The Arizona GOP formally censured Senator John McCain, citing his voting record as being too liberal.

Associated Press:

The resolution to censure McCain was approved by a voice-vote during a meeting of state committee members in Tempe, state party spokesman Tim Sifert said. It needed signatures from at least 20 percent of state committee members to reach the floor for debate.

Sifert said no further action was expected.

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers declined to comment on the censure. But former three-term Sen. Jon Kyl told The Arizona Republic (http://bit.ly/1mIyKyy ) that the move was "wacky."

"I've gone to dozens of these meetings and every now and then some wacky resolution gets passed," Kyl told the newspaper on Saturday. "But most people realize it does not represent the majority of the vast numbers of Republicans."

Kyl also said McCain's voting record was "very conservative."

McCain isn't up for re-election until 2016, when will turn 80. He announced in October that he was considering running for a sixth term.

According to the resolution, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee has campaigned as a conservative but has lent his support to issues "associated with liberal Democrats," such as immigration reform and funding the federal health care law.

Several Republican county committees recently censured McCain.

Timothy Schwartz, the Legislative District 30 Republican chairman who helped write the resolution, said the censure showed that McCain was losing support from his own party.

"We would gladly embrace Sen. McCain if he stood behind us and represented us," Schwartz said.

McCain may be "conservative" but is he conservative enough for Airzona?

Apparently not. Then again, it depends on how you define conservatism. Here's where McCain runs into problems because the ever-narrowing definition of conservatism by some Republicans is beginning to leave out more and more politicians who were at one time, embraced by the right but who have since run afoul of one litmus test or another.

This list includes Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, Scott Brown, John Cornyn - all were at one time considered acceptable conservatives but have since become fallen angels according to many.

Kyl is wrong. It's only wacky if you're on the outside looking in. Otherwise, this is just another demonstration of GOP tribalism run amok.