All posts tagged: Kari

Donald Trump and Kari Lake are hypocrites on abortion: Will evangelicals even notice?

Donald Trump and Kari Lake are hypocrites on abortion: Will evangelicals even notice?

Published by skeptic

I have a hard time with small talk, dinner-party phoniness and the whole idea of sucking up to a boss or someone in a superior professional position. The idea of learning how to “network up,” which I once taught students in a high school career course I designed, makes me want to vomit. I know it’s good advice, because I’ve seen it work throughout my entire career by people willing to do it. But I cannot do it personally.   I have certainly heard the cliché about how we’re supposed to treat the janitor with the same respect as the CEO. But in practice, I have rarely seen that happen. What has hurt me professionally is that I tend to treat the blue-collar folks with great respect and upper-level professionals with disdain. Too often, I have no respect for these higher-ups because I find many of them to be incompetent suck-ups.   “Successful” people often seem to be the type who care more about how they are seen, how much money they make, how big their house …

Kari Lake and the GOP’s Clumsy Messaging About Abortion

Kari Lake and the GOP’s Clumsy Messaging About Abortion

Published by skeptic

Earlier this month, Kari Lake—the right-wing candidate running for the United States Senate in Arizona—tried to distance herself from the Civil War-era abortion ban the state’s high court upheld. “It is abundantly clear,” the MAGA candidate said in a statement at the time, “that this pre-statehood law is out of step with Arizonans.” But in a recent interview, Lake sounded a different note—expressing frustration that the 1864 law has yet to be enforced by state leaders: “The Arizona Supreme Court said this is the law of Arizona, but unfortunately, the people running our state have said we’re not going to enforce it.” “We don’t have that law as many of us wish we did,” she said during the visit to Idaho, which is at the center of the first major abortion case before the U.S. Supreme Court since its conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Lake’s remarks came as Arizona Democrats mounted a third push to repeal the 1864 ban after previous efforts were thwarted by state Republicans—underscoring the deceitfulness of the GOP’s efforts to clean up the abortion mess they made. But …

“You can go three hours that way”: Kari Lake and Arizona GOP can’t decide if abortion is bad or not

“You can go three hours that way”: Kari Lake and Arizona GOP can’t decide if abortion is bad or not

Published by skeptic

Abortion is supposedly an act that is so evil it’s tantamount to murder — yet it is somehow less wicked if someone takes a road trip before doing it. That appears to be the bizarre opinion of Kari Lake, failed gubernatorial candidate turned current Republican candidate for Senate from Arizona. At a Tuesday campaign event, Lake was dismissive towards people who are angry about a recent state supreme court ruling that resurrected a near-total abortion ban that was initially passed 55 years before women had the right to vote.  “Even if we have a restrictive law here,” Lake tried to assure the concerned crowd, “you can go three hours that way, three hours that way, and you’re going to be able to have an abortion.” What’s changed is that they have since learned that voters want women to have their rights. Now that women’s safety is under threat, so are the electoral chances of Republicans in November. The comment is confounding in multiple ways, and it’s just the latest twist in Lake’s ever-changing position on abortion. …

Despite attempts to be less ‘divisive,’ Kari Lake finds it hard to shed her MAGA instincts

Despite attempts to be less ‘divisive,’ Kari Lake finds it hard to shed her MAGA instincts

Published by skeptic

PHOENIX — This winter, Kari Lake was facing a daunting reality: The voters who rejected her in her 2022 run for governor could now jeopardize her entire political future. If Lake — “Trump in heels,” as she has referred to herself — didn’t begin to quickly change the minds of those she had shunned or ridiculed, she could lose, again, in her 2024 Senate bid. “I have never thought of myself as divisive. But it’s not enough for ME to believe that. I need to prove it,” Lake wrote in a social media post in December, acknowledging the need to step away from her tendencies to make incendiary comments, like when she gleefully declared that she had driven “a stake through the heart of the McCain machine” — referring to Sen. John McCain, the popular Arizona Republican who died in 2018 — and broaden her appeal. But with just over seven months until the election, several key Arizona Republicans tell NBC News that they believe Lake’s campaign is facing an increasingly uphill battle.  “What I …

Kari Lake seeks to forfeit her defense in defamation case

Kari Lake seeks to forfeit her defense in defamation case

Published by skeptic

Attorneys for Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake moved to forfeit a defamation case against her on Tuesday, choosing not to contest the allegations that she defamed a state election worker after the 2022 election. Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer (R) sued Lake last year in his personal capacity, claiming Lake defamed him after she refused to concede her 2022 Arizona gubernatorial defeat and alleged election fraud. The lawsuit claims that Lake consistently and systemically lied about Richer’s actions as recorder, causing him to receive harassment and numerous threats to his life. Richer added that Lake claimed without evidence that he stuffed ballot boxes with 300,000 invalid votes and used his role as recorder to make the ballot unclear for voters. “For the last seven months, I have been subjected to constant harassment, intimidation, and threats to my and my family’s lives because the defendants in this case were spreading falsehoods about me, my work, and our elections,” Richer said in a statement when the lawsuit was filed last year. The court filing Tuesday does not …

