republicans and independents had a margin of error of 6.5 %.

Recent polling by Behavior Research also showed that Sen. John McCain would prevail over his two primary opponents; former Member of Congress and radio talk show host, J.D. Hayworth and, citizen candidate, businessman and tea party activist, Jim Deakin.

McCain had the support 64% of Republicans and GOP-leaning Independent voters. Hayworth had only 19 percent, Deakin had 5%, 12% are undecided.

In April Hayworth was at 28%.

McCain - Kyl Endorse Brewer

Arizona’s two Republican senators are endorsing Gov. Jan Brewer in the state’s gubernatorial primary, citing her defense of a new illegal immigration law currently being challenged by the Obama administration.

“There has been no stronger defender of the State of Arizona than Gov. Jan Brewer,” said Sen. John McCain in a joint statement with Sen. Jon Kyl. “From border security to health care to job creation, Gov. Brewer has consistently stood up for our state. Gov. Brewer continues to lead the fight against the Obama Administration’s frivolous lawsuit against Arizona’s immigration law.”
Kyl said that Brewer "has shown courage in fighting for the rights of Arizonans."

McCain, previously a champion of comprehensive immigration reform, has become more hawkish on border security in the face of his own tough primary contest against radio host J.D. Hayworth. He recently disagreed with Brewer’s statement that most illegal immigrants are “mules” being used to smuggle drugs into America, but lauded her overall handling of the immigration law. “I think the governor of Arizona has done a good job in this whole debate,” he said on NBC’s Meet the Press last month.

Brewer, who once struggled in her re-election bid, enjoyed a burst of popularity after the passage of the new law. She now leads in her contest against businessman Owen “Buz” Mills and political newcomer Matthew Jette in the lead-up to the August 24 primary election. State Treasurer Dean Martin bowed out of the race last week.

The People Say, "Enforce the Law."

Some interesting poll numbers just in on illegal immigration.

With boycotts against Arizona for passage of SB 1070 and daily protests for its repeal, 76 percent of Americans want the number of illegal aliens degreased according to a CNN/Opinion Research Poll conducted May 21-23, this is an increase from the 67 percent who felt the same way in June 2006.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer seems to have re-ignited the illegal immigration debate when she signed SB 1070 into law, pointing out that the federal government has failed to secure the border between Arizona and Mexico.

President Obama promised his supporters during his 2008 campaign for president that immigration reform would be a priority during his first year in the White House, which included a plan to make illegal aliens legal, instead of using the dreaded A word, amnesty. That would be the same as reducing the number of speeders on the highway by increasing the speed limit. If Obama makes illegal aliens legal aliens we wouldn't have as many illegal aliens.

Most Americans are not buying the Obama plan however, 60 percent want the government to put the emphasis on stopping illegal from entering and deporting those already here. Only 38 percent want them to become legal residents.

Senator John McCain of Arizona, must also have been reading the poll numbers. In 2006, McCain was the poster boy for a plan that would provide a path to citizenship for illegal aliens. Now that he is in a tough primary for the GOP nomination for the senate, he has changed his tune and is broadcasting campaign commercials portraying him as tough on border security.

The CNN poll shows that 88 percent of Americans favor putting more Border Patrol and federal law enforcement on the border, which is up from 74 percent in 2006.

54 percent favor building a 700 mile long fence at the border with Mexico, up from 45 percent in 2006 and 2007.

A whopping majority of Americans are for doing what the federal government won't do, turn off the jobs magnet that is causing people to risk their lives in the deadly Arizona desert to provide cheap labor for greedy employers. 71 percent are in favor of imposing fines of tens of thousands of dollars on employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens, this number is up from 58 percent in 2006 and 47 percent would send those employers to jail for hiring undocumented workers, up from 40 percent in 2006. 70 percent are in favor of creating an ID card issued by the federal government that American citizens and legal residents could use to get jobs.

