McCain and Flake censured

John McCain and Jeff Flake
John McCain and Jeff Flake

SADDLEBROOKE, Ariz. – On Friday, Aug. 11, The Saddlebrooke Republican Club (SBRC), one of the largest Republican organizations in Arizona, voted unanimously to censure both of Arizona’s Senators, John McCain and Jeff Flake.

Saddlebrooke is a census-designated place in Pinal County just north of Tucson with a population of about 10,000.

According to SBRC, the centerpiece of what they do is host monthly education programs with forums addressing subjects such as border issues, radical Islam, Medicaid expansion, as well as updates from public officials.

In the press release announcing their censure, SBRC stated, “Sen. John McCain, after running for reelection on a ‘repeal Obamacare’ platform and after seven plus years of Republican attempts to repeal Obamacare, turned his back on the people of Arizona and voted to keep Obamacare. Sen. McCain abandoned support of candidate Trump as the Republican presidential candidate and has continued to attack our president after the election. Sen. McCain has shown himself to be not a Republican expressing American values but a closet progressive espousing globalist values.”

McCain has been censured on a number of occasions and in 2016 the Maricopa County Republican Committee passed a resolution by a vote of 921 to 582 titled “Anybody BUT McCain,”

In their censure of Flake, SBRC stated, “Sen. Flake also abandoned candidate Trump as the Republican presidential candidate and has continued his attacks post-election. Sen. Flake was a co-sponsor of a bill to restore freedom of travel to Cuba without demanding the release of political prisoners or the cessation of torture. Sen. Flake’s vote in favor of Obama’s illegal executive scheme earned Sen. Flake the title of Sanctuary Senator. Despite the title of his most recent book, Sen. Flake is no Barry Goldwater.”

A Morning Consult poll conducted last month to determine the popularity of each senator in his or her home state placed McCain and Flake in the bottom three, trailing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, most unpopular members of Congress.

Another Morning Consult poll, revealed Arizonans think highly of President Donald Trump, which could explain their disdain for Flake, who has been a staunch “never-Trumper” whose book “Conscience of a Conservative: A Rejection of Destructive Politics and a Return to Principle,” released Aug. 1, profoundly criticized Trump as well as his fellow Republicans.

At the same time, McCain has repeatedly earned their wrath by voting against the GOP and the will of his constituents.

Then, when he returned to the Senate after being diagnosed with brain cancer, McCain publically berated both parties for their hyper-partisanship that has brought Congress to a standstill.