Kari Lake Asks US Supreme Court to Outlaw All Electronic Voting

Kari Lake Asks US Supreme Court to Outlaw All Electronic Voting

Published by skeptic

Kari Lake, who is currently running for US Senate in Arizona, is still refusing to let her 2022 gubernatorial loss go. On Thursday, the Republican candidate filed a petition to the Supreme Court arguing that electronic voting should be ruled unconstitutional, and this time around, she’s got a new partner in crime: MyPillow founder and CEO Mike Lindell. The lawsuit stems from the leadup to the 2022 election, when Lake, along with local secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem, sued Maricopa County, seeking to ban electronic vote counters, which they alleged were theoretically “hackable.”  The suit was dismissed in August of 2022, with a judge deeming the litigation a “frivolous” waste of time and slapping Lake and Finchem’s lawyers with $122,000 in sanctions. The penalty, wrote Judge John Tuchi, would “make clear that the Court will not condone litigants … furthering false narratives that baselessly undermine public trust at a time of increasing disinformation about, and distrust in, the democratic process.” Both Lake and Finchem went on to lose their elections. An appeals court upheld …

Kari Lake woos D.C. lobbyists as Arizona Senate race heats up

Kari Lake woos D.C. lobbyists as Arizona Senate race heats up

Published by skeptic

Arizona Republican Senate Candidate Kari Lake speaks with reporters after leaving the office of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Capitol Hill on March, 6 2024 in Washington, DC.  Kent Nishimura | Getty Images Arizona Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake has been quietly meeting with lobbyists and raising money in Washington in recent weeks, according to people familiar with the matter. Lake has built her political brand around her willingness to buck the D.C. establishment wing of the GOP. On Tuesday, Lake met with about a dozen lobbyists in the nation’s capital, and the following day she attended a campaign fundraiser that was heavy with D.C. hired guns. Lake also met separately with a top GOP lobbyist recently to strategize how to get her in front of even more industry players, according to sources familiar with the meeting. Like others in this story, they were granted anonymity to describe private events. The Arizona Senate race is poised to be one of the most competitive and high profile contests in the nation this fall. President …

Kari Lake changes her tune on abortion

Kari Lake changes her tune on abortion

Published by skeptic

Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake has, up until now, been known for her staunch Republican views on abortion but she seems to have changed her mind as of this week, with some wondering if her odds of getting elected in a modern political climate focused on reproductive rights factors into that flip-flop.  In 2022, Lake made an appearance on KTAR News 92.3 FM’s “The Mike Broomhead Show” where she firmly stated her belief that “abortion is the ultimate sin,” saying she aims to work to enact “pro-life legislation,” but in an interview with NBC News this week, she’s “clarifying her stance,” saying she believes Arizona will settle on a rule that offers access to abortion up to 15 to 24 weeks, a big change from the 6-week abortion ban she advocated for in years past.  “The vast majority of Americans and Arizonans hold the view that abortion should be legal and that late-term abortion should not be legal,” she added, “with exceptions for rape, incest, and obviously the health of a mother.”  In addition, Lake is also going against …

Kari Lake clarifies her stance on abortion

Kari Lake clarifies her stance on abortion

Published by skeptic

Kari Lake, the Arizona Republican candidate running for Senate, has proclaimed abortion “the ultimate sin,” said abortion pills should be illegal, and praised laws to restrict reproductive rights in other conservative-led states. In August, Lake was in Ohio to campaign for a ballot measure that would have made it more difficult to pass a constitutional amendment enshrining the right to abortion. Now, Lake, in an exclusive interview with NBC News, is seeking to moderate her position in a way that acknowledges the tricky spot that Republicans find themselves after the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that enshrined abortion rights nationally.  Lake said she believes Arizona will settle on a rule that offers access to abortion up to 15 to 24 weeks. She called the state’s current 15-week limit “a good law,” and told NBC News that she does not support Arizona’s controversial territorial rule, a near-total ban on abortion that is under dispute in the courts. As recently as November 2023, Lake responded to a question about her previous support for …

Kari Lake praised a near-total abortion ban. Now, she’s softening her tone

Kari Lake praised a near-total abortion ban. Now, she’s softening her tone

Published by skeptic

Republican Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2024 on Saturday, Feb. 24. Lake has softened her stance on abortion as the campaign season moves forward. Alex Brandon/AP hide caption toggle caption Alex Brandon/AP Republican Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2024 on Saturday, Feb. 24. Lake has softened her stance on abortion as the campaign season moves forward. Alex Brandon/AP In October, the same month Republican Kari Lake announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate, the Arizona Democratic Party launched The Lake Tapes. On social media, they post snippets of statements Lake has made in the past – everything from her false claims of stolen elections to her support of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision overturning Roe v. Wade. “I am a hundred percent pro-life. I think the Supreme Court did a very smart thing,” Lake is heard saying in the one soundbite. Then there’s audio of Lake favoring the more extreme version of two abortion bans on the books …