I happen to like milk with my toast.
Posted by: Donna
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got a lot of love for the New Times. The free weekly has been a godsend for its brave reporting on subjects that Phoenix’s so-called paper of record won’t touch with a 10 foot pole. And I don’t expect them to be the mouthpiece for Arizona Democrats the way the Republic so often is for the GOP. *cough*Scott Wong*cough* We deserve criticism when it’s due.
However, I’m getting a tad irritated by the running meme throughout the NT that Dems in Arizona lack “toughness” – a nebulous quality that they haven’t yet defined but are certain of its dearth among the quiche-eaters in our party. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and to be an armchair strategist. I do it here all the time. But it’d be nice if some of the harshest critics of the minority party in the state would come up with something other than vague exhortations to man up. Today’s iteration of the meme comes to us on the Valley Fever blog, by James King. King is disappointed, I guess, that Terry wasn’t biting the heads off of live baby chicks while he made his gubernatorial announcement.
Can you believe it? Terry Goddard actually made a pivotal decision — sort of.
He’s exploring running for governor.
The avoid-the-issue attorney general filed paperwork this morning to form an exploratory committee to see if he should officially seek the state’s top office — he’s “tweeting” about it, too.
“Today I will file papers to explore running for Governor. AZ needs strong leadership focused on jobs & ending partisan gridlock,” Goddard posted on his Twitter page this morning.
He made the unofficial official hours after his post with a press release, in which he says the governor’s first priority ought to be “restoring and attracting quality jobs.”
Can we get a little milk with that toast?
Not to be too pedantic and with all due respect to King and the Urban Dictionary, the word is milquetoast. Also, a little political education is in order here. Goddard’s term officially ends January 2011. I’m fairly certain that the issue he’s avoiding by filing an exploratory committee is having to resign as AG because the end of his term is more than a year away.
But anyway, haven’t we learned by now that macho posturing is no substitute for strength and competence? Joe Arpaio and his ilk so aptly demonstrate that every day. Not to be outdone, Reps. Shadegg, Franks, and Flake recently showed what Billy Badasses they are by being 3 of the 12 members of Congress who voted against extending benefits to the unemployed. 403 members voted for the measure. The manly decisiveness with which they told the jobless to go pound sand is causing women all over Arizona to swoon. Then again, maybe it’s because the women are jobless and fainting from hunger.
King sniped at Goddard’s tenure as AG at the end of the post. Which is funny, because from where I sit it looks like he has pursued, and convicted, a lot of bad guys and earned the respect of a lot of Arizona voters along the way. I’d say Goddard, a retired Naval Reserve Commander, understands that discretion is the better part of valor. But hey, if trash-talking incompetent blowhards are more your speed, I hear Andy Thomas is in the market for Terry’s current job.
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