For Star subscribers: Politicians in Arizona and elsewhere are resorting readily to calling their opponents an existential threat to the republic, or to democracy. It's not helpful.
It pleased me to see GOP U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters changing his stated position on abortion to appeal to more voters.
Talking about saving the country from deliberate destruction by Democrats became a mainstream Republican talking point after Donald Trump lost the 2020 election and blamed fraud. That in turn unleashed Democratic existential warnings as well, meaning many politicians are predicting catastrophe if their side doesn't win.
Masters has made similar comments. At a July 22"Save America" rally with Trump in Prescott Valley, he mused about what six years of Hillary Clinton as president would have meant. When you talk about your opposition in the aggregate or abstract, it's easy to demonize them. For months, the fundraising appeals by a GOP candidate for the state House, Cory McGarr, have caught my attention for this reason.
Biden demonizes GOPNow, it's easy for me to see through the ridiculous existential threats raised by Republican politicians, because I lean left politically myself and know, for example, that neither I nor the people I know are Marxist-Communist-pedophilia-spreading Satanists. It's ludicrous, actually.
This rhetoric also filters down to state and local politics. In the LD17 debate, one of McGarr's Democratic opponents, Dana Allmond, started her opening statement this way:"This Nov. 8 Arizonans are going to elect lawmakers that are going to save our democracy and our dignity." This week, Republicans have argued that Biden inspired a murder in North Dakota, by a man who killed a teen whom he labeled a member of a"Republican extremist group," echoing Biden's"extremist" rhetoric in the Sept. 1 speech. Investigators aren't sure that politics was the real motive, though.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Tucson speaks up: Letters to the editor for the week of Sep. 23, 2022Our weekly round-up of letters published in the Arizona Daily Star.
Read more »
Louise Fletcher, Best Known For Her Oscar-Winning Performance In ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ Dies at Age 88The film and television star later appeared on 'Star Trek' and 'Picket Fences'.
Read more »
Law & Order Reveals How Fan-Favorite Star Exits for Season 22Law & Order is saying goodbye to Anthony Anderson in Season 22 and details of how his absence is [...]
Read more »
'RHOC' Meghan King Gets Cozy With 'Bachelorette' Star Mike Johnson At Strip Club'Real Housewives' star Meghan King was getting real close and personal with 'Bachelorette' alum Mike Johnson at a strip club.
Read more »
National Geographic Astro Planetarium star projector reviewAn accurate star projector that displays authentic night skies at home based on time and date, this educational planetarium rivals the Sega Toys Homestar Flux.
Read more »