On Monday, KFYI Charles Goyette berated the Arizona Republic as one of his talking points. He spent considerable time decrying an article on the economic effects of Gulf War II and took the local paper to task for a post-mortem election editorial blurb. As usual, his spin machinations were throttling in full cycle. First, let's look at his outrage over the AZ Republic editorial commentary on Jaime Molera's defeat. For those who've no doubt discarded Monday's paper already, here is the text from that "controversial" op-ed:

A close second on the disappointment scale was the poor showing by Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Jaime Molera. Perhaps this race was about money, which self-financed Tom Horne had in bucketsful. More darkly, it also raises questions about the willingness of Republicans to elect anyone but Anglos.

It seems Goyette and others loyal to his persuasion take issue with the suggestion that racism might be a factor in the voting. And he alluded to past history - the governorship of Raul Castro in the 1970's. Well, first off Castro was a Democrat, not Republican. It was also a different era, a time soon after civil rights and desegregation and it was before the resurgent tide of Social Darwinism that has engulfed many in a state of increased intolerance. I think it's a stretch to compare a successful Democrat in the 1970's to a Republican in 2002. Next, the argument was made that the AZ Republic's verbiage was ludicrous, considering that Molera received more votes in his race for Superintendent of Public Instruction than Alfredo Gutierrez received in the Democratic gubernatorial primary - Molera received 30% of the Republican vote in his race while Gutierrez nabbed 23% of the Democrat vote in his bid. Sorry, but it's shabby comparison as Molera was the incumbent and received the endorsements of most all the top Republican legislators - Bob Stump, John Shadegg, Jon Kyl, JD Hayworth and Jeff Flake. Gutierrez had been absent from the political spotlight for some time, and was not considered a automatic Hispanic favorite. Raul Castro supported Napolitano.

No, this doesn't definitively set the case of a ground swell of Republicans eschewing minority candidates. But it does evince that the question is still a valid one.

Now, onto the blistering of an article on economic impact of an Iraq attack ...
» read more