Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 12:21 pm
In case you weren’t sure if liberal persecution was the latest quasi fame indicator for conservatives – TMZ meets cute the RNC at the cross between Stand Your Ground poster boy George Zimmerman demanding an apology from African Americans and Rush Limbaugh’s Batman Bane paranoid fantasies of Obama persecution of corporation/person Bain – Sheriff Arpaio of pink handcuff infamy is finally going to federal court today for allegedly profiling Latinos. However, political insight into the Right suggests that the lawsuit will only help Arpaio get re-elected because it’s proof that Arpaio is being persecuted by liberals.
Arpaio actually faces two lawsuits currently. In addition to the DOJ case that was filed after a three year investigation found evidence that Arpaio was systemically violating civil rights (including an incident where a deputy allegedly hit a Latino man with his patrol car and then instructed the other officers to leave the man there), there is a class action lawsuit against Arpaio beginning today in federal court that was almost five years in the making. Filed on behalf of every Latino voter pulled over since 2007, it alleges that Arpaio violated the constitutional rights of legal immigrants and Hispanic citizens.
But such serious charges will only help him win re-election. Political scientist Mark P. Jones explained:
“More than anything else, the conflict with the (Justice Department) and this civil suit are seen by his supporters as evidence he is endeavoring to combat illegal immigration and as a result is being persecuted by the Obama Administration and liberals,” said Mark P. Jones, a political scientist at Rice University in Texas.
“At this point I do not see these suits as adversely affecting his re-election efforts,” Jones added.
See, the two lawsuits filed against Sheriff Joe Arpaio for violating civil rights are seen among the faithful patriots who wave their freedom flags from Mitt Romney’s offshore accounts as proof that the good Sheriff is doing God’s work. After all, when liberals hate you, you must be on God’s side.
And when I say “liberal” I mean American and Constitutional rights upholders, because of course, this all started with accusations that Arpaio violated the rights to free speech of political opponents and targeted them with unlawful arrests. We all know that anyone who stands for free speech and civil rights is against God and only those who deny Constitutional rights to others really love America.
Arpaio is also in the “news” today for having found “proof” that Obama’s birth certificate is a “fraud”. It’s obvious that Arpaio is playing to the base and engaging in political gimmicks like his “investigations” of Obama.
Here’s his opponent calling him out on his tired game:
But it won’t matter. The Right loves a good persecution story – from Sarah Palin to George Zimmerman, they see themselves as the victims of a cruel world that expects them to treat others as they want to be treated, when in their minds, they are clearly entitled to extra privileges because God chose them.
Arpaio has been attacking the civil rights of others and the Obama administration for years. Under the auspices of his “free speech” rights, he is allowed to continue reporting that he has found Obama’s birth certificate to be a fake again. But if anyone else uses their free speech to disagree with Arpaio, they are persecuting him.
This is a type of mental illness that has permeated the mindset of the right. Every time they open their mouths they’re screaming about persecution and demanding apologies for things they are doing to others.
Politicians and pundits on the Right keep having to up the ante to get attention among the boys crying wolf, which is resulting in behavior that is unequivocally outside the norm. For example, while many who are unfamiliar with Arpaio might support his “mission” to round up the “illegal immigrants”, there aren’t many Americans who will support the tactics he uses. These lawsuits will draw only more attention to the sort of “justice” doled out by the self described “toughest Sheriff” in America.
Meanwhile, the conservative faithful are buying everything Arpaio is selling (isn’t it bizarre that this self-aggrandizing, dangerous clown has become the quintessence of modern day “conservatism”? Oxymoron much?). Arpaio has been playing his part for so long he might just believe in his own myth at this point.
Perhaps there will be some sanity today as Arpaio faces U.S. District Judge Murray Snow and is finally called to account for the serious charges he faces.
But whatever happens, you can count on conservatives to feel persecuted and victimized by it, because justice for all automatically presumes that they aren’t getting to deny rights to those whom they’ve deemed unworthy. Donations will pour in for Arpaio as he climbs up onto his birther cross to declare himself the only person who cared enough to violate the law for Jesus, while the rest of America shakes its head in vague confusion, still not quite realizing that conservatives really have jumped the Blood Libel Persecution shark and they aren’t coming back any time soon.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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