Over the past year, a lot of Republicans have been caught up in the inter-party fights. While it saddens me, I can’t say that I’m surprised. We had our clocks cleaned in 2006 and the race for our next White House nominee is as fluid as mercury. We’re pointing fingers on spending, immigration, and who knows what tomorrow will bring. We’re accusing people of not being conservative enough, or too conservative, or too bone-headed, or too liberal, or too wishy-wash, or being a “RINO”, and heaven knows what else.

If Republicans want to know who is truly carrying our core message, then they have to look no further than a man sitting at his desk, in an office on the 7th floor of the Hart Senate Building in Washington. Arizonans need to look no further than our own backyards.

Who has consistently been fighting the expanse of government? Jon Kyl. Who has been the voice of fiscal sanity in the Senate? Jon Kyl. Who has always been working to ensure that responsible policy makes it to a vote, and thoughtless legislation makes to a desk drawer? Jon Kyl. Republicans wonder who is a true Conservative these days, well the answer is yet again, Jon Kyl. If you look at the Senators record, you’ll see a man who has stood up for fiscal conservatism, strong defense, a free market, offense in the War on Terror, limited government, the end of pork, family values, and the things that we as Republicans embrace.

Republicans are not the only people who believe in these ideas either. What American doesn’t want the government to stop wasting money? What American doesn’t want our nation to be safe against our enemies? The truth of the matter is that just about every American believes in the core values of our party, because we have ideas that work. But some Republicans failed to deliver on those convictions. It is why we lost in 2006. But we can still bring back the principles that our party was founded on all those years ago in a Wisconsin schoolhouse.

The person to bring us back there? Jon Kyl. A man who has proven he stands for the true ideals of our party, and he doesn’t do it for fame. He doesn’t do it for glory. He has said that he believes he is more effective if he isn’t in the spotlight, center stage. If he doesn’t want the attention, then why does he do it? Because he believes in it. He believes in it.

We all can look up to Jon Kyl, and we can all be thankful that this Senator, this Statesman, represents us in Washington.

Ever watchful, ever mindful.

The Guard
Arizona Watchtower

If you have not heard of the news by now, then let the Watchtower be the first to tell you. Our Senator, Jon Kyl is well on his way to becoming the Senate Republican Whip - that’s the #2 position for you non-politico type. If Senator Kyl steps into the position, it would be a move that brings back the Conservative ideals of our late, great Senator Barry Goldwater. Those ideals of course being a philosophy bound to fiscally responsibility, and the principles of limited government.

Thus far, Senator Kyl has the backing of out-going Whip, Senator Trent Lott, and the only person who was considering challenging him for the position, Senator Lamar Alexander, has instead opted to run for #3 post as the Republican Conference Chairman, the position that Kyl currently holds. Lamar has endorsed Kyl’s bid for Whip.

If Senator Kyl does become the Whip, it would be the first time since Democratic Senator Ernest McFarland, that an Arizonan has held such an influential leadership post. McFarland was the 8th Senate Majority Leader during the 82nd Congress. Senator Kyl being the GOP Whip would be the highest that an Arizona Republican has thus far ascended in the Senate leadership.

The Watchtower could not think of a better person to lead the charge in the Senate, especially in these times when Republicans need someone to show our party the way back to our true values.

Ever watchful, ever mindful.

The Guard
Arizona Watchtower

It is a bit of a slap in the face at true fiscal conservatives when some members of Congress claim to be for spending sanity one day, and loading a bill with pork the next.

That is exactly what happened yesterday as the Senate was debating whether or not certain members pet projects should be allowed to remain attached to the 2008 Labor Heath and Human Services spending bill. Tom Coburn (OK) and Jim DeMint (SC) waged a battle against pork barreling on the Senate floor, taking one victory and losing another.

The victory came against Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton’s $1,000,000 earmark for a “Woodstock Concert Museum” in New York. That project was cleared away in a 52-42 vote, in which 5 Democrats joined the Republicans in doing so. But then in an amazing back-flip, 13 Republicans voted to keep Congressman Charlie Rangel’s $2,000,000 project for the “Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Policy, the Rangel Conference Center, and the Charles Rangel Library at the City College of New York.” The Senate voted to sustain that pork 61-34.

Luckily for us Arizonan’s, conservatism still flourishes in our state, and our own Senator Jon Kyl stuck to his guns on true fiscal reform and voted to wipe out both earmarks. Other states aren’t as lucky as us to have conservatives of the Goldwater-Reagan ilk.

Ever watchful, ever mindful.

The Guard
Arizona Watchtower

Arizona Senate President Tim Bee has released his fundraising numbers for his exploratory committee, and things are looking good.

President Bee formed his exploratory committee on the tail end of the 3rd quarter, and in just a little over a months times managed to bankroll an astounding $135,000. 135K for someone who is not a candidate yet, is legally not allowed to talk about some national issues at the moment, and has only been raising dollars for a short number of weeks, 135K is a HUGE sum.

That number is compared to Bee’s would-be opponent, Ms. Giffords, who raised $225K in the past 3 months, her lowest quarter total since being elected to Congress.

It doesn’t help Giffords much either that the Arizona Democratic Party keeps giving free press to Tim Bee by getting short-breathed, saying that Bee is breaking Arizona’s Resign-to-Run Law by having formed his exploratory committee. Unfortunately for the Dems, Bee is completely within the legal bounds of his exploratory phase, and they know there is nothing they can do about it.

