What part of "illegal" don't they understand?

...I thought about titling this post "OK people - it's time to grow up and shut up" or something in a similar vein, but I've been looking for a chance to use one of the favorite mantras of the nativist crowd against them.

The AZGOP and their echo chamber in the rightwing blogosphere is going nuts over the arrest of AZGOP executive director Brett Mecum for criminal speeding.

According to some bloggers and many of their commenters, the arrest is proof of a politically motivated conspiracy, plotted by DPS holdovers from the Napolitano Administration.

Mecum himself claims to "have no memory" of the incident and also says that the arrest was because DPS was "playing politics."

Even the normally measure Greg Patterson at Espresso Pundit calls the arrest an act of "the worst kind of political intimidation." He also suggests that the release of info about the arrest was also politically motivated.

They all seem to think that Mecum was arrested for the same crime (criminal speeding) that hundreds of others have been arrested for because of his political connections.

I seem to think that they just want him to get a free pass because of his political connections.

Enough already.


Mecum isn't the first person arrested for speeding.

He's not the first busted because of a photo citation.

He's not the first to be arrested at work.

He's not even the highest profile person arrested under similar circumstances.


Anybody remember the DMX case? I expect that if you were to conduct a poll of people that don't work for the AZ GOP, most would be more familiar with the name "DMX" than with the name "Brett Mecum."

Or these lower-profile cases, including one where the accused speeder was arrested at work?

Or these cases, including one who was arrested for a violation allegedly committed in an area (Loop 101 near 75th Ave.) near where Mecum allegedly committed his (Loop 101 near 59th Ave.) and another case where a driver was arrested for a speed (89 mph) significantly slower than Mecum's (109 mph). This one is from a DPS press release from over a month ago...probably done to set up a cover for the Mecum press release, right conspiracy theorists?

In other words, join the club - Arizona's traffic laws apply to everyone, even well-connected Republican operatives.

Later...