NBC News and Telemundo, the Spanish language network, also conducted a poll from May 20 to 23 that found that 40 percent of all registered voters would back a Republican candidate who supported Arizona's illegal immigration law which, included 19 percent of Latinos, and 26 percent would back a Democratic candidate who opposed the Arizona law, which included 53 percent of Latinos. 32 percent of all registered voters polled said that the issue would not affect how they voted, 25 percent of Latinos said the same.

The questions I have are, "if we are a federal republic of laws, why are our immigration laws not being enforced?"

"If we are a government by the consent of the governed and the clear majority of the governed want the border secured and employer sanctions against hiring illegal aliens, why, after all these years, has it not happened?"

Bob Haran,
American, Conservative, Republican.

Employer Sanctions Opponent Holds Fund Raiser for McCain

Employer Sanctions Opponent Holds Fund Raiser for McCain

By Bob Haran,
American Conservative Republican

If you think Sen. John McCain has finally gotten the message that the people of Arizona want illegal immigration controlled, you might be mistaken.

I came across a invitation to a fundraiser, paid for by "Friends of John McCain," the Arizona senator's campaign committee.

The flyer for the fundraiser says, "Jim Click and Donald Diamond cordially invite you to a Reception with U.S. Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts In support of the reelection of U.S. Senator John McCain."

Now if you don't know who Jim Click is you haven't followed the employer sanctions against hiring undocumented workers issue in Arizona. Jim Click is a Tucson auto dealer and big time campaign contributor who along with; Mac Magruder, James LeVecke, Mary Rose Wilcox and others formed the group, Wake Up Arizona coalition, back in 2007 to oppose any sanctions by the state of Arizona against employers who illegally hire undocumented workers and they vowed to defeat any legislator or candidate that supported employer sanctions.

Russell Pearce was the architect behind Arizona's successful employer sanctions law which has resulted in thousands of illegal aliens leaving Arizona. Pearce was also the target of a very nasty campaign in 2008 to oppose his state senate bid orchestrated by political consultant Nathen Sproul and financed by members of the Wake Up Arizona coalition.

Donald Diamond is a Arizona real estate developer and long time major campaign contributor to McCain with a history of shady real estate deals, see
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/22/us/politics/22diamond.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

If you want to help John McCain and illegal immigration, the fund raiser will be on Saturday, March 6, 2010 at the Arizona Inn at 2200 East Elm in Tucson, VIP Roundtable is only $2,400 per person and the Reception is only $1,000 per person.

I don't think I will attend, hope you don't either.

Schweikert Gets Important Endorsement.

The Political Action Committee of Concerned Women for America (CWA) has announced its endorsement of David Schweikert for Congress in Arizona's 5th Congressional District.

CWA is the nation's largest public policy women's organization with more then 500,000 members.

The incumbent Member of Congress from CD 5 is Harry Mitchell. The CWA Legislative Action Committee says that Mitchell's rating with them is poor, having voted against their position on 25 out of 36 votes in congress.

Penny Nance, the CEO of CWA's Political Action Committee said, "David Schweikert is a stark contrast to liberal Congressman Harry Mitchell."

She pointed out that Harry Mitchell, whose voting she said matched House Speaker Nancy Pelosi 80 percent of the time, "suggest that he would prefer to listen to her than to his much more conservative district which voted for John McCain in 2008."

"My hunch is that David's personal story of adoption as a child and his strong pro-life legislative credentials will make him an irresistible choice over a partisan politician like Harry Mitchell," Nance said.

Concerned Women Political Action Committee's mission is to elect solid pro-family, pro-life conservatives to Congress. Concerned Women PAC sends out a monthly letter to members encouraging them to financially support candidates like David Schweikert.

This is an important endorsement for Schweikert which you probably wont read about in the mainstream press.

