Apparently, bigotry, deception, and lies don't the holidays off

Yes, I know that said "no political posts" but some things just cry out for a response...and since they don't have to take holidays off from their spewings I don't have to take time out from criticizing those spewings...

Sonoran Alliance has a Russell Pearce-penned op-ed piece up regarding his opinions on the ongoing legal battles between Maricopa County officials, the county court system and the Dynamic Duo (Sheriff Joe Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas) with the Arizona Bar Association thrown in for good measure.

The piece is standard winger tripe - everything that ails Maricopa County is the fault of liberal judges and lawyers...and, of course, undocumented immigrants.

All would be fine if folks would just get out of the way of fine upstanding public servants like Andrew Thomas while he wages his jihads against liberals...and, of course, undocumented immigrants.

In a somewhat surprising development (surprising that it happened so quickly, not that it happened), Pearce aimed most of his rhetorical salvos at Maricopa County Superior Court Presiding Judge Barbara Mundell and retired Arizona Chief Justice Ruth McGregor, the newly-appointed special master brought in to oversee the court cases between Thomas/Arpaio and the county's judges and other elected officials.

While Arpaio and Thomas and their supporters (a group that counts Pearce as one of its leaders) were certain to object to the appointment of an independent special master to oversee all of the many court cases involving county and court officials that have been brought by Thomas and Arpaio. I just thought that even *they* would take the rest of the week off from their campaign of bigotry, deceptions, and outright lies.

I was wrong (mark this date down :) ).

From the piece:

While I have worked with Former Chief Justice Ruth McGregor and I like her and feel she is very competent, she certainly has the appearance of conflict, she was who appointed Superior Court Presiding Judge Barbara Rodriquez Mundell (a focus of the investigation) to her position and worked with her for the past several years. (By the way phantastic she is a Democrat).

So let's see, in one sentence (and one parenthetical phrase): he implied a conflict of interest on the parts of both judges (telling readers that neither of them can be trusted while shifting the conversation away from Thomas' and Arpaio's misdeeds), stressed a Hispanic name (telling his fellow nativists that Judge Mundell is one of "them"), and drops in Chief Justice McGregor's voter registration (aka - telling fellow Rs that she isn't "one of us").

That's pretty efficient use of a single sentence, but old hat for an experienced demagogue like Pearce.

We're stuck with Arpaio and Thomas for another three years (barring resignations to run for higher office or federal investigations/indictments/convictions), but we can start making a change next year by electing officials (lege, Governor, etc.) who don't see their primary duty as running interference for the Dynamic Duo.

That's something that would make Christmas 2010 joyous for people who respect the rule of law in Maricopa County.