Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Bal]

Except that she's just punching a Mexican over and over.

[Thad]

To wit:

COLMES:What did Colleen do that was inappropriate, Colleen Mathis?

BREWER:Well she acted, uh, inappropriately. Well it was very, pretty much obvious that she in communications, and doing things, uh, not in the public, and the people of Arizona deserve that...

COLMES: You mean she was doing things secretly? Like what?

BREWER: They just simply need to operate in a lawful and open fashion...

COLMES: I'm trying to understand what she did. What are you accusing her of having done?

BREWER: Well, she wasn't operating in the proper manner.

Meanwhile, Arpaio is going with the unusual strategy of tying his campaign to a guy who just lost a historic recall election by 12 points.  (Warning: contains graphic photos and descriptions of Juan Farias Mendoza, who was beaten and Tasered to death by Arpaio's thugs.)

[Thad]

Heard on the radio that Jan and the legislature are seriously considering another go at firing Mathis; they figure if they actually can provide a reason for it, then they'll be in the clear.

Whereas I legitimately think that if she makes a SECOND attempt, she's the next one looking at a recall.

I also heard a legislator -- didn't catch her name -- talking about pushing an initiative to repeal the initiative that established the independent committee and give redistricting back to the legislature.  She spouted some bullshit about how it wasn't really the will of the people (which is odd, because I'm pretty sure that's what a ballot referendum is) and was pushed by Democrats and has failed in every state where it's been implemented.

Which is kinda odd, because our CURRENT district map was also established by an independent committee, and is pretty fucking red.

[Büge]

I also heard a legislator -- didn't catch her name -- talking about pushing an initiative to repeal the initiative that established the independent committee and give redistricting back to the legislature.  She spouted some bullshit about how it wasn't really the will of the people (which is odd, because I'm pretty sure that's what a ballot referendum is) and was pushed by Democrats and has failed in every state where it's been implemented.

They should set up a committee to examine the initiative to repeal the initiative to repeal the independent committee.

[Brentai]

This check will go into funding a committee to decide what to do with this check.

[Thad]

Brewer's still looking for ways to fire the head of the redistricting committee, because, well, she's legitimately stupid.  Honest to God, she may be the dumbest person I've ever seen in American politics.  You watch Dan Quayle or George W Bush speak, you can at least tell what they're TRYING to say.  Even the likes of Palin and Arpaio are shrewd, after their own fashion; at any rate, they're very good at charming people.

Jan -- there's really nothing there.  Most of you probably saw that Daily Show clip last year where she just froze up after being asked a question.  That's not an exceptional occurrence.  See that quote a few posts up where she can't even describe what Mathis did that warrants a firing?  Not only is she not prepared to explain why she is doing the things she is doing, she's worse at bullshitting and stalling than Herman Cain.

Anyhow.  On to the task at hand: after the AZ Supreme Court smacked her down, Jan filed a motion to reconsider; they smacked that down, too.

There are some good bits in there, particularly at the end where it lays out how Jan's approval rating has dropped in recent weeks and how even Arpaio is pretty even on approval/disapproval at this point.

I'm not holding my breath for any more recalls, but if the crazies in the Governor's office and state legislature keep fighting the redistricting committee, ultimately that's going to be good for Democrats, independents, and moderate Republicans.

Oh also the proposed redistricting map combines my district with the one Ben Quayle is currently serving in.  I've never rooted for Schweikert before, but given the choice...

[Bal]

I'm just imagining her clenching her fists, stamping her feet and whining "but I'm the Goveeernooor~"

[McDohl]

Kinda how I imagine Perry.

"What do you MEAN I can't be president?!  I thought being Governor of Texas was a prerequisite!"

[Thad]

Nah, Perry's another on the "not as dumb as she is" list.  Not only is he capable of a nuanced, compassionate stance on immigration, but even his brainfarts don't make him look like he's completely asleep at the switch.  Yeah, people made a lot of hay out of his "What was the third one?" bit, and rightly so, but forgetting one bullet point is not the same as not being able to produce any kind of coherent explanation for your stance at all.

And he's another one, like W and Quayle, who when he fucks up you can at least tell what he's TRYING to say (like in the "is this the Mitt Romney who was before he was before it before" yammering).  With Jan it really IS "But I'm the Governoooor!"

[Bal]

It her face weren't so incredibly taut, maybe she could try pouting.

[Brentai]

The worst part about Perry is that he's going to be known for blowing his candidacy with one momentary lapse instead of blowing his candidacy by being a lackwit in general.

As opposed to Brewer who seems to live perpetually within the Perry Moments.  It's like a nightmarish cross between Groundhog Day and Flowers for Algernon.  I'm convinced that Arizonians are actually the most big-hearted people on the planet and gave her the office out of warmth and pity.

[Bal]

Actually, we just panicked when Obama swiped our old Governor for his cabinet.

