It was nauseating to witness the lineup of presidential wannabees at Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's offices in downtown Phoenix last fall looking to be anointed by the unholy one as the heir apparent to John McCain as the Party's 2012 nominee.
Michelle Bachman, Herman Cain and Rick Perry all came looking for Arpaio's endorsement. They were tripping over each other attempting to one-up the other as the meanest and toughest candidate to earn Arpaio's blessings. Cain went as far as to suggest the use of machine guns to mow ‘em down at the border. Why not moats with alligators, or maybe steel traps? After all, the Justice Department uncovered evidence that the Arpaio had systemically referred to them as "animals." Why isn't Arpaio in jail and, frankly, who cares who he endorses for President?
Play it forward to today and what do we have? All three of these pretenders have gone away, suspended their campaigns; they've left for Minnesota, Georgia and Texas, respectively, as the biggest losers!
Of course, in the end, Arpaio endorsed Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Wow, what a looney toon this guy turned out to be. He had this basic disconnect between his mouth and his brain during the 5,000 or so debates.
"Now what was that third Federal Department I was going to eliminate?"
A couple debates ago when asked what he was going to be doing the night of the college football national championship game he responded that he was, "going to the shooting range." I guess it's true that nutcases of a feather stick together, right Joe?
Speaking of the impact of Arpaio's endorsement: He flies to Iowa to campaign for Perry and the first thing he does was inform the breakfast crowd that he was happy to be in the "Buckeye" state. Iowa happens to be the "Hawkeye" state.
After a near riot, Arpaio returned to his perch on Washington Street in downtown Phoenix. Last I checked, he wasn't invited to New Hampshire or South Carolina. So much for big mouth's endorsement.
So who's left for Arpaio to ruin next? Rick "I can't believe I made it this far" Santorum, Ron "the mad scientist" Paul, Newt "open marriage" Gingrich, or Mitt "I know what's it like to live on the streets" Romney? Frankly, I don't believe he'll receive a single phone call.
Of course, I guess he could re-endorse Russell Pearce. That worked like a charm the last time, huh Joe?
Jon Beydler is a 32-year Valley resident and the former mayor of Fountain Hills who now lives in Chandler.
