17 Months Out from Election: McCain's Angry, Desperate Friends Spitting Fire
There are angry, intolerant and intemperate remarks, and then there are the hateful, if not despicable, remarks of J. Charles Coughlin.Coughlin is the president of Phoenix-based High Ground Public Affairs Consultants, an organization which really should put a leash on its leader. He was the chairman of Jan Brewer's gubernatorial transition team and has been named "Best Political Operative in Arizona” by the left-stream media outlet Arizona Capitol Times. "Political Vulture" would be a more apt descriptor.In his commentary, "The Dark Soul of the Tea Party Movement," Coughlin savages the Tea Party and State Senator Kelli Ward without actually having the courage to name her.Ward has been quite critical of Senator John McCain and may even run against him next year. But Coughlin writes her candidacy would "die in the darkness of her own soul."To write such frothing, over-the-top remarks, one must surely be seated in a dark place himself. For a McCain apologist, one must share the senator's contempt for conservatives and conservatism.And especially for the Tea party.Dripping with contempt, Couglin writes:
"I find that most Tea Party advocates, such as the State Senator from Mohave County, appear to lack any gratitude for the fact that we live in the greatest country on Earth. When I listen to a good deal of their rhetoric, I am drenched in negativity; the politics of vilification, the hatred of those who want to blame others for the challenges that confront our country today.
"I am drenched in negativity." Have truer words ever been stated? Though Coughlin wasn't attempting to point three fingers back at himself.
The Tea Party has become the “Party of No” and that is not the Republican Party I am a part of. It is not the party that John McCain, Jan Brewer, Fife Symington, Grant Woods (all of whom I have worked for) represent. It is not the party of Jon Kyl, Jeff Flake, or Doug Ducey, either. All of these leaders are the products of American exceptionalism, a country based upon the notion that we are all created equal and are endowed by Our Creator with certain unalienable rights and among those is the right to pursue life, liberty and most of all, happiness.
The gloves are off. McCain: censored by numerous Republican organizations in the past 10 years, subject of two recall efforts -- all pre-dating the Tea Party. The man who spent thousands of dollars to oust conservatives from leadership in his home legislative district. The failed candidate who offered only token resistance to Barack Obama.Senator Jeff Flake: McCain's hand-picked successor to Jon Kyl. Rewarded for agreeing with McCain on amnesty.Former Attorney General Grant Woods: member of every short-lasted attempt in recent history to move Arizona to the Left; little or no resemblance to a Republican.Brewer: stampeded by the Left into spiking religious freedom in Arizona.Symington: removed from office by scandal, and used by McCain to try and muscle conservatives out of power in his home legislative district.Have these folks not been the cabal of "no"?Sounding almost teary-eyed Coughlin continues:
Senator McCain is dedicated to the future security of our State's border and the resolution of an immigration debate which has the greatest impact on the future of our State's economy to grow, to thrive, and to create opportunities for others – to continue to give life to the American dream.
That dream will never be realized by McCain's political track record and philosophy. But how dare anyone entertain a thought to challenging "the chosen one" in the 2016 election.Thank God for the Tea Party, which never would have been needed if establishment Republicans like McCain, Flake, Graham, Dole, Romney, McConnnell, Boehner, McCarthy, King and others hadn't continually aimed low for the status of perpetual minority party. And succeeded.Their likenesses are destined to be enshrined on the Mt. Rushmore of "no majority."It was at the Tea Party's insistence that the House of Representatives was wrested away from the Left in 2010. It was the Tea Party which helped win back the majorities in both chambers, despite the "minority addicts" digging in their heels along their stubborn road.You can leave the soul of America to the Tea Party and feel good about it. The same cannot be said for McCain and the other dissidents standing on the fringe of the Republican Party.But before we adjourn, let it be known to Coughlin, Woods and others that when McCain faced a challenge in 2010, he glad-handed the faux "Tea Party of Scottsdale's" support. When the heat was on, he revised his own history to morph into a "Reagan foot soldier."Coughlin claims we need more leaders like McCain. The truth is McCain has never been a leader. He's been an agitator. Better said, he's been a thorn in the party's side for several years now. He and McConnell fought the party base on cutting the size of the government behemoth, a pyrrhic victory if ever there was one.Finally, Coughlin writes of a peaceful, joyful, loving spirit. That isn't what we've seen in McCain, Woods and their friends. We've seen nothing close to that. They are the company of "no" to much of what the Republican Party says -- in print -- that it stands for. Obama and the Democrats are a minor distraction; it's the conservatives in our party who are the chief irritant.And now it's the Tea Party that has become the Republican wing of the Republican Party -- because the recalcitrants reject that role.To quote the Arizona Tea Party site: Tea Party patriots favor the "core principles of free markets, fiscal responsibility, and constitutional government. They share a renewed interest in our heritage and particularly the meaning and intent of our constitution."When is the last time you heard McCain or Woods speak like that? Never. If McCain wants to get re-elected so bad, he ought to adopt the platform of the Party of Lincoln. He ought to adopt the Tea Party's principles, join the club and give it a powerful voice in the restoration of an American government badly misshaped by socialists and weak-kneed Republicans who caved amidst the Leftist wrecking ball's deconstruction.And, Senator McCain, if that is too much to ask of you, then please step aside and allow Dr. Kelli Ward to gain the GOP nomination. She will provide a "new, positive, principled voice for Arizona in Washington." She is already receiving strong encouragement to run in 2016.
