Nobody in Arizona is under the illusion that Governor Jan Brewer is the smartest one in the room, but I really was shocked this morning to realize just how dumb she is.
       Ed Montini’s column in The Arizona Republic quotes her totally inaccurate, hysterical and ridiculous position that “the majority” of Mexicans coming across the border aren’t coming for jobs to support their families, but “they’re bringing drugs….they’re doing drophouses, and they’re extorting people and they’re terrorizing the families.” She made these comments during a debate between Republican gubernatorial hopefuls on Channel 8 on June 15. She was responding to challenger Matt Jett, who argued, “These people, a lot of them, are just rying to feed their family….They just want to work.”
     Au contrare, Gov. Brewer shot back and then spewed her hateful and erroneous lies–punctuating them with “That is the truth, Matt. That is the truth.”
     If Jan Brewer thought that was the “truth” when she signed SB 1070, then there should be an automatic clause in our laws to erase a bill that was signed under ignorance.
Montini’s column asked “What part of exaggeration doesn’t Brewer understand?” I’d be even more blunt: ” How can a sitting governor of a border state be so willfully ignorant and so distort the truth about one of the most important issues it faces?”
     Her comments at the debate should disqualify her from even seeking office. Because she is trying to fuel the flames of a forest fire that doesn’t exist.
     Consider this:
     –Rather than an “invasion” over our borders, the number of those trying to enter the country illegally is way down–arrests by the Border Patrol have plummeted almost two-thirds in five years.
     –Rather than characterize the “majority” of these folks as drug dealers and thugs, EVERY gauge of border activity shows that most of those crossing illegally are indeed, trying to better the lives of their families in order to get jobs in the United States. (Montini notes that even Sheriff Joe Arpaio acknowledges this!)
     –Rather than a “crime wave” at the border because of Mexicans trying to gain entry to the country, EVERY measure–from the FBI to law enforcement in border counties–proves that crime is DOWN.
     –Rather than claiming the federal government doesn’t care about the border and refuses to send troops to secure it, we currently have the HIGHEST border presence ever: some 17,000 agents  now patrol the border in the Southwest–double the number from 1993. (They’re augmented by local and National Guard troops.)  The budget for guarding the U.S. borders is now about $17 billion, double the amount spent in the last year of the George W. Bush administration.
    –Rather than claim Arizona’s border is wide open and unmanned,  we have about 10 border agents for every mile of our boundry with Mexico.
     The likes of Jan Brewer are deliberately extorting the situation on the border. She’s spreading lies and ignoring the truth. Unless      she actually believes the junk she’s spreading. And if that’s the case, she’s simply too dumb to be Governor of Arizona.