The man whose policies resulted in constitutional violations, discrimination and even death sidestepped these charges on national TV by doubling down on the Barack Obama Birther conspiracy, claiming that he has “evidence.” Despite the fact that—given ample opportunity to show his supposed proof—he never does, the racist, xenophobic criminal Joe Arpaio continues to stick by his belief that Obama is a magical, time-traveling, Muslim Negro born in Kenya who forged his birth certificate.
The Root would never stoop so low as to besmirch the upstanding character of a great American citizen like Joe Arpaio. Instead, we choose to adhere to journalistic standards and describe the former Maricopa County, Ariz., sheriff and recently announced Arizona Senate candidate with verifiable facts:
- He is a racist. That’s not an opinion. A federal judge ruled that Arpaio’s method of targeting Latinos based on ethnicity alone violated their constitutional rights.
- He is a convicted criminal. Arpaio was convicted of criminal contempt when he continued to racially profile after a court determined his actions to be in violation of the Constitution.
- He is a corrupt politician. Grand jury records show that he targeted his political opponents for prosecution.
- He is a killer. He has settled two wrongful death lawsuits brought by the families of victims who died in the custody of “America’s toughest sheriff.”
His defense against these claims? “But Barack Obama’s birth certificate is fake ...”
On Wednesday, a day after announcing his bid to run for Jeff Flake’s Arizona Senate seat, Arpaio appeared on CNN and reverted to the tactics of the lace-front lunatic who pardoned him by ducking policy questions and instead castigating Barack Obama.
“Was the Birtherism a mistake?” anchor Chris Cuomo asked Arpaio. “You were part of a campaign to delegitimize a president of the United States. It matters, no?”
“I started this because a fake document, a government document,” Arpaio responded. “I didn’t care where the president came from. I didn’t care at all. We have the evidence; nobody will talk about it, nobody will look at it. And anytime you wanna come down here, anybody, we’ll be glad to show you the evidence. And by the way, you’re gonna hear more about this fake, phony birth certificate.”
Yes, he’s still on that shit. But what else is he going to run on? Policy?
Many political pundits doubt that Arpaio can win a statewide Senate race because his candidacy seems like a long shot. I agree.
There’s no way a man with a criminal, racist past could get elected to office simply running on a lie that the last president was born in another country. It is impossible to believe that someone with no other platform besides anti-immigrant, discriminatory, unconstitutional policies intended to stoke the xenophobic fears of white people could get elected to federal office.
That could never happen. Not in America.
Read more at CNN.