Fact Check

McSally flip-flops, The Republic spins a manufactured scandal

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pearl clutchThe editors of the Arizona Republic today had their Washington Bureau reporter, Erin Kelly,  file a report in support of their manufactured scandal over the allegedly Vile ad by Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC regarding Martha McSally’s opposition to closing any loopholes in federal gun laws, a fact that The Republic’s own AZ Fact Check rated four stars “True.” The purpose of Kelly’s report, Giffords’ group pulls TV ad attacking McSally, is summed up in one graph:

The ad appeared to backfire on Giffords’ group, leading to headlines like one in Politico on Sunday declaring “Gabby Giffords gets mean.” The ad also was denounced Friday by the Arizona Republic Editorial Board, which said the ad “exploits a family’s tragedy to score cheap political points.”

The Republic’s editorial on Friday was cited by the kidz at POLITICO Tiger Beat on the Potomac on Sunday, and now The Republic is citing Tiger Beat in this report on Wednesday. This is the purest example of how the “Closed Conservative Information Feedback Loop” works in action: The Republic is effectively citing its own editorial opinion.

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Michele Reagan is having a really bad week

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Michele Reagan, the co-author of the GOP Voter Suppression Act (HB 2305) who is running for Secretary of State, is having a really bad week in the press — and it’s only Tuesday.

The Republic’s E.J. Montini hammered Ms. Voter Suppression in his column today. Reagan runs from Pearce’s words. What about his beliefs?:

MicheleReagan[T]here’s no way I can keep pace with all the Republicans sprinting away from former Senate President, state party vice chairman and SB1070 sponsor Russell Pearce.

Folks like Secretary of State candidate Michele Reagan. All of a sudden Reagan doesn’t like Pearce.

(Republicans never liked Pearce, apparently, except back when they loved him.)

Not long ago Pearce said something on his radio show that sounded like he was okay with sterilizing women on Medicaid. Once word of the comments went public, candidates began scurrying like a certain type of insect when the lights go on.

Reagan quickly sent out a tweet saying, “The obnoxious comments made by Russell Pearce were both disgusting and offensive. Let it be known, he is NOT the voice of my GOP. #Resign!”

Weird.

Before the primary election Reagan make a big push to get the endorsement of Pearce’s buddy and law-writing partner Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach. It was Kobach who did most of the legal work that produced Arizona’s infamous SB1070, which Pearce pushed through the legislature.

When Kobach endorsed Reagan over the summer she proudly told the Republic’s Mary Jo Pitzl, “I voted for SB1070.”

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Fact Checking Doug Ducey’s new ad

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“Cathi’s Clown” Doug Ducey began his general election campaign with what the GOP-Friendly Arizona Republic (it endorsed Ducey in the GOP primary) referred to this way: GOP governor nominee Ducey airs new upbeat ad:

ice creamThe 30-second ad shows Ducey speaking one-on-one to the camera, sitting at a conference table in a business meeting and speaking in a park with constituents.

“The next governor comes in at a time of real opportunity,” Ducey, the former CEO of Cold Stone Creamery, says in the ad. ” On day one, I want to put forward a plan to kick-start our economy. I want to make our tax code more simple, I want to sign a moratorium to stop any new regulations going forward, and I want to have a bill that helps fund and clear our wait list at our finest schools.”

He continues, “The border’s critical, but so is growing the economy and creating jobs. I built a business, now I want to shrink a government and grow an economy.”

I recommend that political reporters invest in an Enigma machine to break the conservative code language that Dicey Ducey speaks in. Let’s break it down.

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RGA attack ad fails the sniff test

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bullshitjWell that didn’t take long. The day after the election, the Republican Governor’s Association (RGA) was on the air with an attack ad against Democratic gubernatorial candidate Fred DuVal. The RGA would have you believe that Fred DuVal is single-handedly responsible for tuition increases at Arizona colleges during his tenure as a regent on the Arizona Board of Regents. (By the way, the Governor is an ex-officio member of the Arizona Board of Regents. Ariz. Const. Art. 11, Sec. 5).

The ad requires Arizonans to erase from their memories the recent history of our Tea-Publican controlled Arizona legislature making  devastating budget cuts to higher education over the signature of Gov. Jan Brewer since the start of the Bush Great Recession in 2007.

Here are some helpful reminders for those of you who suffer from short-tern memory loss, from The Atlantic. A Truly Devastating Graph on State Higher Education (March 20, 2013):

The chart below from the Center On Budget and Policy Priorities estimates how much each of the 50 states has slashed per-student funding for its university systems since the start of the recession, adjusted for inflation. In Arizona, where the cuts were the deepest, funding has been hacked in half. Nationwide, legislatures have sliced off 28 percent on average.

CPBB_Per_Student_Spending_Cuts

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‘Silent Sally’ tells some whoppers to the Green Valley News

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Two-time loser CD 2 GOP congressional candidate Martha McSally, who has been avoiding taking questions from the media (except the friendly confines of FAUX News) and even questions from her CD 2 constituents, was afforded an opportunity to “write about whatever you want” by Green Valley News editor Dan Shearer in advance of the one and only CD 2 GOP primary debate in which she will appear with her primary opponents this coming Saturday.

Liar-LiarMcSally has earned a national reputation for her unwillingness to state her position on issues and to simply answer the damn question from reporters, hence the “Silent Sally” moniker we have been testing out at this blog.

But after the op-ed McSally submitted to the Green Valley News, it’s time to drop the pretense and just call her what she is: a shameless liar willing to say anything without regard for the facts.

Let’s take a look at the whoppers told by Martha McSally in her op-ed:

Whopper #1. Social Security is going bankrupt

“Green Valley’s seniors have paid into Social Security and Medicare and they deserve exactly what they were promised. That has always been my pledge to seniors. To accomplish this goal, we must find common ground to stop these programs from going bankrupt.

At our current pace, Social Security will go bankrupt in 20 years; Medicare may run out even sooner.”

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