Gun Owners of America Blast McCain - Endorse Hayworth

The Gun Owners of America Political Victory fund put out a statement that not only endorsed former Congressman and radio personality J.D. Hayworth for the U.S. Senate, it eviscerated the incumbent senator and 2008 GOP presidential nominee, John McCain.

The pro-Second Amendment, Gun Owners of America (GOA), called the McCain-Feingold law McCain's crowning legislative achievement, pointing out that the law put the muzzle on the First Amendment rights of groups like GOA.

In their statement the GOA says, "McCain's bill prohibited the most important form of speech the Founding Fathers meant to protect with the First Amendment - political speech."

The group claims that McCain may have started out as a "pro-gun legislator," but has become a "gun control maverick."

The GOA statement points out that in 2000 McCain became the spokesman for a gun control group called Americans for Gun Safety, that advocated licensing and registering all gun owners and ran radio and TV ads with McCain in Colorado and Oregon.

In their statement the GOA says, "John McCain may pretend to be pro-gun (especially in election years) but he has plunged his dagger deep into the back of gun rights supporters."

In their endorsement of J.D. Hayworth, GOA points out that Hayworth has consistently supported the Second Amendment and that is "just the type of leadership gun owners in Arizona will vote for in November."

The full statement from GOA follows.

###

Arizona - -(AmmoLand.com)- John McCain has gone out of his way to earn the ire of conservatives and gun owners in his 20-plus years as a U.S. Senator from Arizona.

Perhaps his crowning legislative achievement was so-called campaign finance reform, or the McCain-Feingold law. This law put the muzzle on organizations such as GOA, prohibiting any broadcast advertisements within 30 days of a primary election and 60 days of a general election that even mention the name of a candidate for federal office.

Not surprisingly, there is frequently a flurry of activity in Congress in the months right before an election, as politicians try to ram bills through at the end of a session. Forbidding criticism of sitting legislators during these crucial times (although media corporations were exempt) made McCain’s bill the perfect “Incumbent Protection” act.

McCain’s bill prohibited the most important form of speech the Founding Fathers meant to protect with the First Amendment — political speech — so it was welcome news when the Supreme Court recently repudiated much of the McCain bill as an assault on liberty.
But it should not come as a surprise that McCain does not want voters hear about what he’s up to in Washington, because the same person who holds the First Amendment in contempt would also like to run the Second Amendment through a shredder.

John McCain may have begun as a pro-gun legislator, but when he decided to become a gun control “maverick,” he went all out.

Since his conversion to a gun control advocate over the last ten years, McCain has favored a ban on small and inexpensive handguns and considered a ban on certain semi-automatic firearms (so-called assault weapons).

In what was his boldest move against American gun owners, however, McCain authored a bill to that could only have been designed to close down gun shows. In addition to regulating all private sales at gun shows, his bill would have placed onerous licensing requirements on gun show promoters and would essentially have registered the millions of people who attend gun shows. Under the burdens of the McCain bill, no promoter in the country would put on a gun show and, if they did, gun owners would likely not attend.

Thanks to McCain, the inaccurate and misleading phrase “gun show loophole” became a part of the anti-Second Amendment crowd’s lexicon.

The truth is, there is no gun show loophole; firearms transactions are conducted the same inside a gun show as they are anyplace else.

In 2000, McCain became a spokesman for a gun control organization (now defunct) called Americans for Gun Safety, a group that advocated licensing and registering all gun owners. The group ran radio and TV ads with McCain supporting ballot initiatives in Colorado and Oregon that would impose McCain’s favorite restrictions on gun shows.

These ads were a way for McCain to “stick it” to gun owners, after a gun show bill stalled in the Congress.

“I think that if the Congress won’t act, the least I can do is support the initiative in states where it’s on the ballot,” McCain said in an interview.

In 2001, the group ran advertisements in movie theaters featuring McCain urging people to keep their guns locked up “for the sake of the children.” In the ads, he greatly exaggerated the risks of children gaining access to firearms in the home, and at the same time completely ignored the danger of having guns locked away if they are needed to thwart a criminal attack.