But a little thing like the law doesn’t keep Democrats from spitting vinegar. Back in September, the AZDEM’s said they had their lawyers looking into whether or not President Bee is violating the law. Here it is over a month later, and I know I haven’t heard a thing from their lawyers. What does that mean? They discovered something quite shocking…Tim Bee is following election laws!

Let the D’s be afraid, because President Bee will just keep flying strong.

Ever watchful, ever mindful.

The Guard
Arizona Watchtower

Sorry about the brief hiatus. I don’t do this professionally nor full-time, but that would be nice because then I could be as lazy as I want to be about everything else!

But if you want to get my opinion of the happenings of the past few weeks they can be summed up as follows…

Larry Craig needs to pull his head out of his wide stance.

May not have a firm pick on a Presidential candidate, but it is definitely not Ron Paul.

It was good to see Fred Thompson in the last debate, but he did little to wow.

The AZ-D’s keep giving free press to Senate President Bee and its fun to see.

Ever watchful, ever mindful.

The Guard
Arizona Watchtower

A new video supporting Senate President Tim Bee!

The Arizona Watchtower applauds Congressman Shadegg and Senator Kyl for their statements condemning Columbia University allowing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak on campus, and saying what must be said about Iran and their President.

Frankly, the man should not have been allowed to step one foot away from the United Nations building.

Washington, Sep 20 - Congressman John Shadegg(R-AZ) today issued the following statement on Columbia University’s invitation to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak at the University:

“Columbia University disgraces and embarrasses the United States with its invitation to a man who is personally promoting the death of American soldiers in Iraq. To allow someone who cheers the death of Americans and seeks to develop nuclear weapons to use against the United States and its allies, particularly Israel, is outrageous.”

—–

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) today released the following statement on Columbia University’s decision to allow Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak at the university. “I deplore Columbia’s decision to allow the Iranian president to speak on its campus. This is not a question of free speech: no one is questioning Columbia’s right to have Mr. Ahmadinejad speak. This is a question of decency and respect and judgment.

“Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the president of a country that ruthlessly crushes freedom, routinely tortures and imprisons its own citizens for crimes like expressing political views opposed to those of the government, and supplies weapons to Iraqi insurgents who use them to attack innocent Iraqis and American soldiers. He does not deserve a platform to speak at any university or at any other institution of freedom, including the United Nations, whose charter expresses its determination to protect the ‘fundamental human rights’ routinely denied in Iran.

“Mr. Ahmadinejad is not someone to be invited to present an alternative view or interesting counterpoint to the mainstream position. His presence at Columbia is an affront to the American soldiers and Iraqi civilians who are right now in danger from his country’s weapons, to the Israeli people whose country Mr. Ahmadinejad would like to wipe off the map, and to any human being who values freedom and respects the dignity of the human person.”

Ever watchful, ever mindful.

The Guard
Arizona Watchtower

Last week I read a post over at Sonoran Alliance about Senator Kyl pointing a finger of blame at the AZGOP. This post was parallel to an article published in the Sierra Vista Herald about the Senator meeting with local political activists and community leader groups in Sierra Vista.

This article in the Herald quoted Senator Kyl as saying, “I don’t think the state party is doing everything it can.” As well as saying that the state of the Arizona Republican Party is not good.

Needless to say, quite a stir has been created in the blogosphere and Arizona political community, and I really had to wonder why the Senator would make such a statement, especially to a group of party activists. Well after speaking to a member of the Kyl Senatorial staff, things became much more clear.

What I learned was that Senator Kyl was simply summing up the numbers he sees being produced by the AZGOP. Those numbers being voter registrations and dollars raised. The Senator believes that these numbers are not what they should be. Between April and July 3,619 news Republicans were registered in Maricopa County. The Democrats registered 10,036 of their own. The most astonishing number was 14,007 new Independent registrations. The total Maricopa registrations are 641,630 GOP; 453,289 DEM; and 423,871 IND.

Statewide things aren’t looking any better. Between April and July 4,288 new Republicans were registered. The D’s grabbed 14,313. Again, the surprising number was the new Independent registration at 39,782. The totals statewide are now 1,023,508 GOP; 873,301 DEM, and 2,649,367 IND.

As far as money goes I’m not sure what the AZGOP has raised, but I’ve been told it is next to nothing. Now one could make the argument that Republicans still have the advantage, but I’m confident that the Senator is more interested in keeping our distance far ahead of the Democrats, and trying to bring more Independents into our camp.

So what Senator Kyl is trying to tell us faithful Republicans is that we may be a Red State, but we don’t have the luxury of our Republican-edge being self-sustaining. We Republicans need to keep up the fight. When we are a united party, we win. So the work is far from over and we have 14 months in which to do what is necessary to deliver Arizona to our Republican nominee and take back CD5 and CD8, as well as keep CD1.

Thank you for the wake-up call, Senator Kyl.

Ever watchful, ever mindful.

The Guard
Arizona Watchtower

Major props to Tom over at Think Right AZ for producing this video about Tim Bee!

Watching C-SPAN right now. Senator Kyl is taking on Senator Kerry over the current Iraq resolution. Needless to say that Kyl is kicking the crap out of Kerry. Kerry is also being rude, interrupting Kyl at every turn. Luckily for us Arizonan’s, our Senator is handling Kerry in a very statesmen-like manner.

Oh great, the floor has just been yielded to Ted Kennedy. I wonder what’s on Comedy Central…

Ever watchful, ever mindful.

The Guard
Arizona Watchtower