Senate-hopeful J.D. Hayworth took aim at Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) Thursday at CPAC, saying that the Arizona senator “campaigns claiming to be a conservative - but legislates as a liberal.”
Hayworth, who is challenging Sen. McCain for the Republican ticket in the Arizona senate race, also claimed that McCain has infringed upon the First Amendment rights of American citizens, namely through bipartisan efforts at campaign finance reform. Many conservatives claimed this limited free speech through regulation of people and corporations financing political campaigns.
Hayworth, speaking at a CPAC panel titled “They Want Us to Shut Up: Saving Freedom and the First Amendment,” said “there are those who claim to be conservative, who are perfectly fine with stripping me, and stripping you, of…constitutional rights.”
Hayworth also claimed that a radio station was pressured to take him off the air - by members of McCain’s staff. “That is the fact,” he said. “And you wonder why John McCain is facing this challenge? It is because, after 28 years in Washington, he may claim conservatism…but it’s time for him to come home.”
