Sarah Palin, Dick Armey, Grover Norquist, Scott Brown support John McCain; what J.D. Hayworth supporters can do

Sarah Palin, Dick Armey of Freedomworks (see the update), Grover Norquist, and newly-elected senator Scott Brown are all supporting John McCain in his Senate re-election bid. Meanwhile, Chris Simcox dropped out of the GOP nomination earlier today, and has endorsed McCain's strongest rival, JD Hayworth. The last is running as the True Conservative against the RINO McCain.

1. This is yet another example of how the tea parties types are useful idiots; all four of those first listed above are associated with that movement: Armey helped organize the major Washington DC protest, Norquist has helped organize other protests, Palin recently spoke at their convention, and Brown was elected in part due to their efforts. Yet, they're supporting a RINO whose loose border policies will lead to more spending and less power for those in the tea party base.

2. McCain is - as always - very vulnerable on the immigration issue. The problem is that few want to challenge him to his face and show how he's wrong, and those who do ask bad questions. If you'd like to reduce McCain's chances, follow the question authority plan and find a smart, experienced questioner who's familiar with immigration to really press him on immigration, then upload videos of the exchanges to video sharing sites. You have to follow the plan to the letter: the person who asks the questions has to be smart, experienced with "cross-examining" people, familiar with immigration matters, and has to ask the right questions.

For starting points, see our immigration questions for Republicans and our coverage of his former (?) advisor Juan Hernandez. I'm willing to help craft questions specific for McCain if anyone is willing to follow the plan above. If you are, leave comments here and on the front page until I notice you; I don't review every comment on this site so you'll need to leave a few.

UPDATE: In comments, Steve points out that Armey has released the following statement (freedomworks.org/blog/bstein80/dick-armey-did-not-endorse-john-mccain):

The New York Times reported recently that FreedomWorks chairman Dick Armey has endorsed Sen. John McCain in the GOP primary in Arizona. This is not the case, although this story has been picked up and repeated by countless media personalities and reporters around the country.

This seems to be a good case study in how false information can make its way around the internet and the airwaves before it can be corrected. But we wanted to post a quick statement for all of you who have asked us about this.

A clarification of his position would be appreciated; if he's not endorsing McCain does he still support him, or will he support the pro-borders Hayworth, or will not support anyone?

Comments

Lonewacko, Finally CNN is admitting that immigration is a key issue in at least one border state Senate race. Wolf Blitzer asked Hayworth how he could possibly expect to win being so tough on immigration enforcement in a state like Arizona which is 30+% of Latino descent. Hayworth hit that one out of the park. I expect McCain's pole numbers to continue to shrink and that he will drop out in the next month or so. Also don't kid yourself immigration played a huge part in why here in Indiana Evan Bayh(NumberUSA Report Card C). stepped down. The corrupt pro-open borders Republican establishment tried to have ex-senator Dan Coats(NumberUSA Report Card D) come back from Washington where he has been a buck racking lobbyist for the last 12 years. Coats candidacy is hopeless. What Bayh really feared is getting his ass kicked by ex-congressman John Hostettler an arch-christian conservative however with a NumberUSA Report Card of A. Indiana voters are extremely angry that State Speaker Pat Bauer, a very close confidant of Bayh when he was governor, has almost single handedly blocked the Delph E-Verify legislation 3 years in a row and Bayh did nothing to help Hoosiers persuade Bauer that we deserved better than one man no vote. Hoosier Democrats are in a rush to get Brad Elsworth who replaced Hostetler in the house in 2006 to declare his bid for the Senate immediately so they can get the signatures necessary in each county by Friday. Elsworth supports the Save Act. I seriously doubt he would do a "Gillibrand" if elected. Either way Indiana is likely to send an immigration enforcer to the Senate.

I don't think any of those people are popular enough to be a deciding factor, even taking all of their endorsements together, are they? McCain's status as an incumbent, plus his presidential candidacy (even though he proved to be a world-class loser) will help him more. He is still vulnerable though, and even all of the above may not be enough to save him.

Hope you're right llamajockey. I know Coats has bad grades from Numbers. Regarding Armey, he has at least publicly backed off his support of McCain (although he has sung McCain's praises and obviously can't be trusted). This is on Freedomworks: "The New York Times reported recently that FreedomWorks chairman Dick Armey has endorsed Sen. John McCain in the GOP primary in Arizona. This is not the case, although this story has been picked up and repeated by countless media personalities and reporters around the country. This seems to be a good case study in how false information can make its way around the internet and the airwaves before it can be corrected. But we wanted to post a quick statement for all of you who have asked us about this."

_Either way Indiana is likely to send an immigration enforcer to the Senate._ That would be a start. But without doing something about legal immigration, demographic change -- which no one I know wants -- will still come.

McCain is looking confused and worried. I would expect more of his big wig Republican supporters to get cold feet. McCain knows that he will for the first time face the wrath of angry voters enraged over Open Borders if he attempts face to face retail politics in AR. Lots of things have changed since McCain last ran in 2004. The AR real estate market in is the toilet and all that remains are the tens of thousands of unemployed illegal laborers who built tons of housing nobody can now afford or wants and are increasingly turning to drug dealing and gang banging. The last thing McCain wants is for the public to see him have a meltdown on someone's cellphone camera video after being accused of betraying his country over Open Borders. On the other hand for Hayworth it would be pure campaign gold for a bunch of Brown Beret'd Marxists to attempt to get in his face. I am betting McCain drops out to save face in the next month or two. He'll stay in DC where he is loved by the MSM as their idea of a "Maverick" elder statesman. Suffering a brutal ass kicking by Hayworth who can apparently run circles around the tired McCain would not help his reputation.

Remember I said it first BYE-BYE BAYH AND AMNESTY. HELLO HOSTETTLER AND IMMIGRATION MORATORIUM http://www.vdare.com/antle/100215_hostettler.htm

Thanks for the link llama, but it sounds like Coats will still have the establishment and big $$ backing him. It's probably too early for any primary polls between the two, but I'd like to see this. Needless to say, I hope Hostettler wins and I'll throw him send $$.

Steve, Coats threw his hat in the ring just last week and already is about as viable a candidate in the Republican primary as last week's roadkill. The wildly pro-Open Borders Indianapolis Star was all but mocking his bid along with rest of the out of state owned local TV and radio. Then the Bayh withdrawl bombshell hit.