Arizona GOP censures McCain for "insufficiently conservative" voting record

State Republicans called the senator's support of "liberal" issues "disastrous and harmful" to the state and nation

Published January 26, 2014 6:25PM (EST)

The powers that be in the Arizona Republican party are none too happy with renegade John McCain who, in their eyes, appears to have gone soft. On Saturday, the party formally censured the senator, citing his "insufficiently conservative" voting record and support for issues "associated with liberal Democrats," like immigration reform and Obamacare.

State party spokesman Tim Sifert told the Associated Press that the resolution, which characterized McCain's record as “disastrous and harmful” to the state and nation, was approved during a meeting of state committee members in Tempe. "Only in times of great crisis or betrayal is it necessary to publicly censure our leaders," it read. "Today we are faced with both. For too long we have waited, hoping Senator McCain would return to our Party’s values on his own. That has not happened."

Timothy Schwartz, the Legislative District 30 Republican chairman who helped write the resolution, added that the censure demonstrated McCain's loss of support from his own party, which could affect his prospects when he next comes up for re-election, in 2016.

"We would gladly embrace Sen. McCain if he stood behind us and represented us," Schwartz said.

The resolution has no practical effect, and Sifert said that no further action was expected -- the censure, according to the Arizona Record, was merely an attempt to embarrass the senator.


By Lindsay Abrams

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Arizona John Mccain R-ariz. Republicans