AZ 2016 U.S. Senate race takes bright, right turn

Supporters of AZ State Sen. Kelli Ward put together ‘KelliPAC’  hoping to encourage challenge to John McCain

The news that John McCain is revving up for a yet anther bite at the senate apple, is of the ho-hum variety.  After decades in Washington, he knows no other life, though he rates abysmally low on the home popularity meter as does junior senator Jeff Flake. Just last month the often censured McCain was greeted with boos and turned backs (video) by elected delegates at the annual Arizona Republican Statutory meeting.

In the wake of such nationally reported embarrassments, McCain and his allies have expended considerable resources and energy attempting to purge conservatives from precinct committeemen positions and party leadership posts. But the hostility directed toward him has even deeper roots, as articulated so well by Tom DeLay, (video) former House Majority Leader.

Arizona U.S. Reps. David Schweikert and Matt Salmon have each been rumored to be mulling a challenge to the senior senator who is looking his 79^th year squarely in the eye. Ultimately, neither will take him on. His $1.54 million war chest is too large and his notorious retaliatory rage too great for decent sorts to desire to engage him in this last battle of his career.

Schweikert has already said his wife isn’t onboard, which nixes his entry into the race. Salmon is also unlikely to move forward.

But another name gaining momentum has the ring of a winner. State Sen. Kelli Ward, a Lake Havasu conservative Republican, has a stellar résumé making her an exceptionally strong contender against the unpopular and repeatedly censured McCain. In addition to representing Legislative District 5 in the Arizona senate, Kelli Ward is a medical doctor. Her perspective on health care would be invaluable as Obamacare’s negative impact grows. The Havasu News asks a single question in its recent poll: “Should State Senator Kelli Ward of Lake Havasu City run against Arizona’s U.S. Senator John McCain if he seeks re-election in 2016?” Votes in the affirmative are overwhelming.

Now fans of Kelli Ward’s have independently put together KelliPAC an Independent Expenditure Committee. In its Mission Statement, describing the reason for forming the PAC, are these words: “If Sen. Ward decides not to run, KelliPAC will use the funds collected to advance a conservative candidate against John McCain.

If Sen. Ward agrees to run, we will work tirelessly to see that she has a fair and equal opportunity to return that seat to whom it rightfully belongs…The People.”  

WH terror warning: focus on “right wing” threat — again

Obama’s former DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano issued similar report in 2009

A new administration report on security threats surfaced this past week as Barack Obama was wrapping up his three-day summit on extremism during which the words “Islamic extremists, jihadists or radical fundamental Islamic terrorists” were never uttered. Invited guests at the conference included Pro-jihad, anti-Israel Islamic clerics according to this well researched article in One News Now.

The deflecting report issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) instead redirects urgency toward domestic terrorist movements —- “right wingers”  —- said to be engaged in a sovereign citizen extremist movement.

 CNN which reviewed the intelligent assessment that was not made public, reports “federal and local law enforcement groups view the domestic terror threat from sovereign citizen groups as equal to — and in some cases greater than — the threat from foreign Islamic terror groups, such as ISIS, that garner more public attention.”

Apparently missed were the grisly reports last week that fundamental Islamic terrorists escalated their ongoing bloody carnage by burning alive 40 caged Iraqis. Earlier the civilized world was horrified to see photos of the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christians by these same ISIS fanatics. The insulting report targeting Americans comes as ISIS madness continues to spiral in unimagined ways.

In April 2009, Janet Napolitano, then Obama’s Secretary of Homeland Security, released this report on homegrown terrorists, singling out our own returning war vets, comparing them to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

Is it any wonder former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani questioned Obama’s love of America?

“We are not at war with Islam,” Obama declared, setting the tone for the conference. “We are at war with people who have perverted Islam.” Sounding a lot like Obama equating Islamic terrorist to evil done in the name of Christ (video) at the recent Prayer Breakfast, Vice President Joe Biden used his appearance at the summit to compare the virulent rise in Islamic terror attacks to right-wing extremists and militias who commit violence “in the name of the Bible.”

