With the recent draconian anti-immigrant legislation passed here in Arizona (pending our Governor's signature) I propose a contest to determine which state has the wing-nuttiest wing nuts.
I am confident that I can say, without reservation, that Arizona consistently produces the most abundant supply of second-to-none high-quality wing nuts in the country.
We're #1.
I do not make this claim lightly. The anti-immigrant legislation is merely the piece-de-resistance.
Some background for those of you unfamiliar with the Arizona whackos.
They are not the odd nut job, but are numerous enough to regularly win elections and major ones at that. Way back in 1987 we elected Evan Mecham governor. Every day he said something in public on purpose that embarrassed even his supporters. He defended schools' right to teach that the Earth is flat. He scolded a reporter to never ask him for a true statement again. Reporters became fat and lazy covering him and political cartoonists remember it as a golden age. Eventually he was impeached and removed from office, with one of his die-hard supporters in the Senate who voted to acquit now occupying the governor's office, yes, Jan Brewer.
But that was a long time ago. Anything more recently? Well yes. We went through Governor Fife Symington who was not crazy, just a crook who resigned ahead of impeachment and beat the rap on a technicality, (with a last-minute pardon from Bill Clinton to avoid a retrial.)
The legislature is a haven for wing nuts who are not merely curiosities, but dominate that branch of government. They passed a law to put a bounty on an endangered species. Unlimited concealed weapons in bars and churches? We got'em. Russell Pearce is not an aberration, but the model for most of his colleagues. Anti-immigrant legislation is an almost annual event consistently vetoed by the periodic Democratic governors. Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio is the most popular politician in the state who has led the way with his posse, sweeping through Hispanic neighborhoods when he isn't being sued for letting jailed pre-trial (unconvicted) inmates die in his custody, or suing the County Board of Supervisors and any judge who defends them on trumped-up charges.
But the real flowering of wing-nuttery is most evident in the Republican intra-party squabbling. They were TeaPartiers before there were TeaPartiers. John McCain (and Symington and Barry Goldwater) are considered liberals by most of our Republican activists, who took over the party and drove out many of the still sane members, which included a lot of the big campaign contributors. Purity tests on "amnesty" and taxes (tax cuts solve every problem including revenue shortfalls) dominate the discussion so a 98% right winger like Governor Brewer is viewed as insufficiently committed and is challenged by a half dozen challengers from her right.
Our congressional delegation has its charms as well. Senators McCain and Jon Kyl have not been insane, but consistently pander to those who are with McCain working hard to make up for past transgressions.
The recent Republican members of the House include Trent Franks, a birther moron, John Shadegg a reasonable-sounding fringe thinker who opposed extension of the Voting Rights Act and held up a baby on the floor of Congress who apparently is worried about her debts. Even the principled conservative, Jeff Flake, who rails against earmarks has offended his fellow Republicans with his stridency. And now we are about to have a reprise of J.D. Hayworth, challenging McCain for his Senate seat. This bombastic ex-sportscaster will squeeze any residual moderation out of McCain and it may not be enough to satisfy the base in an August primary in Arizona.
This is just what I can come up with off the top of my head. It's hard to keep track of the crazy when it's so plentiful.
So what have you got Texas? South Carolina? Kansas? Idaho? Kentucky? California? or even Alaska?
And what have I overlooked in Arizona?