[Thad]

The worst part about Perry is that he's going to be known for blowing his candidacy with one momentary lapse instead of blowing his candidacy by being a lackwit in general.

It is ever thus, though; convenient media narratives rule.

Remember, Howard Dean's failure in 2004 had absolutely nothing to do with depleted coffers, a departing campaign manager, and losing the Iowa caucus.  It was the scream, and nothing else.

I'm convinced that Arizonians are actually the most big-hearted people on the planet and gave her the office out of warmth and pity.

Actually, we just panicked when Obama swiped our old Governor for his cabinet.

She was in the right place at the right time: she lucked into Napolitano's chair just in time for SB1070 to come across her desk, and won election to a second term on that and that alone.  She stumbled into the office during that perfect little window where most of the state was still really enamored of this whole racism thing.

She wouldn't have been elected (governor) in '06 and she wouldn't be elected today.  I find that comforting.

But I will never forgive Napolitano for sticking us with her.

[Bal]

I hate that we ended up with Brewer, but I like Napolitano where she is. If only she could be two people.

[Thad]

I don't.  DHS is as goddamn worthless as it's ever been, and I voted for Napolitano for the exact reason that she would veto shit like SB1070.

She's an opportunistic ladder-climber who sold us out the first chance she got.  Her first duty was to her constituents, and she threw us to the wolves.

Then again, I suppose if she'd finished out her term, Pearce would still be in office and we'd probably have a Republican governor who was moderately smarter than Brewer.

[Brentai]

Alex, what is "the Democratic National Committee"?

[Thad]

Heard Brewer on the radio this morning.  Asked why she was continuing the fight even though it's unpopular, she responded (this is from memory but is pretty close to the actual quote), "Well, we could believe the polls, or we could believe that voters don't understand what has happened and what the Constitution says."

So not only is she stupid, she's publicly stating that the voters are stupider than her.

I would very much like for her to keep talking, and for her to keep up this fight.

And while I absolutely believe we're approaching the point where a recall is entirely justifiable, I can't see supporting one.  Because absolutely nobody sane ever runs as a Republican candidate for governor in Arizona.

The last time we had a moderate Republican campaigning for the office?  Jane Hull, 1998.  And she was running because she was the incumbent, having been appointed when Symington was removed.

The last time we had a moderate Republican campaigning for the office, before Hull?  I don't know.  If it was in my lifetime, it would have been a month after I was born; apparently somebody named Leo Corbet ran in '82 and lost to Babbitt.

Anyhow.  '86?  Mecham; became a historical footnote for his opposition to the MLK holiday.  Impeached; convicted of misuse of government funds and obstruction of justice.

'90 and '94?  Symington; indicted for extortion, false financial statements, and bank fraud; convicted for bank fraud but pardoned by Clinton before appeals were done.

'98?  Hull; already covered.  The only moderate in this list, and she didn't originally run for Governor.

'02 and '06?  Salmon and Munsil, respectively.  How bad were they?  Well, let's put it this way: solid-red Arizona twice elected a Democrat who was popularly believed to be a closet lesbian.  Salmon and Munsil could not get elected in the state that elected Mecham, Symington, and, later, Brewer.  They are fringe bloody loonies; Tea Partiers before they were called that.

(In fairness, Salmon came pretty close; Napolitano beat him by about a percent.  In a race where an independent -- my candidate of choice that year, Richard Mahoney -- got about 7%, and a Libertarian got around 1.5%.  Munsil, by contrast, got fucking trounced; granted, that was the Democratic sweep of '06 and Napolitano was the incumbent, but still and all, she beat him by almost 30 points.)

So no, I can't really see supporting a recall of Brewer.  Because the way this state works, her opponent would be someone equally crazy and less stupid.

[Thad]

Lemons has a profile on Brewer in the wake of her book release.  It is very cruel, completely deserved, and a great crash-course on who she is, what her history is, and the myriad things her ghostwriter has lied about.

[Thad]

So remember that Pulitzer-winning piece a few years back about how the Sheriff's Department's relentless pursuit of illegal immigrants came at the expense of stopping actual violent crime?

Well, unsurprisingly, that includes rape.

Much more surprisingly -- and this coming from me, a guy who's not exactly unprepared for stories of corruption, abuse, and incompetence from the MCSO -- the documented cases of botched sex crime investigations number around 400.  (Warning: you'll be happier not reading that article.  I couldn't make it all the way through it.)

Raul Grijalva is calling for Arpaio to resign; good for him.  (Sheriff Joe's response: "YOU leave Canada, please!")

Meantime, Lemons has more on Melendres v Arpaio, which, as you might assume, is a racial profiling case.  A summary judgement hearing is settled for December 22 (thank you, Santa) and the judge sounds less than sympathetic to Arpaio.

[Thad]

Arpaio tries various ways of blaming other people for his office bungling 400 sex crime investigations; announces that he will find more people to blame next week.