Former Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ), who is challenging Sen. John McCain in the Republican primary, is now coming under fire — and firing right back — for suggesting that it might have been a bad thing if McCain had won the 2008 presidential election.
“I’ll repeat what I said in the debate the other night. If John McCain had told the truth about Barack Obama the way he’s spreading falsehoods about me, he’d be president right now,” Hayworth told a Tea Party group in Phoenix. “And I don’t know if that would be so fun. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like the guy we have there now. But I think the last thing we needed was a progressive trying to wear a Republican cloth coat as president of the United States.”
The Associated Press then reported on Hayworth’s comment, saying that Hayworth “suggests the country would be worse off had McCain won the 2008 presidential election.”
Here’s that video:
The AP’s characterization got Hayworth sufficiently ticked off that he called into a local talk radio station, with host Barry Markson, to complain.
“I was saying two separate things. Number 1, that of course I supported John McCain, but he would not have been my first choice for the nomination. And, obviously, now that I am supplying a genuinely conservative alternative to Mr. McCain, Republicans have an honest-to-goodness conservative to back.”
Hayworth also attacked the press for carrying such a spin, saying that they were trying to curry favor with McCain campaign spokesman Brian Rogers. “With their unending quest to be ideologically on the left side of things (reporters) completely mischaracterize what I said because they take this guy’s word for it,” said Hayworth, also adding: “It’s absolutely false. But you know what? More power to them, but I mean if you guys want to believe that kind of tripe.”
Also notable in the video is that Hayworth accused the National Republican Senatorial Committee of spending money to help McCain in the primary, wasting funds that could go to help Republican candidates in general elections. The Arizona Republic then asked NRSC spokeswoman Amber Marchand whether the committee was spending money in Arizona. Her answer: “Nope.”
The TPM Poll Average gives McCain a lead of 53.6%-32.1% over Hayworth. The primary will be held on August 24.
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
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