What's The Matter With Arizona?

Just when we thought we could rest easy again, because the 2022 midterm elections were finally over after the Georgia runoff, U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona has decided to leave the Democratic Party and become an independent.  Her change of affiliation is only the latest in a series of political surprises since Trump instigated a band of rioters against the U.S. Capitol.

Sinema say that she has never felt comfortable in any party, having found no political organization that can satisfy her.  As an independent, Sinema claims to be more in sync with her constituents, as Arizona voters tend identify themselves as independents more than as Democrats or as Republicans.  But while Sinema's change of political affiliation may help her with voters back home, it also hurts the Democratic Party.  Not because she now denies them a clear majority and so renders them unable to issues subpoenas and confirm judges - she's not caucusing with Republicans - but because she's an unreliable legislator who does not stand for anything and can buck the Democrats more freely now.  She votes on legislation not out of conviction but on caprice.  Compare that to Bernie Sanders, another independent who has a consistently liberal voting record and has run for President twice as a Democrat.  True, she's voted with President Bien 93 percent of the time, but it;'s the other seven percent of the time where she causes a lot of trouble.  

It also confounds Democratic efforts to get rid of her in 2024.  Sinema was vulnerable in the 2024 Democratic Senate primary in Arizona, with more liberal Arizona Democrats poised to challenge her.  Now that she's an independent the Democrats have to support her in 2024 or run the risk of nominating a candidate who could split the Democratic vote with Sinema and help the Republican nominee win with a plurality.  And that nominee could be one of the MAGA chuckleheads who ran for statewide office in 2022.

Speaking of which, Kari Lake is suing to get the results of the gubernatorial vote in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix and is home to the majority of Arizona's residents, overthrown so that she can become governor instead of Democrat Katie Hobbs.  Lake insists that the vote count in Maricopa County is fraudulent despite no evidence whatsoever of the vote being rigged. Since she's a fake journalist, she's faking an exclusive story based on her investigative non-reporting for MAGA media.

But such fakery is nothing new for Kari Lake, since she obviously enjoys paling around with fake president Donald Trump and fake sports commissioner Linda McMahon.