Angry Johnny Gets Hoffmanned

There's no better example of the Hoffman Effect -- that is the GOP primary races turning so sharply to the right that whoever wins the primary becomes increasingly unable to capture the middle in the general election and loses in a spectacular fashion -- than John McCain.

In his nasty primary battle with JD Hayworth, McCain has gone so far over to the right on most issues you'd mistake him for Jim DeMint or Jim Inhofe.  The latest issue is immigration, pretty much the hot-button issue in the Arizona Republican primary, and McCain's gone all in.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), under fire from the right for not being tough enough on immigration in his Senate primary race, has called on Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano to dispatch National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border.

In a letter sent to Napolitano's office yesterday, McCain says that rising drug violence across the border in Mexico endangers the lives of American citizens. He says the situation now calls for troops to be sent to the "southern border region."

"The people of Arizona and the United States demand and deserve secure borders," he writes. "I hope that you will take a personal interest in ensuring that Arizonans can feel safe and protected on their own property and not live in fear of the increasing violence along the border." 

This is the same guy who wrote the DREAM Act in 2007, you know before it became a complete disaster as the wingers screamed "SHAMNESTY!" at the top of their lungs and practically cost McCain the 2008 Presidential primary before it even started.  He's now calling for armed National Guard troops on the border with orders to...do what, exactly?  Shoot to kill?  Tank columns on Interstates 19 and 8?  Airstrikes to burn down Coronado National Forest?  Landmines in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument?  Laser defense grids?

Don't we have a US Border Patrol already for this?  McCain's been in the military (did you know he was a POW?) so he should of all people want to tread cautiously on militarizing our borders.  And yet here he is, trying to one-up his primary opponent and tossing all that out the window because, well, he's got a primary to win.

And people wonder why I think Republicans are cynical and think American voters are stupid.