After the 2001 terror attacks, when Gun Owners of America and tens of thousands of commercial airline pilots were pushing legislation to arm pilots as a defense against terrorism, McCain prepared an amendment that would have replaced “firearms” with “stun guns.” GOA pointed out at the time how stun guns would not be effective against the type of attacks that could occur in a cockpit.

John McCain may pretend to be pro-gun (especially in election years) but he has plunged his dagger deep into the backs of gun rights supporters. He may fancy himself as a “maverick” in shining armor, riding to rescue the American people, but all the while he has trampled the Bill of Rights underfoot.

Thankfully, this year gun owners have a choice. Former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, who was “A” rated by Gun Owners of America in his twelve years in the House of Representatives, is challenging McCain in the 2010 Republican primary.

J.D. respects the Constitution and understands that the Second Amendment was put there by the Founding Fathers to always ensure that the people would have the means to preserve their liberty.

During his time in the Congress, J.D. Hayworth did not vote one way in election years and another way when in nonelection years. J.D. consistently supported the Second Amendment, and that is just the type of leadership gun owners in Arizona will vote for in November.

Gun Owners of America Political Victory Fund is proud to endorse J.D. Hayworth for U.S. Senate and urges gun owners and sportsmen from across America to help defeat anti-gunner McCain.

Please visit J.D. on the web at http://www.jdforsenate.com to make the most generous contribution possible. Working together, we can win this fight and gain a Second Amendment ally in the U.S. Senate.

Sincerely,
Tim MacyVice Chairman
Gun Owners of America8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408http://www.gunowners.org

Time for McCain to Retire and go Fishing

By Bob Haran;

Interesting article in today's Arizona Republic http://www.azcentral.com/ by Dan Nowicki.

Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee for president in 2008 and four term senator from Arizona, claims that he was "misled" into supporting the massive bailout of the financial system known as Troubled Asset Relief Program, (TARP).

McCain, who is being challenged for the 2010 GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate by Jim Deakin and J.D. Hayworth, said that he was misled by then Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the $700 Billion bailout would focus on what was seen as the cause of the financial crisis, the housing meltdown.

At a meeting with The Republic's Editorial Board, McCain said "obviously, that didn't happen,"

McCain claims that President George W. Bush called him off the campaign trail, saying a worldwide economic catastrophe was imminent and that he needed his help. On Sept 24, 2008, McCain temporarily suspended his campaign for president to confront the economic crisis.

Henry Paulson in his book, "On the Brink," in regard to McCain's response to the crisis claims that, "when it came right down to it, McCain had little to say in the forum he himself had called." Paulson called McCain's decision to return to Washington without a plan, "impulsive and risky," even, "dangerous."

The entire article can be linked at http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2010/02/22/20100222mccain-tarp0222.html

I'm no fan of John McCain but I would expect something more from a former Naval officer then passing the buck by claiming that he was, "misled." Spending $700 billion of the people's money is no small decision and something that a four term U.S. Senator and candidate for president should not take lightly or allow himself to be, "misled."

McCain is known for moving from one side of an issue to another, as the political situation requires. Pander to the right to win conservative support, pander to the left to get liberal support. It has been said that the most dangerous place to be in Washington D.C. is between John McCain and a TV camera. This is a decision McCain spun into an image of the hero rushing to rescue the world's economy, to now claim that he was misled is to say the least, very disturbing. I would rather have a senator who would take responsibility for his decisions and either defend his actions or admit that he made a mistake.

Public office should be about doing the best of your ability to do what is in the people's best interest, not doing whatever it takes to get elected. Leadership is putting the greater good before your own self interest. Character is taking responsibility for your own actions.

If John McCain is going to pass the buck on one of the most important decisions he made in public office, then he has not the character nor the leadership to serve in public office and it is time for him to retire and go fishing.