Former Senator Kyl named to succeed John McCain

Posted on September 4, 2018 by Personal Liberty News Desk

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has named former Republican Senator Jon Kyl to succeed Senator John McCain.

Kyl was the second-highest-ranking senate Republican when he retired in 2013. He has agreed to serve through the end of the year. If he steps down before 2020, the governor would be required to name another replacement.

A lawyer who was first elected to the senate in 1995, Kyle registered as a lobbyist after he retired and then joined the law/lobbying firm Covington & Burling. In July he was tapped by the Donald Trump administration to shepherd Judge Brett Kavanaugh through the Senate confirmation process.

According to Ballotpedia, Kyle’s voting record makes him a “rank-and-file Republican.” He voted with the Republican Party 95.5 percent of the time, ranking him fifth among 47 Senate Republicans and ahead of McCain in that regard in 2011.

He served as the Senate Minority Whip while the Democrats controlled the Senate. This indicates that Kyl will be much less of a “maverick,” in the mold of McCain and more of a dependable toady for Senator Mitch McConnell.

Kyl has promised he will not run for the Senate – or any other political office – whether he steps down in January or serves the remainder of McCain’s term.

“There is no one in Arizona more prepared to represent our state in the U.S. Senate than Jon Kyl,” Ducey said in a statement. “He understands how the Senate functions and will make an immediate and positive impact benefiting all Arizonans. I am deeply grateful to Senator Kyl for agreeing to succeed his friend and college of so many years.

“Every single day that Jon Kyl represents Arizona in the United States Senate is a day when our state is being well-served.”

Kyl was named one of America’s 10 best senators in 2006 by Time magazine, indicating his nomination is welcomed by the American political elite.

In 2007, Kyl joined with Senator Joe Lieberman to push the Bush Administration into making war on Iran. The Kyl-Lieberman amendment essentially determined that Iran was a danger and “it should be the policy of the United States to combat, contain, and roll back the violent activities and destabilizing influence inside Iraq of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” The Senate should therefore “support the prudent and calibrated use of all instruments of United States national power in Iraq, including diplomatic, economic, intelligence, and military instruments, in support of the policy described … with respect to the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

In other words, Kyl supports the same foreign policy as McCain, that being one for making war on Middle Eastern/North African countries that have not attacked us and pose no real threat. Kyl has also been a dependable vote for the military-industrial complex, always standing in the way of cuts to defense spending.