It doesn’t seem to be hurting her in the polls
I don’t know if this woman is just a monumentally cynical opportunist or dangerously delusional but whatever she is, I fervently hope the people of Arizona don’t elect her to be their Governor:
Kari Lake, Arizona’s GOP gubernatorial nominee, is facing criticism after promising a jaw-dropping revelation about her Democratic opponent that fell flat.
Lake had hyped up the alleged dirt she had on Katie Hobbs, claiming it would shock voters about Hobbs’s past and future intentions if she is elected in November.
In the video posted on Tuesday, Lake claims, “In Hobbs’s Arizona, your kindergartner wouldn’t learn the Pledge of Allegiance. As a legislator, Hobbs actually voted to block the Pledge of Allegiance, our national anthem, our Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and even the Mayflower Compact from being taught to the next generation of Americans right here in Arizona.”
If true, it might have swayed some voters still on the fence in the increasingly tight race between the two candidates.
But the problem was Lake’s complete misreading of the bill in question and the changes made to it.
“Voting against this bill would not be voting against the national anthem,” Wes Gullett, former chief of staff to ex-GOP Gov. Fife Symington, told the Arizona Republic. He added that the bill Lake is referring to would have only added the words “Ditat Deus,” which means “God Enriches,” as well as the phrase “In God We Trust” to things that could be taught, read, and posted in classrooms. What the bill didn’t do is prevent any of the things Lake listed in her video from being taught and posted in Arizona schools.
The mistake has undoubtedly caused a headache for Team Lake, which has had to repeatedly defend Lake’s lack of government experience from even those in her own party.
[…]
The former news anchor nonetheless refused to admit she was wrong and erroneously pointed to two other bills she said supported her argument. Those bills also did not refer to the Pledge of Allegiance being taught in classrooms.
“It demonstrated how unserious of a candidate Kari Lake is,” Hobbs spokesman Joe Wolf told the Arizona Republic. “She can’t read the bill. She can’t read the bill. if you’re governor, you’re probably going to have to end up reading a few of the bills you’re signing.”
GOP strategist Chuck Coughlin also weighed in, calling Lake, who had claimed she “triple-checked” her facts, “disappointing.”
Lake is currently on her “Ask Me Anything” tour of Arizona.
She has run a full Trumpist campaign and has been among the most vocal candidates on alleged election fraud theories. Election integrity will be her top priority if elected, she told the Washington Examiner in July.
She has also tried to appeal to former President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” base in Arizona.
During a speech in a church, she referenced some of Trump’s most controversial claims about the porous U.S.-Mexico border, 372.5 miles of which is in Arizona.
“The media might have a field day with this one, but I’m just going to repeat something President Trump said a long time ago, and it got him into a lot of trouble,” Lake said from behind the pulpit. Immigrants from Mexico, she asserted, “are bringing drugs. They are bringing crime. And they are rapists, and that’s who’s coming across our border. That’s a fact.”
Earlier this month, Lake’s campaign tweeted a clip of her saying at a campaign rally, “We are truly fighting pure evil right now. It is evil what we’re dealing with in this world. It’s coming from the Left, it’s coming from their spokespeople in the media — we all know it.”
I wonder if Arizona Republicans even care that she blatantly lied about this? Honestly, I think that rank and file GOPers now believe that lying is a sign of intelligence and competence. They want to be lied to. It makes them feel as if their leaders are serious about delivering. They will stop at nothing.
I think I would be a little more sanguine about all this if it weren’t for the fact that far right loons like her are being elected all over Europe. I’m afraid she could end up being the face of the Republican party.