Pima County GOP: Too extreme to understand the optics

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Mike Shaw, interim Pima County GOP chairman: "We didn't go out to buy a Glock to make people mad – not at all," Shaw said. "There are some people who are sincerely offended or maybe even hurt, and I feel bad about that. It was not my intent, or anybody's intent, to hurt anyone at all."

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, pal.

Maybe the Pima County GOP should hire its District 29 chair, James Kelley, to handle media for the party. He at least understands the optics of this exercise in extremely poor judgment. Pima GOP's Glock raffle spurs outcry:

James Kelley, Republican chairman in Legislative District 29, which mostly is in Tucson, said Giffords is such a beloved figure in his community that he instinctively knew the Glock raffle would draw criticism. He urged his fellow Republicans to, at the very least, hold the raffle at a private party event.

"Let's make this perfectly clear: I advised against this raffle from day one," said Kelley, who also is on the Pima County GOP's executive committee.

"I said, 'This is insensitive and stupid and a no-brainer. Do not advertise this.' The chairman and our executive director did the wrong thing. They said, 'Well, we've done it before.' Yes, but not since January 8, and we shouldn't be doing it now."

Linda Valdez of the Arizona Republic drives home this point today in Tucson GOP shoots own foot :

Pima County used to have a reputation for sending moderate, thoughtful Republicans to the Legislature. That’s changed in recent years. Dramatically.

Just in case anybody thought there were any reasonable Republicans left in southern Arizona, the Pima County Republican Party decided to show how far off the edge of the Earth they have fallen. That Tucson GOP organization wants to raise money with a raffle of the same brand of gun used to shoot Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 18 other people in January.

Bad taste? That hardly covers it.

It looks like a calculated in-your-face gesture. The word “adolescent” comes to mind.

Are there any rational adults left in Tucson’s GOP? Maybe. Get a magnifying glass.

The Republicans couldn’t manage to get a candidate for mayor of Tucson on the primary ballot in the usual way. After two candidates were disqualified for petition problems, Rick Grinnell stepped up and won a place on November’s ballot by getting more than 5,700 write-in votes in this week’s primary.

Now the GOP has a candidate for mayor of the Old Pueblo – a Democratic stronghold that currently has the very reasonable and kindly Republican Bob Walkup as its mayor. He’s retiring.

But wait! Who let Grinnell into the raging elephant corral? Grinnell is a reasonable, moderate fellow. The word “adolescent” does not come to mind after a conversation with him.

So how is he going to get any of the fire-breathing, pistol-packin’ Republicans to vote for him?

Mr. Kelley's wise counsel is badly needed when Mike Shaw answers this question, "So why persist in the face of opposition?" this way County GOP's gun raffle draws criticism:

"Now it's an opportunity to remind people it's not the gun that kills people. It's the person with the intent," Shaw said. "The Glock has as little to do with what happened that day as a No. 2 pencil has when someone cheats on a test. Jared Loughner is responsible for what happened."

When you are so blinded by extremism that you cannot concede your error or even comprehend the error of your ways viewed through the lens that the public views your actions, and then you compound your error by resorting to ridiculous hyperbole, you are in the wrong job my man. This is the first rule of holes: "When you are in a hole, stop digging!" Turn the Pima County GOP's media relations over to Mr. Kelley — he at least "gets it." Mr. Shaw needs to shut up.