Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Arizona Republic columnist Laurie Roberts is back again today with her "Operation Dekookification." Like former Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson, she engages in false equivalencies to assert that there are extremists in both political parties, but the truth is that Ms. Roberts' Republican sensibilities are offended by the Christian Dominionists and the Birthers-Birchers-Secessionists of the Tea Party who have hijacked her father's GOP and the party label.
Ms. Roberts wants registered independents, you know, "the 88 percenters, those independents who don't bother to vote in the primary," to vote for "moderate" Republicans in the GOP party primary this August. Operation going to the next level. Just two of the votes that Ms. Roberts flagged for her "Operation Dekookification" of the GOP:
I don't believe that most Arizonans think the Legislature should concern itself with contraception or the origin of Barack Obama's birth . . .
* * *
Instead, we get a collection of characters obsessed with conspiracies and state sovereignty.
* * *
I am asking you to vote, to buy into this audacious idea that Arizona deserves a Legislature that is actually representative of its citizens.
That is, one ready to move into the 21st century, focused on succeeding in the union rather than seceding from it.
Ms. Roberts states: "To be fair, not all of our leaders are ideologues, just enough of them to regularly land us on Comedy Central."
And that is where you are mistaken, Ms. Roberts. Using two of the votes you flagged for "Operation Dekookification" of the GOP, Rep. Carl Seel's "Birther" bill, HB 2177 (2011), every Tea-Publican member of the House, and every Tea-Publican member of the Senate (excepting Frank Antenori who somehow missed the vote) voted for the "Birther" bill. Every one. The Arizona Legislature became the first in the nation to pass a measure requiring presidential candidates to provide proof of citizenship in order to get on the state's ballot. Governor Jan Brewer had to veto this bill.
As for Arizona's flirtation with sovereignty secession bills, our Tea-Publican legislature passed the "sovereignty" amendment HCR 2004 and sent it to the ballot this fall. Governor Jan Brewer vetoed a companion statutory provision, SB 1332.
For HCR 2004, sponsored by Sen. Chester Crandell, Rep. Brenda Barton, and Sen. Sylvia Allen, every Tea-Publican member of the House (excepting Terri Proud who somehow missed the vote) voted for this secession bill. There were a few Tea-Publican defections in the Senate: Rich Crandall, Adam Driggs, John McComish, Michele Reagan, and Steve Yarbrough.
However, they don't get a pass, Ms. Roberts. Steve Yarbrough was a co-sponsor of SB 1332, along with Sens. Sylvia Allen, Andy Biggs, Gail Griffin, Lori Klein, Al Melvin and Rick Murphy, and Rep. Kimberly Yee. Every Tea-Publican member of the House who cast a vote voted in favor of this bill (Chester Crandell - a co-sponsor, Russ Jones, Jim Weiers and Vic Williams somehow missed the vote). Every Tea-Publican member of the Senate voted for the bill, with the exception of Jerry Lewis -- who did vote for HCR 2004 (and excepting Don Shooter who somehow missed the vote).
Using the votes you flagged, Ms. Roberts, please tell me who are the "moderate" Republicans whom you want "the 88 percenters, those independents who don't bother to vote in the primary," to vote for in the GOP primary this August? There are none.
Now, Ms. Roberts, I know you wrote in an earlier column that you did not want to call for a "Democratic coup" d'état -- a slanderous assertion on your part to impart the sudden, illegal deposition of the extant government -- presumably the GOP majority legislature that has dominated this state since 1966, which your employer clearly prefers.
But really, what is your option to "Dekookify" the Arizona legislature when the kooks, as identified by the votes that you flagged, are all Tea-Publicans? Not one Democrat voted for these bills, Ms. Roberts. Nor did they vote for the contraception/abortion bills you flagged.
If you want your "Operation Dekookification" of the GOP to succeed, Ms. Roberts, there is only but one solution and you know it in your heart of hearts. It's time to give the Democrats control of the state legislature and let them run the state for a change. A massive electoral defeat for the GOP is the only thing that will permit the "Chamber of Commerce" establishment GOP to reassert itself and to take back the GOP from the Christian Dominionists and the Birthers-Birchers-Secessionists of the Tea Party who have hijacked your father's GOP and its label.
So say it with me, Ms. Roberts:
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