Former Sen Kyl sticks up for McCain after Arizona resolution

Former U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., dismissed Saturday's censure of GOP Sen. John McCain by Arizona Republicans as a fringe gesture. McCain, Arizona's senior U.S. senator -- and the Republican presidential nominee in 2008 -- was the target of a resolution passed Saturday by the state Republican Party that blasted his supposedly liberal voting record. Kyl told the Arizona Republic in Phoenix that hard-right Arizona Republicans frequently use resolutions to chide McCain for being too liberal, but they have had little effect on McCain's electability. "Do these guys ever get elected? It's John McCain who gets elected," Kyl said. "To say that John McCain doesn't work with Republicans, doesn't have a conservative voting record -- that's just baloney." Kyl dismissed Saturday's resolution, which passed on a voice vote, as "wacky" "But most people realize it does not represent the majority of the vast numbers of Republicans," Kyl added. Republicans who passed the resolution said McCain could not be counted on to support his fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill. "McCain always works with Democrats but not with Republicans," said Timothy Schwartz, the author of the resolution.