Republicans Under Pressure

John McCain, the Republican candidate in the last presidential election, had to distance himself from immigration reforms he had supported along with Ted Kennedy in 1965. The plan would have called for partial amnesty and reasonable accommodations for undocumented immigrants.

In 2010, to overtake his opponent, J. D. Hayworth, supported by the tea party movement in the senatorial primaries in Arizona, Mr. McCain escalated his rhetoric on the dangers of unregulated immigration. He defended the Arizona law authorizing the verification of identity papers at any time on a simple suspicion — which, in effect, encourages racial profiling. In addition, he called for the construction of a “triple fence” between Mexico and Arizona, and the presence of 3,000 National Guard troops to secure the border.

This new strong speech allowed McCain to take the lead over J. D. Hayworth during the primaries held in August. His victory was facilitated by excessive rhetoric used by his opponent on the recent decision of the Massachusetts Supreme Court legitimizing gay marriage. This decision, Hayworth claimed against all evidence, would permit a man to marry a horse! His rival, retorted McCain, did not have the necessary qualities to be elected by the people.

Other outgoing politicians felt compelled to leave the Republican Party. That’s the case in the situation of Charlie Crist, Republican governor of Florida and senatorial candidate for his party, who preferred to campaign as an “Independent” to avoid a difficult primary and to better confront Marco Rubio, the tea party candidate, in the November elections.