John McCain: I’m in ‘the race of my life’

The kidz at POLITICO Tiger Beat on The Potomac have a report on Arizona’s angry old man, Senator John McCain. It seems McNasty is worried that Donald Trump at the top of the GOP ticket will be a drag on his reelection prospects.

Well, I don’t know Johnny, maybe Trump should pick the halfling governor of Alaska, the Quitta from Wasilla, Sarah Palin as his running mate, like you did. Would that make you feel better?

From the kidz, McCain on tape: Trump damages my reelection hopes:

Publicly, John McCain insists Donald Trump will have a negligible effect on his campaign for reelection. But behind closed doors at a fundraiser in Arizona last month, the Republican senator and two-time presidential hopeful offered a far more dire assessment to his supporters.

“If Donald Trump is at the top of the ticket, here in Arizona, with over 30 percent of the vote being the Hispanic vote, no doubt that this may be the race of my life,” McCain said, according to a recording of the event obtained by POLITICO. “If you listen or watch Hispanic media in the state and in the country, you will see that it is all anti-Trump. The Hispanic community is roused and angry in a way that I’ve never seen in 30 years.”

Audio link: McCain sweats Trump at fundraiser – POLITICO.

The 2008 GOP presidential nominee is certainly the favorite in his race to win a sixth term in the Senate. But his remarks about the party’s presumptive nominee expose a deep well of concern about how Trump might damage the GOP’s chances in the battle for Senate control — especially in states like Arizona, Nevada and Florida, where Latinos make up a big chunk of voters. Republicans are defending two dozen seats this year, many in blue and purple states, vs. just 10 for Democrats — a daunting landscape even without Trump atop the ballot.

Sen. John McCain will skip the Republican convention — The Republic’s E.J. Montini, Not buying Sen. McCain’s lame excuse for skipping GOP Convention.

McCain has said he’ll support the nominee, and he is in better shape to hold onto his seat than many of his vulnerable Republican colleagues. But if Trump’s nomination turns out to be more than a minor drag on down-ballot Republicans, McCain — who’s expected to face Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, a credible Democratic challenger — could easily become a top target. One of his former top aides, Mark Salter, has already said he will support Hillary Clinton for president.

Trump, of course, entered the race promising to build a wall along the southern border and calling Mexican immigrants “rapists” and “murderers.”

Just like McNasty did during his 2010 reelection campaign when he appeared with Studboi1, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, saying “Complete The Danged Fence” (video). Not many degrees of separation there from “The Donald.”

Latinos make up 22 percent of eligible voters in Arizona, 18 percent in Florida, 17 percent in Nevada, 14 percent in Colorado and 10 percent in Illinois, according to Pew Research. All are states with competitive Senate elections, where GOP candidates will have to decide whether to break with Trump.

“I would argue that we are living a [Prop.] 187 moment at a national level,” said Maria Teresa Kumar, president and CEO of Voto Latino, referring to the controversial 1994 ballot measure in California widely blamed for turning the state blue. “It’s very, very tough for a senator to get out of that.”

Well, that remains to be seen. As the old saying goes, “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.” Success with registering Latino voters is not the same thing as success in turning Latino voters out to actually vote.

Arizona’s Latino voter districts have some of the worst voter turnout performance in the nation. If Arizona’s Latino voter districts just turned out to vote at the same precentage as the rest of the state, there would be fewer Republicans elected to office in Arizona today. True story.

“The bottom line is that there is a price to be paid for belonging to a party that explicitly endorses a very virulent anti-immigrant agenda,” said Kica Matos, director of immigrant rights and racial justice at the Center for Community Change Action. “You can’t divorce John McCain from the person who is more likely than not the Republican presidential nominee.”

The nonpartisan National Association for Latino Elected and Appointed Officials projected that 13.1 million Latinos will cast ballots in November. That would be a 17 percent increase in turnout and an 8.7 percent boost in the Latino share of the electorate from 2012, when Obama trounced Romney by 44 points among Latino voters.

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Gallup found in March that 77 percent of Hispanics in the United States had an unfavorable view of Trump, while just 12 percent had a favorable view of him.

Latino Decisions, a Latino-specific polling firm that has done work for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, reported even higher figures. In an April poll, Trump earned an unfavorable rating from 87 percent of Latino voters.

In a late-April interview in the Capitol, McCain said his reelection bid is “not particularly” different than past campaigns despite Trump likely being at the top of the ticket. His brand in Arizona, McCain said, is strong enough to withstand any fallout from Trump.

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[A]t the fundraiser on April 8, though, McCain admitted Trump is an X-factor.

“Frankly there’s an element of nativism in it as well, as you know. The first wedge that Donald Trump had that gave him notoriety was, ‘Build a wall,’ ‘rapist,’ ‘murderers,’ etc.,” McCain said at the event in Phoenix. “And so, this is going to be a tough campaign for me.”

It’s the perfect year for Kirkpatrick, whose House seat is perpetually competitive, to put her name on a statewide ballot. In an interview, she said as long as McCain continues to back Trump in the presidential contest, the business mogul will continue to do damage.

“Latino voters in Arizona, and especially young Latino voters, are going to play a huge role in who will represent Arizona for the next six years,” Kirkpatrick said. “They are absolutely appalled by Trump’s hateful rhetoric.”

Selecting Sarah Palin to be “one heart beat away from the presidency” was reckless and irresponsible enough. Supporting the short-fingered vulgarian Donald Trump as the nominee of the GOP in 2016 shows that he has learned nothing from his mistakes.  It demonstrates McCain’s complete lack of character, honesty and judgment, and his recklessly irresponsible indifference for the safety of this nation.

After 30 years of this buffoonish cartoon caricature, haven’t Arizonans suffered enough already? For the love of God man, retire and take the wife on a cruise.

I have used Oliver Cromwell’s dissolution of the Long Parliament in 1653 with reference to John McCain many times: “You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately … Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!”