When Carrie Lake was a candidate for governor in Arizona, she had some choice things to say about the late John McCain.
He was a sworn enemy of Donald Trump, and Lake, who ran on Trump's behalf while wearing high heels, aggressively pursued the longtime Arizona Republican senator.
“We have driven a stake into the heart of the McCain machine,” Lake told cheering supporters after her victory in the 2022 Republican primary, her jaw clenching as she acted out the fatal push.
She described McCain, who died of brain cancer in 2018, as a loser and told his supporters to “get the hell out” of a campaign event. McCain's wife, Cindy, was accused of colluding with liberal billionaire George Soros to destroy America.
It doesn't matter.
It turns out it was all just good fun.
Lake, who ran for Senate after her bid for governor failed, said last week that the loser label was used “in jest.” “I think if John McCain – who has a great sense of humor – had heard, he would have laughed.”
But McCain's daughter, Meghan, a fierce defender of his legacy, was not amused.
“Carrie Lake is trying to walk back her ongoing attacks on my father (and his family) and all of his loyal supporters,” McCain wrote in a social media post after Lake laid out the bleach in an interview with Phoenix radio station KTAR. -FM. “I think she realized she couldn't become a senator without us.
“We see you as you are, and we are disgusted by that,” McCain added.
Lake's troubling response — “My father died of cancer, too,” she wrote on X — was an invitation to buy McCain “a beer, coffee, or lunch and think about how we can work together to strengthen our country.”
McCain's response was more emphatic: “No peace, bitch!”
It is not difficult to understand Lake's change of heart.
Hit that. A change of heart indicates a level of introspection and honesty that seems beyond that.
It is not difficult to understand the change in Lake's tone and attitude. There are less transparent glass panels.
She entered the Senate race after seemingly giving up her hopes of becoming Trump's running mate. (A lot of time I spent hanging at Mar-a-Lago.)
It is expected to pit Lake against Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego for the seat held by independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.
Sinema has not yet announced whether she will seek re-election, but each passing day makes her candidacy seem less likely.
Barrett Marson, an Arizona Republican Party strategist, said that in a state roughly evenly divided between Democrats, Republicans and those registered in either party, “Lake Cary can't win… without sending messages and then getting the support of moderate Republicans and independents with strong influence.” Right-wing tendencies.” Who does not support any candidate in the Senate race.
Meghan McCain, who campaigned with her father, the late Senator John McCain, during his 2008 presidential campaign, rejected Lake's offer to put the past aside after Lake attacked him.
(Stefan Savoia/Associated Press)
He noted that these are the voters “who propelled John McCain to more than a dozen statewide victories in his lifetime.” In fact, although he has often been at odds with the far-right wing of the Republican Party — which today represents Trump's political base — the former senator has not lost a single Arizona election in more than three decades of his political career. .
So Lake switched from attacking McCain to cajoling.
But many do not believe her attempt at reconciliation.
“This whole revisionist round is deeply politically motivated and not honest,” said Chuck Coughlin, a former Republican pollster. The longtime McCain supporter left the Republican Party and became an independent when Trump denigrated McCain for spending five and a half years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. “I don't know anyone I've met who thinks it's sincere.”
Lake's pitch to the McCains is only part of her attempt at change.
After spending months asserting that the gubernatorial election was stolen, Lake indicated she now wants to move forward with her false claims. “I don't want to sit back and look back,” she said on KTAR.
But it may not be that simple.
A top election official, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, has filed a defamation lawsuit against his Republican colleague over Lake's persistent lies about election fraud. In December, a judge rejected Lake's assertion that her statements were “rhetorical exaggeration” — perhaps she thought “mere joking” wouldn't have the same legal weight — and allowed the lawsuit to proceed.
The Arizona Supreme Court is considering Lake's appeal.
The courts have done a good job of holding Trump aides, including disgraced attorney and September 11 hero Rudolph Giuliani, accountable for lying and defaming others on his behalf.
The lake should be forced to pay as well. Perhaps it will force others to think twice before making such reckless and irresponsible claims.
As for her run for Senate, voters should consider what kind of person would denigrate a war hero and a highly respected figure like McCain, insult his widow and then insist, when politically expedient, that it was all a joke and that the past should be It's too late.
Her shameful and disgraceful actions and blatant attempt to dig up the past are an insult to anyone with even a modicum of intelligence.
There is nothing funny about such a phony.
