Dems Notice McCain Still in Hospital, Block Emergency Measure Directly Related to Him
Arizona Sen. John McCain has done plenty of things for the Democrats during his time as a Republican lawmaker. Now, of course, the man who’s represented the Grand Canyon State for three decades remains in the hospital with cancer, likely marking the end of his career and worse.
One might think that, as a gesture of bipartisanship for McCain’s condition, the Democrats would be accommodating when it came to an emergency measure to replace him. After all, opposing it would be unseemly, and —
Oh, wait, what? Ah, sorry, one of the producers just reminded me over my earpiece that it’s 2018 and pretty much everyone in politics goes for the jugular. And that’s why Arizona Democrats are blocking an emergency measure that wouldn’t put McCain’s seat on the ballot this November if he was medically unable to resume his duties.
“U.S. Senate vacancies are filled by a governor’s appointee, with the seat on the next general election ballot,” KNXV-TV reported.
“The secretary of state has interpreted that to mean that if McCain’s seat is vacated by May 31, it would be on the August primary and November general election ballot. The new proposal changes that to 150 days before the primary, or March 31 of this year. That takes McCain’s seat out of play.”
However, the vote takes two-thirds of Arizona’s Senate, and Democrat Senate Minority Leader Steve Farley refuses.
“They’re trying to make it really easy to appoint someone to two and a half years without an election to a U.S. Senate seat should the current holder of that Senate seat resign or no longer be able to hold office,” Farley said.
“The thing is, we’re all going to vote against it as Democrats, so they won’t get their emergency. It’s silly for them to put it on and think we won’t notice.”
McCain was hospitalized for intestinal surgery over the weekend in Phoenix and remains there.
This isn’t just a partisan move, though. Sen. Jeff Flake, McCain’s RINO compatriot in the upper house, is stepping away this year. Currently, the frontrunner for the GOP nomination is Rep. Martha McSally, a former colonel in the airforce and a reliable conservative. A poll taken last week showed her at 36 percent, at least 10 points clear of both Joe Arpaio and Dr. Kelli Ward.
And there’s where the trouble begins. If, because of McCain’s condition, a second election is forced, one of those two are likely to be the next person up. Arpaio has a distinguished if controversial career as a lawman, but it’s a massive jump from county sheriff to senator. Then there’s his age and the fact that his adversaries are going to be more than willing to throw every cubic meter of mud in Maricopa County his way — particularly his conviction (and subsequent pardon) as well as his stance on illegal immigration.
As for Ward, well, this is an individual who once hosted a town hall meeting to vouchsafe to her constituents that chemtrails weren’t actually real. This earned her the sobriquet “Chemtrail Kelli” — a somewhat misleading moniker, since she didn’t actually don the tinfoil hat of chemtrail theory, but any sensible individual would have just sent an email to her constituents explaining in “Sesame Street” terms how condensation, jet air travel and contrails work and called it a day.
Her pro-life bona fides aren’t exactly consistent or stellar either and her announcement, shortly after McCain’s diagnosis, that he should “step away as soon as possible” didn’t exactly rub people the right way.
McSally is already losing slightly in the polls to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema, and with the “blue wave” the media is fond of discussing this could mean that a second race — featuring a generic Democrat against either Ward or Arpaio — could mean both of Arizona’s red seats turn blue.
Now, if this comes to pass, the likelihood would be that the Democrat would only serve for two years before a 2020 election which likely wouldn’t go quite as smoothly.
One prays, of course, that John McCain is able to serve out his term. Yes, we may disagree with the man on occasion. On many occasion. On almost every occasion. That said, he’s a war hero, and he deserves better than to be rushed out of office so that the Democrats can steal another seat. And yet, that’s what McCain gets from the people he tried to work with across the aisle. Welcome to liberalism in 2018, Mr. McCain.
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