COVID-19 & Healthcare

Gubernatorial debate today on Women’s issues

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ProtestorsDoug Ducey and Fred DuVal face off one final time in a debate presented by two prestigious women’s groups, Arizona Women’s Forum and Charter 100.

WHEN: 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 14.

MODERATOR: Former Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor.

SPONSORS: SRP and Wells Fargo Bank.

Go to azcentral.com to watch the debate live.

Here is an op-ed today by the women’s groups hosting the debate. Pay attention, ladies: This election matters:

For the first time in 17 years, Arizonans will be electing a man to become the next governor of our state. Arizona’s last four governors have been women — a record in our nation.

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The fact that the Democratic and Republican gubernatorial candidates selected two women’s organizations for their final debate Oct. 14 at the Camelback Inn in Paradise Valley demonstrates the recognition of the critical importance of women in elections.

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AZ Republic endorsement of Ducey is a giant FU to women and naive besides

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

Frowny Ducey

I expected this since the AZ Republic endorsed three Dems for statewide races and the publisher of the paper, and publisher John Zidich is known to be a pal of Ducey, but I was struck by the sheer obtuseness of their endorsement of Doug Ducey for Governor.

He speaks of the need to streamline an executive branch that sprawls across an organizational chart. He promises to be a vigorous and visible salesman for the state, speaking the language of CEOs.

He knows what national business leaders look for, and that’s why we have no fears that a Ducey administration would usher in anything like SB 1062, the right to refuse service bill. For one, when Ducey led Cold Stone, the company provided insurance for the unmarried partners of its employees. “The things that are the right thing to do are good for business,” he says. “That’s how you attract good people.”

For another, he knows when SB 1062 did the most damage to Arizona’s image: after it was passed but before Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed it. “I’d rather it not get to my desk than have it get there and have to veto it,” he says.

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‘If it’s Sunday, it’s John McCain’ (making a complete ass of himself again)

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mcain grimaceArizona’s angry old man, Senator John McCain, the man who has never been right about anything in his life, is still somehow the heartthrob of the Sunday morning bobble-heads. I guess the bobble-heads in the Beltway media see McCain as a kindred spirit. He is frequently as inane and recklessly wrong as they are, and yet they all manage to keep their jobs. It’s an exclusive club to which they all belong.

When McCain is not war mongering for yet another war or to bomb some country to defend America’s honor over some offense, he engages in reckless fear mongering. On Sunday, McCain had a date with Candy “cringe worthy” Crowley at TeaNN’s (formerly known as CNN) State of the Union, and the topic was Ebola. Michael Hiltzik of the LA Times takes it from here. Why don’t we have an Ebola ‘czar,’ Sen. McCain? Because of the NRA:

Donning the mantle of the nation’s scaremonger-in-chief, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., appeared Sunday morning on CNN to weigh in on the latest Ebola news. The nugget he and host Candy Crowley were chewing over was that a healthcare worker who had been helping to care for Thomas Duncan, the Ebola patient who died Wednesday in Dallas, has contracted the disease despite wearing protective gear.

Prompted by Crowley, McCain complained, “We were told there would never be a case of Ebola in the United States and obviously that’s not correct.” He said, “There has to be some kind of czar” to manage the disease in the U.S. “I’d like to know who’s in charge, among other things.”

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Barber Wins Spirited Debate, as McSally Ducks Questions

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Last night’s televised debate between CD2 Congressman Ron Barber and Republican challenger Martha McSally was livelier than I had anticipated. In the end, it was obvious that Barber had won the debate. He answered the questions with concrete, specific examples and ideas, while McSally displayed great skill in avoiding actually answering most of the questions.

Barber was the real surprise of the evening for me. He came out swinging from the beginning with a bow to women’s right to choose and acknowledgement of the landmark SCOTUS ruling on gay marriage (two things McSally is against). It’s a good thing he led with these issues because they differentiate the two candidates and otherwise would not have been raised. (As Donna Greathouse has pointed out, debate moderators have repeatedly deemed women’s rights as not worthy of one question.)

In the beginning of the debate, both candidates tried to prove they were the most independent (since this highly competitive district has so many independents). Barber touted his record as the “fourth most independent” Congressman, which means he bucks the Democratic Party routinely. In fact, McSally’s charge that Barber does what Minority Leader Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi tells him to rings particularly hollow with most Democrats who wish he would do just that!

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The trouble with E.Orr: Women’s issues are just ‘wedge politics’

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EyeoreSince science has not yet figured out how someone can be in two places at the same time, I was unable to attend the LD 9 House Debate Monday night moderated by Jim Nintzel of the Tucson Weekly. Our “Woman of Steele” Rep. Victoria Steele and super-hero Doctor Randall Friese debated the mythical moderate Republican Ethan Orr aka “E.Orr.” From what I have heard from those who were in attendance, E.Orr got served. I look forward to the Weekly’s write-up for the details of this debate.

The Arizona Daily Star also attended the debate (shock!) but so far the only reporting is reporter Joe Ferguson’s tweets of the debate last night. Let’s focus on this exchange regarding the abortion bill for surprise, warrantless searches of abortion clinics, HB 2284, from Cathi Herrod and the Center for Arizona Policy. (The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a similar law in 2004. The Court ruled that the statute’s authorization of “warrantless, unbounded inspections of their offices” violated constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure):

Screenshot from 2014-10-07 11:10:41

Screenshot from 2014-10-07 10:59:15

E.Orr is attempting to deflect from the GOP’s war on women, using a tack similar to what we have seen from Tea-Publicans elsewhere of late.

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