Citizens Clean Elections Debate for Governor

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Wow. I can't believe what I just watched, it was just … Wow.

Now you all know why Jan Brewer will not agree to a series of debates. She does not want the public to see the real Jan Brewer on display last night. This was the Jan Brewer I have known and I have warned you about, not the fictional character portrayed favorably in the Arizona media.

The Arizona media has an obligation to demand a series of debates between these candidates and to expose Jan Brewer for what she is – a demagogue. The Arizona media also has an obligation to fact check the claims being made by the candidates, not to simply provide a "he said, she said" play-by-play. The voters have a right to this information to make an informed decision. E.J. Montini gets it exactly right in his column today at the Arizona Republic. E.J. Montini – The gubernatorial debate that wasn’t.

I don't know how anyone can watch this performance and come away with any other conclusion than this woman is dumber than a box of rocks. It began with Brewer's brain fart in her opening statement. After that inauspicious openning it all went downhill from there. If you watch closely you can almost see the squirrel in her head spinning the wheel as she struggles to remember the attack lines that Chuck Coughlin gave her: it's the "union cartels" fault! It's Obama's fault! It's Janet Napolitano's fault! The depth of her knowledge is limited to her latest attack ad.

Jan Brewer also demonstrated she believes that she can lie with impugnity because the Arizona media has given her a free pass for so long. The queen of making up shit was telling whoppers last night, the most glaring of which is that she balanced the state budget. I have been reporting on the "Jan Sham Budget" since March. The Accidental Governor signs the Jan Sham Budget. Jan Brewer and this Republican-dominated legislature have failed to balance the state budget on time for two years in a row, for the first time in Arizona history. It is long past time that the Arizona Media call her out for such lies.

Finally, you saw demonstrated last night the mean-spirited, nasty-to-the-bone Jan Brewer I have warned you about. Watch how Brewer gets a twinkle in her eye and smiles when she delivers the ineffectual attack lines that Chuck Coughlin gave her. Brewer draws emotional pleasure from believing that she is sticking the knife in her opponent. What she does not realize is that she demonstrated for all the world to see that she lacks the temperament, character and judgment to serve as governor of Arizona. Is this really the kind of person you would want as a friend, or a neighbor, or representing you?

Arizona needs a genuinely honest and decent person of cool-headed demeanor and who has the experience and knowledge to lead this state out of our crisis. That person is not Jan Brewer.

A Note to the Citizens Clean Elections Commission: Your statutory obligation is to provide a candidate "debate." What I saw last night can in no way be termed a "debate." You have failed your statutory duty.

It does not appear to me that there were any ground rules other than the order in which candidates were to speak and the length of their opening and closing statements.

I have attended and participated in candidate debates and forums too numerous to mention and I have never seen such a poorly moderated "debate." Candidates are to be given equal time to respond to questions and held to their time. Candidates are not to be permitted to talk over one another in an attempt to shout down their opponent and to extend their time to speak. Candidates are to be courteous to one another and to await their opportunity to speak during rebuttal time. I have never seen a moderator so completely lose control of a "debate" and to allow it to turn into the farce above.

In the future, I strongly recommend that the Citizens Clean Elections Commission not retain KAET for debates or to use Ted Simons as a moderator. Mr. Simons, you should be embarrassed and you should apologize to your viewers for your woeful performance as a moderator.