Ducey-Douglas rift stoked by Lisa Graham Keegan

Arizonans need score card to keep track of AZ Republic’s schizophrenic coverage

Arizona Republic columnist Laurie Roberts appears to applaud state Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas, saying she “Scored Direct hit on Gov. Doug Ducey.’ The claque of Mary Jo Pitzl and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez go off in a pro-Lisa Graham Keegan direction.  E. J. Montini, the dutiful leftist follows the editorial board’s anti-Douglas instructions as he hopes to hang on just another few years until his social security kicks in and before the newspaper kicks off. Robert Robb, the more cerebral of the pack, gives points to Diane Douglas, saying Gov. Doug Ducey lacks the authority to reinstate the two state Board of Education staff members fired by Douglas. Columnist Doug MacEachern?  He weighs in using the take-no-prisoners prerogative, “maniacal” to describe Douglas. These are merely iceberg tips, but readers get the drift.

In nearly every report the name Lisa Graham Keegan appears. This past weekend, she was Brahm Resnik’s haughty guest on “Sunday Square Off.” (linked video follows ad.)

And who is the seemingly ubiquitous Lisa Graham Keegan, suddenly grabbing headlines?

Keegan, a RINO-turned-Independent who supported Douglas’ radical leftwing educrat opponent, oddly seems to be regarded by Ducey as the state school superintendent. And why not? Like Ducey, Keegan is a McCain ally. She served as McCain’s education advisor during his doomed presidential bid.  Keegan formerly held the top school position before ditching it back in 2001 with a year-and-a-half of her term remaining. The heady aura of Washington, D.C. was too compelling to keep her in Arizona to fulfill her commitment to the voters who put her in office. She also left rudderless the controversial Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) test which she had championed as a high school graduation requirement. AIMS was a hotly debated precursor of Common Core.

When Keegan boogied in 2001, then-Gov. Jane Hull appointed lobbyist Jaime Molera to replace her. When the term expired, Molera ran for the position losing to conservative Tom Horne, who was then elected to two consecutive terms.

This past November, grassroots candidate Diane Douglas ran and was elected on an unambiguous anti-Common Core platform. Keegan not only supports the federal overreach into local education, but derides Douglas as “erratic,” even as she tap dances around the issue of fewer dollars for public schools while Ducey slices $13 million from the state education budget.

Conservatives who have ample reasons to distrust the GOP establishment are banking on Diane Douglas holding firm to her campaign pledges. As Robert Robb noted, “she is intensively disliked by all the right people.”

Breitbart covers AZ’s education standoffs

All dots lead back to John McCain

Breitbart’s Big Government, a premier national news site, finds Arizona’s Douglas/Ducey battle worthy of coverage. The report, Battle Lines Drawn Between Anti-Common Core Superintendent and Arizona Governor covers newly elected Gov. Doug Ducey’s overreaches and Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas’ actions and responses. 

Tucked in among the facts most state residents have been following and on which we have reported, is a fascinating connection that has previously been missed. In addition to Ducey bringing Common Core enthusiast Lisa Graham Keegan onboard his new education subcommittee, he has included Matthew Ladner, described as “a close associate of Common Core champion Jeb Bush.”

Keegan is a former-RINO-turned-Independent who endorsed Douglas’ radical leftist educrat challenger while lobbing insults at Douglas. She met the threshold of Republican establishment allegiance by serving as education advisor for John McCain’s failed presidential campaign.

And Matthew Ladner? Prior to joining the Foundation for Excellence in Education, founded by Jeb Bush and funded by liberals, Ladner worked for Clint Bolick at the Alliance for School Choice. Bolick then moved to the Libertarian Goldwater Institute, oddly favored by the leftwing Arizona Republic newspaper. Ladner followed. Clint Bolick and Jeb Bush co-authored a book, “Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution,” which in retrospect sounds like a blueprint for Obama’s egregious amnesty actions.

We’ll connect the dots. Arizona’s junior Sen. Jeff Flake is John McCain’s doppelganger. Both are longtime proponents of amnesty for illegals. Flake, supported by McCain for the seat previously held by Jon Kyl, is a former Executive Director of the Goldwater Institute. Clint Bolick’s wife has twice run for a state legislative seat, losing both times.  This 2010 event was a Who’s Who of well-heeled McCain supporters. In this short video clip, Bush calls illegal immigration “an act of love” that “shouldn’t rile people up.’ Here Bush and Bolick openly push for amnesty minus the pretenses.

