The lying right-wing noise machine circles the wagons for ‘King’ Russell Pearce

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

For the right, facts do not matter, only the narrative. They believe what they want to believe despite lack of evidence or provable facts to the contrary. As an aide to George W. Bush once famously described to author Ron Suskind, "we create our own reality." This "alternate reality" is a celebration of the ignorant and the delusional.

And so it goes with the right-wing noise machine here in Arizona. Stephen Lemons of the Phoenix New Times reports on the latest "big lie" of the delusional right-wing noise machine as it circles the wagons for "King" Russell Pearce. Russell Pearce's Supporters' Claims of "Massive Voter Registration Fraud" Contradicted by Elections Officials – Phoenix New Times:

As of Monday morning, Maricopa County Elections Director Karen Osborne said the county had validated 10,356 signatures from petitions seeking the recall of state Senate President Russell Pearce.

That's 2,600 more than the 7,756 signatures required by statute from Pearce's Legislative District 18.

But if a recall election is now inevitable, so too are the bogus allegations of massive "fraud" emanating from Pearce's camp.

Osborne told me that so far, based on what she's seein during the validation process, such characterizations are "inaccurate."

She pointed out that some people have signed the petition more than once, but there's nothing wrong with that, as long as they're signing their own names.

Anyone familiar with signature-gathering will tell you that duplicates are common. And duplicates are not proof of fraud.

Yet, Pearce and his slavish supporters have no recourse but to press on with their scurrilous claims. So along comes "reporter" Linda Bentley of the Cave Creek-based, far right bi-weekly Sonoran News to aid and abet in the mudslinging and misinformation.

A committed nativist and a die-hard birther despite President Obama's release of his long-form birth certificate, Bentley reveres Pearce. And she did him a big favor by writing her June 15 article, "Pearce Recall Petitions Indicate Massive Voter Registration Fraud." 

As I reveal below, this misstatement of fact masquerading as a headline is actually belied by Bentley's primary example. And yet, her shabbily-reported piece has been effective in telling the wingnuts what they want to hear, truth be damned.

The article has been quoted as fact by several right-wing Web sites, including the Sonoran Alliance and Seeing Red AZ blogs, as well as the sites for the Maricopa County GOP and the Arizona Republican Party. [Charter members of the right-wing noise machine in Arizona].

Pearce himself disseminated the inaccurate information by proxy, specifically via e-mail fundraising blasts sent out by the organization Ban Amnesty Now, run by one-time Arizona GOP executive director Sean McCaffrey. 

* * *

Problem is, Bentley's main example of this supposed fraud is not fraud at all. 

In fact, Osborne emphatically stated that the main petition-signer Bentley cites, a woman by the name of Benita Lantigua, has done absolutely nothing wrong.

* * *

Did Bentley contact county elections about the matter? Osborne said she has not been contacted directly by Bentley or her paper. She had the item researched after the article's publication.

Nor does Bentley quote any county personnel. If she had contacted the county, she might have discovered that the names had not been consolidated and the woman had done nothing wrong.

Moreover, Bentley apparently did not bother to contact Lantigua, the woman she's maligned.

* * *

Did Bentley choose Lantigua to pick on because of her Hispanic surnames? I don't know, but Bentley does uses some coded language implying that some of those who signed were illegal immigrants.

She writes: "There were plenty of other examples of people signing the petition with Latin names who could barely print, let alone sign, claiming a birthplace of Mexico, Guatemala or `Not Provided.'

"Many stated their occupations as `laborer' or, in some instances, as `laborers.'"

Web sites for the Arizona GOP and the Maricopa County GOP reproduced Bentley's false allegation against Lantigua verbatim. 

Seeing Red Arizona gushed effusive praise:

"Ace investigative reporter Linda Bentley has done another bang-up job with her exposé of voter and registration fraud revealed in the Pearce recall petitions."

* * *

I advised Lantigua that she may wish to consult an attorney. And I have sent her the various links to the Web sites involved.

And she's not the only one who could be considering possible legal action over [false] accusations of "fraud." 

Friday, Chad Snow, chairman of the recall effort and himself a lawyer, fired off a letter to Pearce, Ban Amnesty Now, and Pearce's lawyer Lisa Hauser [who is currently engaged in a dispute with the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission over not being hired as its attorney], demanding immediate retractions to the B.A.N. smears.

Snow wrote:

"It is one thing to call us `open borders extremists', `socialists,' `anarchists,'  the `open borders cartel,' `mafia members,' `thugs' and the like – petty name calling, while unbecoming of a Senate President, is what we have come to expect from you.

"But when you start disseminating information accusing us of `supporting massive voter fraud' and `illegal' activities, you have crossed a line into defamation, which is recognized as a tort in the State of Arizona."

As for Bentley, I can certify from having met her before that she's imbibed deeply of the nativist Kool-Aid, though that's hardly an excuse in this case.

The right-wing noise machine must be worried if it is already resorting to the "big lie" technique to circle the wagons for "King" Russell Pearce, even before the recall election has been certified. Political reporters working for credible news organizations are going to have to cut through the crap eminating from the right-wing noise machine and tell voters the truth — and keep telling it.

Greg Sargent at The Plum Line noted in a recent post that there are limits to "fact-checking — something we rediscover every cycle. Candidates, party committees and outside groups make false claims. Media fact-checkers go to work and debunk the claims. The candidates and groups go right on making them anyway. Reporters stop pointing out that they’re false." Do not stop reporting that what Pearce's supporters say is false. The truth will set us free.