| Gubernatorial aspirants Dean Martin, currently Arizona State Treasurer, and Vernon Parker, currently mayor of Paradise Valley, showed up to speak at a teabagger rally today at the state Capitol this afternoon. So did Tom Horne who is currently Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction and is planning to run for State Attorney General. State Rep. Debbie Lesko (LD-9) also spoke. It's not clear what Lil Debbie is running for, but she's trollin' for teabaggers, so she must be up to something.
The crowd was pretty sparse, not more than 150 people at the most and that includes at least four of us who were just there to see just how far Republican candidates would go to pander to the teabagger crowd. Sadly, we were disappointed. Nothing but stock Republican boilerplate from the candidates. "You can't tax your way to prosperity" Yada, yada, yada. Boring.
The only red meat came from the MC, Florida talk radio host Paul Porter who informed us that President Obama is pulling straight from the Lenin/Stalin playbook and using public schools to brainwash our kids. Hmmmn, they couldn't get any of the local talk radio louts? I guess J.D. isn't running for governor after all. I never really believed he would. He likes his current talk radio gig too much to give it up and it's easier to blather than to actually do something.
Dean Martin clearly IS running. He had a huge travel trailer with a campaign sign on the side that said "FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS RAISE TAXES".
The signs in the crowd, as always were amusing. My favorite: "Climate Change? It's the sun, stupid!!!" Who says irony is dead? Then there was the fellow with a huge sign who believes that the government is using "community based high-tech harassment" to invade his brain waves.
There was little, if any media coverage. Perhaps the media is finally treating the tea baggers with the benign neglect they deserve. With the sparse turnout today, I doubt that Republican candidates will bother with them in the future either. |