This is a gang that shoots in one direction —– aiming back at the law-abiding Arizona taxpayers forced to fund their schemes, while charging forward to open the border floodgates. If one doesn’t reach the destination, reinforcements are supplied by the Chambers of Commerce, and their illegal alien profiteer members.

Dr/Sen. Kelli Ward: Will she challenge John McCain?

Havasu News reports on a single question poll:  Should State Senator Kelli Ward of Lake Havasu City run against Arizona’s U.S. Senator John McCain if he seeks re-election in 2016? The support for her entering the 2016 race is impressive.

Sen. Kelli Ward, a District 5 Republican, has a stellar résumé making her an exceptionally strong contender against the unpopular and often censured McCain. In addition to serving in the Arizona senate, Kelli Ward is a medical doctor. Her perspective on health care would be invaluable as Obamacare’s negative impact grows.

The Lake Havasu City-based newspaper illustrates the enthusiastic response to the poll with a colorful graph. Keep the momentum going.

Kayla Mueller: Another perspective

When a young life ends, it is always a wrenching tragedy.  When the death occurs far from home, questions abound and grief-stricken family and friends try in vain to piece together the puzzle —-  finding it never quite fits. Not now. Not ever.

In the case of Prescott-born Kayla Mueller, a photogenic 26-year-old, the angst leaps out in daily news reports peppered with personal stories and smiling photographs of a young woman that tug at our hearts. We read editorials and articles that cite her “global journey” which was “steered by those most in need.”

Nothing quite explains the path that led her to be held as a hostage by terrorists a world away —- known by the acronym ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) and eventually lose her life in their captivity.

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has ordered flags statewide lowered to half-mast. She has been praised as a humanitarian by Arizona’s U.S. Senators and members of Congress, as well as national leaders of both political parties. Jeff Flake, speaking from the senate floor described the woman he never met as “sparkling.”

There is another facet of this picture that raises questions yet to be examined. Kayla Mueller’s own writings illuminate her support for, and aid to, Palestinian Arab terror groups, even acting as a human shield for them, along with her active participation in anti-Israel protests. This revealing Op-Ed from Wednesday’s edition of Israel National News is a must read for the rest of the story. 

Author Lee Kaplan’s bio can be read here.

Obama spews whoppers as global tensions worsen

During Monday’s press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Barack Obama responded to a reporter asking if he was angry with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for accepting Speaker John Boehner’s invitation to address Congress.

Included in Obama’s response was this insulting and untruthful nugget: “We have a practice of not meeting with leaders right before their elections, two weeks before their elections,” adding, “As much as I love Angela, if she was two weeks away from an election, she probably would not have received an invitation to the White House. And I suspect she wouldn’t have asked for one. So, you know, the — so, you know, this is just — some of this just has to do with how we do business.”

With that barbed comment Obama implies that he knows what Merkel would do, though he has never dealt with the Chancellor at a time when the U.S. was about to sell out her nation in a perilous nuclear deal with a neighbor committed to destroying Germany —- the situation Netanyahu is facing with Iran. Netanyahu’s March 3 address will focus on the dangers of a nuclear Iran.

In fact, Obama did meet with Merkel just two months prior to her 2013 election and has met with other world leaders under similar circumstances.

Even the leftist editorial board of the Washington Post expresses “major concerns” over the  Obama administration’s risky nuclear negotiations with Iran.

Obama’s fabricated rule regarding not meeting with foreign leaders close to an election doesn’t explain why Secretary of State John Kerry and VP Joe Biden met with Netanyahu’s chief political rival Isaac Herzog this past weekend.

Breitbart exposes an anti-Netanyahu group called “One Voice,” which has rented offices in Israel.  Reportedly funded by liberal American donors, the campaign team is suspiciously led by Obama’s 2012 national field director Jeremy Bird.

WND provides an in-depth report on Bird, who is “taking his wildly successful Chicago-esque, Alinsky brand of community organizing to Tel Aviv,” where the field specialist has been making headlines for his paid consultancy to V15, an Israeli organization working to defeat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu” in the March 17, General Election.

The back story to Obama’s double-standard  manner of just “doing business” is jaw-droppingly deceptive.