I'm somewhat sympathetic to people who struggle with public speaking, but, um, that sympathy largely disappears when those people have or seek power.
First up we have Jan Brewer, Governor of Arizona, who signed and has championed the state's anti-immigration laws, and falsely claimed that illegal immigrants were beheading people in the desert. In a debate with her opponent in the governor's race, this was Brewer's opening statement:
Brewer ignored questions about her "beheadings" claims multiple times:
Later, Brewer finally made a weak backpedal on her claim about headless bodies. Very big of her. It's a tough standard, being expected to not just make crap up, not play demagogue, and to take responsibility for one's statements.
However, despite all this, Brewer still has a commanding lead in the polls, and her train wreck of a debate performance only endeared her more to right-wingers. That's not too surprising, nor is Brewer's decision not to have any more debates.
Next up we have Phil Davison, candidate for Treasurer of the Stark County GOP in Ohio. John Cole describes him sharply as "part Sam Kinison and part Andy Kaufman" (albeit without Kinison's swearing). Be warned that it'll be hard to watch this without laughing:
Cole's comments thread is pretty funny, as well – as folks point out, Davison (who's clearly nervous) has to check where he's from and forgets one of his favorite quotations.
Zandar also points out that Davison pairs well with Republican candidate for Governor of Tennessee, Basil Marceaux. However, Marceaux finished fifth in the GOP primaries, and Davison also lost (Gary Farber gives more background).
As we've seen from the tea partiers, crazy is popular, but not just any form of crazy will do.
In the last four months Jan Brewer has been caught lying, three times and counting.
ReplyDeleteThe comments made on June 16, 2010, and June 27, 2010, clearly indicates that the Brewer says that immigrants are beheading people in the United States desert. She first ran away from the question and the press when confronted with the question. She finally when to FOX/ FAKE News to recant her lie.
When Brewer was confronted with the fact the two of her top Advisors (Paul Senseman, Chuck Coughlin) are lobbyist for “Private Prisons” giant CCA she first ran away from the question and the press.
In an attempt to gain sympathy, she first said her father had died in Germany fighting the Nazi in World War II (which ended 1945) but of course we find out the truth that her father was never in Germany and died in California in 1955. Do you see a trend here?
Brewer signed into law SB 1070 Bill (Did she even read it?), lied about the crime rates in AZ (even Janet Napolitano knows that all crimes rates went down), and now we find out that she is in the pockets of PRIVATE PRISONS who stand to benefit with the increase Federal jailing, and thus they will pay her back, I wonder if it has to do anything about the fact that her son was transferred to a brand new prison, he was convicted for rape and sexual assault, I guess the fruit does not fall far the tree.
“Private Prisons Lie”
youtube.com/watch?v=UMcgXxzcBeY
“AZ Crime Rates”
youtube.com/watch?v=0eb4mMk6XgQ
“Father Lie”
vodpod.com/watch/3771595-charles-krauthammer-rips-jan-brewer-for-lying-about-her-father-dying-in-ww2