Is Pearce on the defensive?

by David Safier

Russell Pearce doesn't come off at all well in a Phoenix News 10 12 piece about a Tea Party rally at the Capitol. When reporter Wendy Halloran asked him when we're going to see those invoices he promised for Fiesta Bowl-supplied tickets, he got angry. What a surprise! His reply:

"You know what, you're not going to come in and ambush me with these kind of games!"

Ambush? Games? She was just asking him if he had delivered what he promised. When she said her job is to hold him accountable, he shook a finger at her — the gesture had a mildly threatening, "Watch out what you ask me" feel to it — and said,

"Your job is not to harrass."

Asking for Pearce to make good on his promises is harrassment? For my money, telling brown people to "Show me your papers" is harrassment. This is a reporter doing her job of reporting.

When Pearce realized he couldn't shake her, he came up with the weakest reply I have ever seen from him. He scrunched up his shoulders like a little boy who was asked by his teacher to show what he was holding in his hand and said,

"I don't have to show you anything."

But someone actually came off worse in the video than Pearce. It was a man screaming at protestors. A few of his words were bleeped out, so I'm going to put what I think he said in brackets, based on some amateur lip reading.

"The United States has a higher standard of living than Mexico because it's populated by white people! . . . Mexico is a [fucking shitbag]!"

Halloran ends with an "official" statement from the organizers which may be an early indication that the Tea Party ascendancy in on the wane.

"Tea Party officials defend their decision to have Sheriff Arpaio speak and Senate President Russell Pearce, saying they haven't been convicted of any wrongdoing."

That's a far cry from the Tea Party's usual belligerent, take-no-prisoners posturing.

(h/t to Arizona Hispanic Republicans for the link)