J.D. Hayworth Publicly Throws the Obama Birthers Under the Bus; Accuses McCain of Distortion and Distraction

J.D. Hayworth has publicly come out and thrown the Obama Birthers under the proverbial bus while at the same time taking some punchy swipes at his political foe, John McCain, against whom he's running for the senate in Arizona, accusing him of distortion and distraction. Appearing on the O'Reilly Factor, Hayworth personally distanced himself from the Birthers' beliefs by asserting unambiguously and once and for all that he believes Obama was born in Hawaii. Before this stunning Factor admission, Hayworth had appeared as though he was flirting with the Birthers' beliefs, never completely saying he agreed with their message, however generally fanning speculation about his true position with appearances on Hardball and Campbell Brown's show, in which he called for candidates in general to present their birth certificates.

Hayworth's admission out of his own mouth, publicly, for the first time comes on the heels of some John McCain cheap shots and low-blows as far as political ads go. On Wednesday, John McCain's re-election campaign put out a web video which disgracefully ties-in what's an obvious plan of "guilt by association"-Hayworth to Orly Taitz and Phil Berg, hardcore proponents of the Birther allegation that's largely been discredited by many prominent conservatives. Predictably, the McCain camp's ploy was to make Hayworth out to be some lunatic kook as the Birther "movement" is routinely ridiculed by the left, which strongly believes it's an effective way to discredit conservatives in general.

Talking to Bill O'Reilly and responding to the McCain cheap shots in the ad, Hayworth made it clear beyond the shadow of a doubt that his clip and sound byte featured in McCain's ad were in fact from his radio show, but were not intended as confirmation of his so-called Birther beliefs. Rather, Hayworth claimed that these were merely put out there by him to provoke conversation...you know, with him being a radio guy and all. When asked point-blank by O'Reilly if he considers himself a Birther, Hayworth responded with a resounding "No! I'm a broadcaster."

This disowning of the Birthers-though, it must be said, Hayworth never publicly identified himself as being aligned with their cause, per se-comes at an inconvenient time for Orly Taitz as just a couple of days ago, she posted comments on her website which seemed to rail against McCain and even defend Hayworth in the face of the McCain web attack-video. I assume she can't be too happy about this since she probably thought Hayworth was on board with her beliefs and group in light of all the insinuations he was making.

On the issue of McCain himself, Hayworth got his litany of shots in on McCain, rattling off a list with ease that included McCain's embarrassment of voting for the bailout, his subsequent complaint that he was "misled" over the bailout, the amnesty program a few years back, and his refusal to vote for the Bush tax cuts.

The discussion then switched gears to whether Hayworth would have the wherewithal to actually beat McCain, seeing as how well-funded he is from years of being active in Arizona politics. On the back of that, the discussion became mired in an almost uncomfortable misunderstanding when O'Reilly seemed to imply that McCain would immediately and automatically have the backing of conservative Hispanics in the GOP just because he supported amnesty. This of course implies the more unflattering connotation that all Hispanics would, like brainless automatons, just support amnesty based on their shared heritage with illegal immigrants, which is naturally nonsense. O'Reilly clarified that he in fact meant that conservative Hispanics would flock to McCain because he's been such "a friend" to them over the years.

Clearly, this Factor appearance was intended by Hayworth to fully shed himself of the baggage that his perceived association with the Birthers was imposing. His disavowal of the Birthers is also meant to signal that he's a mainstream candidate, someone unequivocally without ties to so-called "fanatics." In politics, you can always tell when someone wants to be a serious contender for office by how many perceived liabilities they end up disowning. In Hayworth's case...the Birthers, as in Obama's case...Reverend Wright, his own grandma, and oh-so-countless, many others.

To send Marc questions, praise or criticism, you can email him at marc_schenker@telus.net

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Sources:

Sam Stein, McCain Ties Opponent To Birther Queen Orly Taitz, Huffington Post

Vincent Rossmeier, The right bails on Birthers, Salon

The Birthers: Who Are They and What Do They Want?, Gawker.com

Andy Barr, Birther defends J.D. Hayworth, hits John McCain, Politico

Dan Nowicki, Sen. John McCain: I was misled on bailout, Azcentral.com