Commentary
As we are less than three weeks from the midterm elections, most of us are tired of hearing about the closeness of this or that campaign. But if you haven’t been following the campaign of Kari Lake, who is running for governor in Arizona, you’ve missed a real awakening in modern politics.
Shortly after the surprising election of Joe Biden in 2020, Lake walked away from her job as anchor at the Phoenix affiliate of Fox after 22 years, where she was highly rated.
In a video she posted on Rumble in March 2021, she declared, “Journalism has changed a lot since I first stepped into a newsroom, and I’ll be honest, I don’t like the direction it’s going. I found myself reading news copy that I didn’t believe was fully truthful, or only told part of the story. I’ve decided the time is right to do something else.”
She announced her bid for governor the following month and soon earned the endorsement of former President Trump. And by August this year she had defeated all of her GOP opponents.
As a communicator with public affairs experience, I have been impressed with the cool, calm manner in which she has handled responses to questioning by the media on the left.
Unlike her Democrat opponent, Katie Hobbs, who refuses to debate her, Lake has gone on air with a number of network anchors, including Dana Bash at CNN, who tried to goad her into the 2020 election denial narrative the mainstream media have tried to pin on her.
Asked if she would accept the result in the midterm if she loses, Lake responded,
“I’m going to win the election and accept the result.”
An Approach from the Left
The Atlantic’s Elaine Godfrey tried unsuccessfully to get an interview with Lake, following her from rally to rally, including a confrontation outside Tempe’s Sun Devil Stadium after a football game, where she reiterated her desire to do an interview. “I’d really love to talk to you.”
“I’ve read your work,” Lake said of Godfrey, while noting phrases like “election denier” and “conspiracy theorist,” she had used in previous articles. “That,” said Lake, “is judgement, not journalism.”
While Godfrey didn’t get the interview, she did write a feature, “Trumpism Has Found Its Leading Lady,” in which she wrote, “She’s agile as a politician … more likeable than other Trump-endorsed candidates.”
“There’s a seductive power to Lake’s voice,” Godfrey wrote, “deep, but still feminine; firm, even severe, but smooth. Like black tea with a little honey.”
“Her Democrat opponent, the current Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs is a remarkably dull candidate who has refused to debate Lake,” Godfrey noted.
The Ah-Ha Moment
The left-leaning Arizona Republic allowed conservative columnist Phil Boas front page space to note that “Kari Lake has the momentum in the governor’s race.”
While most of his piece was a review of Lake’s successes with the mainstream media, his description of a “cringe-inducing” moment during the appearance of Lake’s opponent Hobbs during a session with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce led off his column.
Speaking of the Hispanic community, said Univision anchor Leon Krauze, “let me ask you, how it has impacted you personally?” What have you learned – specifically learned – from the Latino community?
A series of “ums” and “ahs” followed Hobbs’ initial response, “Oh, that’s a great question.” Truly cringe worthy.
So there she was, noted Boas, at a forum organized by Arizona Latinos for Arizona Latinos and Hobbs didn’t come prepared. “People noticed,” wrote Boas, “Did they ever.”
It’s All Over
While Lake is scheduled to appear Sunday on AZTV Channel 7 in Phoenix in a question and answerer session rescheduled by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission, I suspect most Arizonans will have returned their mail-in ballots by then.
Worth Repeating
In an earlier post, I wrote about Jared Bernstein, who is a member of President Biden’s Council of Economic Advisors, so you would know where Biden is getting some of his advice. I’m repeating my thought on Bernstein because he appeared on one of the Sunday news shows touting Biden’s economy.
Bernstein graduated with a bachelor’s degree in music … yes, music … from the Manhattan School of Music. He went on to earn a Master of Social Work from Hunter College, as well as a master’s degree in philosophy and a PhD in social welfare from Columbia University.
That should tell you something.
May God continue to bless the United States of America.
