GOP Senate primary gets ugly early

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The GOP Senate primary between Senator McNasty and Jack Abramoff's friend J.D. Hayworth is getting ugly early. Grab some popcorn and enjoy the show.

The Arizona Republic reported that Sen. McNasty got his panties all in a twist over a J.D. Hayworth ad portraying him as an Avatar for "nominee for best conservative actor." AZ/DC Blog – Is Hayworth ad mocking McCain offensive? The original version of the ad was subject to interpretation:

Sen. John McCain's re-election campaign decried the online ad as insulting by defacing his picture with some sort of blue warpaint.

"Ads like this have no place in the Republican primary, and J.D. Hayworth should immediately take it down and apologize," said Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., a strong McCain ally.

The ad, which appeared on the widely read Internet news site the Drudge Report, apparently is a play on the science-fiction movie "Avatar," which is up for Best Picture in Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony. It shows McCain's photo defaced with blue stripes and says, "John McCain: Nominee for Best Conservative Actor."

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[The ad] is insulting to Native Americans here in Arizona and across America," said Shiree Verdone, McCain's campaign manager. "Mr. Hayworth is welcome to debate the challenges facing our state and nation, but this kind of character assassination has no place in the Republican Party, and Mr. Hayworth should ashamed of his campaign for running it.”

When asked for a response to Kyl's complaint, Hayworth spokesman Jason Rose told AZ/DC: "We respectfully decline the request and would encourage Senator McCain to get a sense of humor. After all, if Sunday's show did have an award for best election year flip-flopping and transparent conservative conversion, the incumbent would surely win the Oscar."

The Hayworth campaign later changed the ad to remove any doubt that they intended to mock McCain as an Avatar, and did not intend any offense to Native Americans as the McCain campaign tried to spin it. Perhaps the McCain campaign should get out more for a little cultural relevancy.

The ad appeared on the same day that mavericky McNasty brought "liberal" Republican Scott Brown (R-MA) (pro-choice, supporter of Massachusetts state run health care, helped to break the GOP filibuster of the jobs bill) to Arizona to campaign for him. GOP star Brown lends campaign hand to McCain. The McCain enablers at the Arizona Republic need to catch up. Sen. Brown's "star" has already faded and he is under attack from conservatives and teabaggers alike.

The convoluted logic in the Republic's spin reporting is dizzying: Brown tapped into widespread anti-Washington sentiment and voter angst over the explosion of federal spending to win election. McCain is the consummate Washington insider (he has been in Congress for almost 28 years) and helped Ronald Reagan to triple our national debt and George W. Bush to double it again. But Sen. Brown did his best to spin Sen. McNasty as a Washington outsider for the editors of the Republic: "So, to try to pin him as a Washington insider is really disingenuous. I don't think people believe it, based on his record of independence and maverick style." The only people buying this load of crap are the editors of the Arizona Republic.

Further stomping on that "Washington outsider" talking point was Barry Goldwater Jr., who said at the rally "You don't throw away that seniority for somebody who's going to start out on the back bench." I guess he didn't get the memo.

Sen. McNasty demonstrated, once again, how out-of-touch with reality he is when he hailed Brown as "one of the great political heroes in American political history" and called his Massachusetts victory "the election heard 'round the world." Two years from now Sen. Brown will just be an asterisk in American political history. A "great American hero" he is not.

The Rachel Maddow Show gets it right with this parody ad for Sen. Scott Brown's trip to Arizona on behalf of Sen. McCain.

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The folks at NBC believe Sen. McNasty is vulnerable and in the primary fight of his life. NBC Nightly News aired a segment on the GOP Senate primary as did, of course, Countdownwith Keith Olbermann on Friday. So why is Rodney Glassman still singing for his supper?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy