By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings
Jan Brewer spent most of the spring and summer bolstering her (now-successful) bid for the AZGOP's nomination for governor by playing into the GOP base's fear of the "other," particularly immigrants. She has spent the last few months spouting off about a growing crime wave that is wracking Arizona, particularly immigrant-caused crimes.
...In her statement regarding her approval of SB1070...
...In the Clean Elections debate for the Republican candidates for governor...
...During an interview with Fox News...
...And in numerous other speeches, interviews, and press releases.
She spends most of her time talking up her stance against immigrants, but ignoring the issues that matter most to Arizonans - the state's failing education system (for their children's future) and the state's cratered economy (for their own present and future). She has nothing to address those concerns.
Well, it turns out that she has little more than nothing on crime - her alleged "crime wave" that Arizonans from which Arizonans need protection is nothing but a lie.
From the FBI's 2009 crime statistics for Arizona, released on Monday -
Violent crimes: down 13.9% (compared to a national drop of 5.3%)
Violent crime rate (per 100K population): down 15.1% (nationally, decreased 6.1%)
Property crimes: down 11.7% (down 4.6% nationally)
Property crime rate: down 13% (down 5.5% nationally)
Across the board, crime in Arizona has declined at a greater rate than the decline nationally.
I'm guessing that at some point, Brewer's handlers told her to keep driving home the "crime is up" talking point, probably both to bolster support for her among the fearful GOP faithful and to subtly undermine the credibility of the Democratic nominee, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard.
However, lying so brazenly only serves to further undermine her credibility as a candidate best qualified to lead Arizona into the next decade.
And after her dreadful performance during the televised debate with Goddard, she needs to shore up her credibility, not undermine it.
I enjoyed reading this post. It is unfortunate that still many Arizona voters will vote for Brewer in this upcoming election. Regardless of the lies and misconceptions that she continues to spout to the public, she continues to gain supporters. Why is this? SB1070. It does not matter what she says about anything anymore because she signed the controversial immigration bill is why people will continue to support her. The immigration issue in Arizona clouds important concerns such as, like you said, our failing education and economy. If she continues to focus on the concerns on immigration the one issue she has made a move with, it will continue to look like she is actually doing something for this state.
Posted by: Voteaz.wordpress.com | September 15, 2010 at 06:48 PM