Best known for his extreme nativist stance, J.D. Hayworth is challenging incumbent John McCain for his senate seat in the GOP Arizona primary. The former Congressman lost his House seat in 2006 in large part due to his vehement anti-immigrant rhetoric, including fear-mongering over “illegal invaders,” rabidly defending Minutemen groups that hunt for people crossing the border, objecting to a bill to turn undocumented immigrants and anyone who helps them into felons as not doing enough to stop a “massive invasion,” and supporting a three-year ban on legal immigration from Mexico.
In this campaign, Hayworth has been endorsed by ALIPAC, a nativist organization “characterized by hysterical fear-mongering and xenophobic, anti-Latino conspiracy theories,” according to the Center for New Community, and backed by white supremacists, Neo-nazis, and anti-Semites. Yet when McCain’s campaign called on Hayworth to say this kind of endorsement was not welcome, he refused; in fact, he’s proud of the extremist group’s support.
Nativism isn’t the only thing Hayworth’s famous for: he also made news recently for comparing same-sex marriage to the absurdity of a person marrying a horse. Michael A. Jones writes on our Gay Rights blog, “It seems a little weird that in 2010, we still have to argue with lawmakers that gay marriage is not about establishing rights for people to marry their pets.” has been tied to a real absurdity: the Birther movement. Conveniently, Hayworth has spewed a lot of his crazy on his radio program, giving the McCain campaign ample fodder to call him out on associations like this one.
Disturbingly, Hayworth is creeping up on his opponent, partly due to anti-incumbent sentiment in the country: a Rasmussen survey released Thursday puts McCain at 48% and Hayworth at 41%, although McCain is viewed favorably by a much greater percentage of Arizona voters.
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