When I found this story, at first I thought, finally. Jan Brewer hit her limit with racist rhetoric coming out of Arizona Republicans. But no, not really...she just doesn't want to be seen with one of them. At the moment. So at a GOP fundraiser for Gabriela Saucedo Mercer, scheduled for this evening in Tucson, Brewer has gone from featured guest for the reception to unexplained no-show.
Mercer is running against my representative in Congress, Raul Grijalva, a Democrat I'm happy to support and to vote for, a member of the progressive caucus. And while Jan Brewer has distanced herself, Mercer has chosen to defend her statements by lying about them.
I'm shocked.
So, this was the news from TPM a couple weeks ago, when it first broke.
In an interview with a conservative website last year, Saucedo Mercer talked in depth about her views on immigration. A Mexican immigrant herself who became a U.S. citizen, she said the issue was important because people from places other than Mexico were among those coming across the border illegally.
“That includes Chinese, Middle Easterners,” she said. “If you know Middle Easterners, a lot of them, they look Mexican or they look, you know, like a lot of people in South America, dark skin, dark hair, brown eyes. And they mix. They mix in.
“And those people, their only goal in life is to, to cause harm to the United States. So why do we want them here, either legally or illegally? When they come across the border, besides the trash that they leave behind, the drug smuggling, the killings, the beheadings. I mean, you are seeing stuff. It’s a war out there.”
I would go ahead and embed
the video from YouTube right now, but embedding has been disabled; I wonder why. Having watched it myself, and quoting TPM, I at least know that they're including the entire comment from Mercer about 'other than Mexican' or OTM immigration, people from countries characterized as 'antagonistic' toward the U.S., and how concerned she is about that.
So after the Democrats have used this to bash Mercer and rightly so, a couple weeks later, this is the latest news yesterday. Mercer has a fundraiser scheduled for tonight in Tucson, and Jan Brewer was going to be there, but mysteriously, not anymore.
Phoenix television station KTVK reported on Tuesday that Brewer (R) abruptly dropped out of a fundraiser she was scheduled to headline for Gabriela Saucedo Mercer, the party’s nominee in southern Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District.
“The governor will not be attending,” Brewer’s spokesman Matt Benson told the station on Monday. Benson declined to say why. He said Brewer was not rescinding her endorsement and may help the candidate in the future, but he offered no specific plans.
Indeed, Jan's mug is still featured on
Mercer's website. But sure, still endorsing, but quietly, thanks. Also featured on Mercer's website -- a press release from August 29th, where she claims the anti-Middle Eastern message drawn from the video is a lie. An opposition group, People for Grijalva, put together a video about it, and this is Mercer's counter...
In it, snippets of video interviews with Gabriela Saucedo Mercer were used to try to weave a deceptive anti-Middle Eastern message with particular attention placed on a mere fragment of footage used selectively to construct a false narrative.
She also mentions, "Interestingly, People For Grijalva do not appear to be equally concerned about Mercer’s reference to Chinese citizens who cross our southern border." Having watched the video and read the quotations from it on TPM, I understand a lack of concern might be because she doesn't go on attacking Chinese people but
mentions them in passing. And I understand that the anti-Middle Eastern message is drawn from her
blanket condemnation; she makes no effort to be specific about extremists. That's simply the defense now.
Could have tried the old 'misspoke' line, but no, everyone must be lying about what you were recorded on video saying. Pesky facts and recordings! It's so easy to just go watch and figure out how she's lying. I'm surprised they haven't pulled the video yet. I know...shouldn't give them ideas...