Sunday, July 25, 2010

UK Guardian: Hayworth could topple McCain out in a right-wing rebellion

Some excerpts from the article -

Hayworth, far from being out on the edge of Arizona politics, is a politician on the rise. He is challenging Senator John McCain in a right-wing rebellion that could turf the Republicans' most recent presidential candidate out of the Senate seat he has held since 1986. That this even seems possible shows just how powerful the fear over illegal immigration has become in Arizona.

There is fear of a changing country. Hayworth's wife, Mary, said she feared all of America was under threat. "We are so worried about the direction of America. We want our children to have the same freedom and rights that we grew up with," she said.

Or there is a fear that Arizona is now no different to the bloody border provinces of Mexico.

Such rage is being exploited, not tempered, by politicians all across America. Versions of SB1070 have been proposed in almost 20 other states, from Nebraska to Florida to Rhode Island, and embraced by politicians who want to burnish their conservative credentials.

JD Hayworth, a barnstorming Arizona Republican who is campaigning for the Senate, has strong opinions about his state's new law on illegal immigration.

Hayworth has an objection, too. He thinks the law is not enough. Speaking to an overwhelmingly white crowd at a "town hall" meeting in suburban Mesa last week, Hayworth said it was time to stop automatically granting citizenship to anyone born in Arizona. "There is a whole new term: birth tourism. In the jet age there are people who time their gestation period so they give birth on American soil," he declared. State senator Russell Pearce, who helped come up with SB1070, is now pushing for a law along those lines.

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