After seven months of mud-slinging in a six-way primary race that looked like a remake of Lord of the Flies, multi-millionaire ice cream mogul Doug Ducey has won the Arizona Republican Party’s nomination for governor.
Ducey’s sugary sweet interview with AZCentral this morning made it sound as if he’s already been elected governor, but there’s another election in November, and Democrats statewide are pulling out all the stops to get their candidate, Fred DuVal, elected.
Unfortunately for Tea Partiers in the great state of Maricopa, polls show that: 1) the match-up between Ducey and DuVal is a dead heat and 2) Ducey’s anti-Medicaid-expansion, anti-Obamacare, anti-abortion, anti-woman, anti-worker, anti-immigrant, anti-gay-marriage, anti-common-core, pro-Koch-Brothers platform is not aligned with Arizona voters’ issues.
Don’t let Ducey’s charming aw-shucks, Leave-It-to-Beaver persona fool you. He runs with a tough crowd of right-wing ideologues. You can tell a lot about a person’s true character by looking at the company he keeps. Consequently, the company Ducey keeps weighs heavily in my Top 10 Reasons Why Doug Ducey Is Too Extreme for Arizona…
10- Ducey is a sexist who is a long-term member of two all-male clubs.
9- Ducey panders to and parties with law-breakers like tax-evader Cliven Bundy.
8- Tea Party darling Sarah Palin and convicted felon Dinesh D’souza are coming to Arizona on Sept 4 to campaign for Ducey.
7- Ducey is backed by Sheriff Joe Arpaio; Cathi “fetal personhood” Herrod of the Center for Arizona Policy; the anarcho-capitalist Koch Brothers; Tea Party wing-nut and US Senator Ted Cruz; Palin; and millions of dollars of his own money. (He put $3 million into winning the primary. Being governor of a purple state must be pretty lucrative if a capitalist will lay down that kind of cash to win.)
6- Ducey is too conservative for Governor Jan Brewer. (Think about that for a moment! Brewer signed the anti-immigrant SB1070 and the omnibus voter suppression bill HB2305, you know.)
5- Ducey is against raising the minimum wage.
4- Ducey believes that poor people should pay more taxes.
3- Ducey believes that Social Security is a “ponzi scheme” and a middle class entitlement.
2- Ducey supports “religious freedom” and the Hobby Lobby decision which allowed corporate people with deeply held religious beliefs to deny birth control coverage to employees.
1- Ducey supports the rights of fetal persons over the rights of women.
Ducey is a Koch Brothers Mini-Me. Look for plenty of dark money advertising in the future. It’s gonna get ugly.
Ducey is the only member of the Tea Party’s 2010 Dream Team to be left standing after the Tuesday primary. Brewer, Huppenthal, Horne, and Bennett will all be out of office soon. Let’s hope DuVal knocks Ducey out of power also.
[P.S. Check out this article here for tons of details about Ducey and his business practices.]
I have always suspected that most Democrats lack a sense of humor and the response to my tonue-in-cheek posting about the list seems to prove that. Of course it is not for conservatives and I never for a moment thought it was. I was simply teasing her about 10 excellent reasons Democrats will march in lock step to oppose Ducey. Lighten up a little bit…the election cycle is just starting and you will burn yourself out at this rate.
At this point, it does appear that Fred Du Val has a fighting chance to prevail. As does Rotellini, Goddard, et al.
They won’t sustain that momentum unless (until) pretty much *every* Progressive, Democrat, Liberal, Free Thinker, and self-respecting WOMEN turn out to VOTE for them in November.
And ‘tween now and then, those candidates need cash – whatever each of us can spare. Plus overt – in their faces – advocacy in the form of campaign signs and bumper stickers.
I’m going to pound election signs into my front yard corner property. There may be trouble from some of my RW neighbors, but I’m standing my ground this time.
Maybe – just maybe – the past 6 years of social war and political abuse from Arizona’s wing nuts have FINALLY pushed Arizona’s way too silent Left into the fighting arena.
In the immortal words of “Bluto” (Animal House), “LET’S DO IT!”
Is the left you speak of “too silent” or “nonexistant”?
I work 60+ hours a week in support for the manufacturing automation industry, so I’m not “the guy” who has time to answer that question definitively. I do believe there are far more “Left Leaning” folks in Arizona than appears to be. The next 9 weeks should prove or disprove my hypothesis.
THANK YOU for a reasonable and rational response. I agree with you 100% that the next 9 weeks will show how much of what is posted here is wishful thinking and how much is based on reality. For the record, I ask the same questions of posters on conservatives blogs.
And for those of us who have conservative, governance fatigue, the list is a call to action.
You should be more circumspect in publishing your top 10 list because several items on your list are good reasons for conservative Republicans to vote FOR Ducey. After all, there is a differing viewpoint to Democrat ambitions.
Steve, I doubt that conservative Republicans are the target audience here. I suspect that they are already for Ducey. Pamela does an excellent job of defining who Doug Ducey is, so we can share that information with people who are open to persuasion. I know this information will be useful for me & my friends.
Thanks, Brian. I want the grassroots Democrats and Progressives to know what we are up against. As I said, all of the Tea Party’s 2010 “Stop la Raza” Dream Team will be losing power in a matter of months. Ducey is the only one left standing, and he dangerously right wing. Check out that attached article for tons of info.
You did an excellent job preparing a list of negatives from the Democrat perspective.
I was being tongue in cheek in implying her list was aimed at conservative Republicans, but I suspect you know that already. However, a significant number of items on her list provide good reasons for Republican to vote for him, so in that sense I was not being funny or facetious. It is going to be an interesting campaign.
Conservatives are already voting for Ducey. This list is not directed at you. Everything written on the internet is not always all about you, just so you know.