Feel sorry for him yet?
(Gage Skidmore/
Flickr)
Sheriff Joe Arpaio continues to be
a bit dim on this whole issue of
law enforcement:
[T]he sheriff denied unlawfully targeting critics for arrest during political protests. "We don't go after anybody," he said. "Actually, they go after me. They're demonstrating in front of my building, calling me every kind of name. If you want to talk about civil-rights violations, what about that?"
You might think that this is Arpaio playing the victim card: Pay no attention to all those civil right violations the Justice Department documented in my department, instead let's talk about those mean demonstrators yelling at me and how bad that makes me feel.
I'll go in the other direction, however. I'm in fact perfectly willing to believe that Sheriff Joe Arpaio just has no idea whatsoever what "civil-rights violations" might be, and can't differentiate between, say, refusing medical treatment to a Spanish-speaking inmate and some person on the street being rude to him. No clue. He's just the sheriff, it's not like he has a grasp of what laws are or anything. Never knew before, so why should he know now?
Pointing in the direction of a victimhood complex, on the other hand—a continuing, Napoleonesque belief in his absolute greatness, as is evidenced by this narcissistic drivel:
Arpaio accused the Justice Department of targeting him and timing its critical report for political reasons, but he did not mention that the investigation, which was launched during President George W. Bush's administration, could have been completed much sooner if MCSO had cooperated and not forced the department to go to court for records.
He said Attorney General Eric Holder sought a distraction because he is "on the hot seat" over a scandal involving firearms trafficking in Arizona. He said Democrats are trying to discredit him because of what he says is his influential role in Republican presidential campaigning. He has endorsed Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who polls show is in fifth place among the seven major candidates.
"All of this is coincidental?" Arpaio said of the Justice Department inquiry. "Come on. Even Obama is concerned about me."
Oh dear. That's quite the plot he's dreamed up there. I'm surprised he didn't go full-birther and blame the whole thing on his appointed "posse" supposedly-re-re-investigating Obama's birth certificate. He's gotten too close to the truth! Quick, we must ruin him by pointing out, um, all that crap he does! (I'm not sure how the Bush administration figures in here, but I have faith he will come up with something.)
Just resign already, Joe. Just go.