You may have noticed John McCain seems exceptionally cranky these days, even by the standards of the U.S. Senate's version of Abraham Simpson. Recently, after all, there was his recent rant ranking Obama as worse than Jimmy Carter over the issue of Syria, which led to this priceless retort from Charles Pierce at Esquire:
Jesus god, just go away, OK? The world is not going to give you another war and nobody's interested much in the judgment of someone who sought to put Sarah Palin within reach of The Button
Why is McCain so crabby these days? Well, this little bit of news from home might have something to do with it:
The Arizona Republican Party formally censured Sen. John McCain on Saturday, citing a voting record they say is insufficiently conservative.
The resolution to censure McCain was approved by a voice-vote during a meeting of state committee members in Tempe, state party spokesman Tim Sifert said. It needed signatures from at least 20 percent of state committee members to reach the floor for debate.
This move had been brewing for a while now (and the GOP in Maricopa County had already jumped the gun by
censuring him weeks ago, along with others) and now it's finally been done. Why did they do this?
According to the resolution, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee has campaigned as a conservative but has lent his support to issues "associated with liberal Democrats," such as immigration reform and to funding the law sometimes known as Obamacare.
Several Republican county committees recently censured McCain.
Jeez, the guy gave you the Wasilla Grifter as your pinup girl and screams about Benghazi every other day. Cut him a little slack, guys!
More on this from the Arizona Republic:
Saturday’s censure came two weeks after the Maricopa County Republican Party passed a resolution to censure the senator on a 1,150-to-351 vote.
The state GOP party’s censure passed by acclamation, meaning by a voice vote. It has no practical effect, but serves as an attempt to embarrass the senator
Indeed and it certainly spikes McCain's blood pressure, but he's still got some notable GOP support:
Former three-term U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., dismissed the anti-McCain resolution as “wacky.”
“I’ve gone to dozens of these meetings and every now and then some wacky resolution gets passed,” Kyl, the former Senate minority whip, told The Arizona Republic on Saturday. “But most people realize it does not represent the majority of the vast numbers of Republicans.”
Kyl noted that McCain has been repeatedly re-elected despite opposition over the years by many GOP activists.
“Do these guys ever get elected? It’s John McCain who gets elected,” Kyl said. “To say that John McCain doesn’t work with Republicans, doesn’t have a conservative voting record – that’s just baloney. I served with him in the Senate for 18 years, 26 years all together, and we didn’t always vote alike, but his record is very conservative. It’s just wacky to say otherwise.”
It's not a good day when Gomer Kyl sounds more reasonable than you do. But those who voted to censure McCain don't care:
Timothy Schwartz, who authored the censure, said McCain “has abandoned us” and called on party leaders to hold him accountable.
McCain always works with Democrats but not with Republicans,” Schwartz said, speaking in support of the censure.
Great. Thanks for making McCain crankier, pal. I'll be sure to be gone when he finally runs for the shotgun.
12:36 PM PT: How could I forget to add that this is CLEARLY great news for John McCain! Everything is!