Stirewaltisms: The Self-Defeating Anger of Arizona’s Republicans

It may cost them winnable races for Senate and governor.

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THE SELF-DEFEATING ANGER OF ARIZONA’S REPUBLICANS

PHOENIX—Greetings from the Grand Canyon State, where the book tour and the campaign trail intersect for me today.

Maricopa County is an apt place for that to happen, given that nearly two years after I was privileged to be part of the Fox News Decision Desk team that called Arizona for now-President Biden, that projection is still in the news. I am proud to have been a part of that little moment of history, and it’s very nice to hear the kind things I’ve heard on my  visit here—and to have not heard any of the unkind words I’m sure some folks were thinking. But I think Arizona deserves a break.

The people of this state have had it pretty bad when it comes to politics in the past decade or so: the effort to undo Biden’s 2020 victory here, the bitter struggle over the state’s aggressive 2010 laws concerning illegal immigrants during the Obama era, and even the attempted assassination of one of its members of Congress.

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  1. Randall Briggs

    "The people of this state have had it pretty bad when it comes to politics in the past decade or so . . . ."

    Wouldn't it be more accurate to write that "the people of this state have DONE it pretty bad"?

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  2. Nikitas Hatzimihail

    Thank you (and your team) for being the only serious people this week to use the Latin plural for the Latin word referendum. Referenda all the way!

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  3. Deborah

    I object to the premise that Doug Ducey has delivered for this state. His response to Covid was horrific- AZ had one of the highest rates of infection and death - because, well, the economy. He has corrupted and stacked the state Supreme Court (didn’t hear many cries in agony from the conservatives when that happened- but hey SCOTUS can’t be touched). He has stacked and corrupted public agencies to deliver partisan, not policy, advances. He has time and again tried to decimate public education doing the bidding of Betsy DeVos and the alliance for school choice. He is MAGA-light and done NOTHING to create a future that is less partisan. He should be the poster boy of “business leaders” who suck at governing. Now I’ll go read the rest of the article.

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    1. Jim S

      Thanks for mentioning the Supreme Court maneuver. For all the breathless speculation about Democrats expanding the SCOTUS for political reasons Ducey did exactly that here in AZ. He was in line to appoint enough judges to gain a majority but realized he could expand the court and appoint his own supermajority. Which is what he did and wouldnt u know it…suddenly he has favorable rulings for all kinds of weird meddling in the power structure of state government.

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    Bono Vox

    And so I checked all the registered voter ahistorical facts
    And I was shocked into shame and anger to discover
    How Scari Lake is the eighteenth pale descendent
    Of some old crony capitalist pig Trump or other
    Stirewalt, I cannot tell you how many more friends I must of lost [respect for] like you and your fellow Dispatch crew. To wit, to a person, all my MAGA hat wearing, Trump bumper sticker sporting Sicko fans have a seemingly bizarre reflection when I ask each the same exact questions: Do you believe Donald J Trump a liar…et al answer “No”, like it is such a strange question to begin with.
    I have to drive by [pornographic] signs with Scari Lake everywhere, pictured like above, as if they are some happily married couple, just saying “Trump-Endorsed”, with that being as if it is enough said, therefore vote for me. What did the South Korean President say of. Trump voters again. My former friends truly believe in their heart of hearts, not their brains, that the election was stolen. To everyone who has parroted their dear leader that the election was rigged I have said- Why doesn’t the whole world know your middle name? It is your duty! Grand Theft Oval Office would be the crime of the century!!! Oh yeah, and since you dig that grotesque crockumentary Lose Change, I mean 2,000 miles, you mind telling me their donkey ass names and addresses, because it’s high time you and I make like patriots and organize an Arizona militia….Funny thing is, like Americas Biggest Sore Loser Donald j Trump, no Scari Lake fans can name a single conspirator in the so called fraud of the 2020 election, because none of Trumps Sicko fanatics have yet to come to grips, I mean grasp that The Don made up the election was stolen whole cloth. After all, The Don doesn’t lie. Such is the state of my state. God save The Queen, NOT! Galgon take me away. Gotta run on.

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    Marty Allday

    Lord in Your Mercy, Hear our prayer.

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    Paul Britton

    “refferenda” ???

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  7. Jeffrey S. Goldberg

    Masters, Lake, Walker, and Budd will win. Don’t underestimate how toxicity of the Biden-dem brand.

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  8. rc4797

    "It may cost them winnable races for Senate and governor." GOOD. I'm completely disgusted with these people. The idiot in Pennsylvania - who apparently can't remember which side of the Civil War the Republican Party was on - travels with his own "Christian" preacher who hawks coins to suckers.
    As a now former Republican - who gave up earlier this year after more than 40 years - I firmly believe this group would make Barnum proud.

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    Stephanie

    " . . . but probably not as many as McMullin has alienated with his journey left from conservative alternative to Democratic doyenne."

    Amusing to picture Even McMullen as a dignified female. Doyen (masc.)/doyenne (fem.) = dean (literal translation from the French).

    Even if you changed it to doyen so gender agrees, I don't think the Democrats consider him a dignified authority figure, though I'm sure they like him.

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    Phil H

    Chris, I don't think I have said this before. I well remember your calling Arizona for Biden on election Night 2020 on Fox, when no other network called Arizona. I thought that was crazy. It was certainly gutsy.
    But it was the right call.
    And since it led to your ending up on The Dispatch, it all worked out.

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