He's Living In The White House

Curt Prendergast became our local paper's Opinion editor after Brenda Starr moved away last Fall.  In doing so, he inherited the Thursday morning Zooms - a moderated community forum focusing on the issues (and sometimes the fun) in and around Tucson.  

Juan Ciscomani is running for Congress (against Kirsten Engel, although from her total invisibility you would never know that she is in the race).   I've spoken to Ms Engel twice, and I'm convinced that her views align with mine.  I knew nothing about her opponent. 

I'd not Zoomed with The Star since my friend left. I clicked through and found the link, made sure I was muted and that the video was off, then sat back for the show.  I was not disappointed.

Curt Prendergast is laid back and tenacious, non-threatening and determined, pleasant and piercing.  Juan Ciscomani is well spoken and well dressed, a proud father and husband and son, and believes in everything that I don't.  They put on a very entertaining and informative 45 minute show.

I tried to overlook the candidate's use of the Royal We; the interview was just getting started and maybe he was nervous.  Still, it bothered me.  Is he monumentally self-centered or enmeshed in an evil cabal determined to undermine all the progress toward an equitable society that's been made over the last half century.  Or is he falling mindlessly into Campaign Response #11.

If only that were the worst thing that happened.  Unsurprisingly, it was not. 

Did I mention that Curt is direct?  Our readers are interested, and it's the elephant in the room question so: Do you believe that Joe Biden is the lawfully elected President of the United States?

My face nearly broke from the gigantic smile that question posed.  The options were simple:  Yes or No.   Or so I thought.  Mr. Ciscomani had an interesting take on the question:  He's living in the White House.  

Curt asked him again, agreeing with the occupancy part while putting the focus back on the legitimacy of the Biden presidency.  Well, we can all agree that he's living in the White House, and will be living there for two more years.

Curt tried a third time and, with a benign expression on his face, the candidate replied That's my answer.

And so they moved on to the states deciding what's right for women based on that state's values, although he allowed that as he had a wife and three daughters he'd be okay, kinda sorta, with exceptions for the horrible actions of rape and incest and to save the mother's life. 

Despite the obvious resonance high capacity magazines and background checks have here in Tucson, Mr. Ciscomani was adamant.  He believes in the 2nd Amendment, no matter the emotional cost to his Southern Arizona constituents. I was tempted to remind him that Martha McSally tried the same thing when she ran for the same office, and she lost... and she lost again when she ran for Senate.  But if he thinks the radical left is coming for his guns there's no reasoning with him at all. 

He rambled through an excoriation of Democrats' spending, paying people not to work during the Pandemic thus pumping too many dollars into an economy that had serious supply chain issues and when you have more money than goods that leads to inflation.  At least I think that was the connection he was making.  

I had a hard time moving on from his opposition to the financial lifeline that kept families together with food on the table when working was impossible to take offense at his simplistic explanation of a complicated, once in a lifetime economic experience.  He admitted that gas prices are coming down but.....

When the half hour turned into 45 minutes and our time was up, I was more informed.  I'm able to make a sensible decision.  

I'm going to vote for the person with a heart.  I cannot support someone who weasels out of answering the question that separates Team Trump from everyone else.  To call that behavior disingenuous puts too polite a shine on it.  Dissembling?  Hiding in plain sight?  Dog Whistling?  Pretending? It's certainly deceptive, and I think that's the point.   

I find it telling that nowhere on his website does he say that he is a Republican.  

Really.  No where.  I just opened every page and couldn't find it.  Not even in his introduction:

I am excited to announce I am running for U.S. Congress in Arizona’s new 6th congressional district to represent the community and state I proudly call home. 

Seems to me that sentence demands a party affiliation. Then again, his signs don't identify him as a Republican either.

He's the worst kind of politician, running away from telling us who he really is, hiding behind obfuscations and omissions, ready to get elected and rip off his disguise and show us what's hiding beneath. 

He's behind Ms Engel by a slim margin, and, according to Politico, he carries the burden of an unpopular patron (Ducey) and a toxic Republican ticket (Masters, Lake, Finchem).  But I've never gone wrong underestimating the voters of Arizona, and I'm scared.