Shoot at the police and you are the enemy, period

OPINION

Opinion: Why would an incumbent use this slimy tactic when there already is a 17-point Republican voter registration advantage in the district?

EJ Montini | The Republic | azcentral.com

Dr. Hiral Tipirneni is an actual medical doctor, in spite of the insipid signs being posted next to Tipirneni’s campaign signs by Republican Debbie Lesko.

Lesko currently represents Arizona’s 8th Congressional district, which includes much of the north and west portions of the Valley, like Sun City, Sun City West, New River, Goodyear, Peoria, Luke Air Force Base and more.

Republicans have a 17-point voter registration advantage.

A mannequin with an R after its name could win there.

Which perhaps explains Lesko.

Why the sleazy campaign?

Still, the incumbent and her party must be spooked by the support Dr. Tipirneni has been receiving; otherwise, why the sleazy campaign antics?

Unless, perhaps, it just comes naturally.

The good doctor no longer sees patients, but Tipirneni earned a medical degree and maintains her license in good standing.

This is true of a number of physicians in Congress. And a number of dentists in Congress, including Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar.

Would Lesko call him a fake dentist?

A degree is a degree

Carly Henry, The Republic | azcentral.com

A degree, once earned, is just that.

Earned.

And whatever title goes along with it.

This kind of campaign isn’t new to Lesko. In an earlier run she held an event with Republican Rep. David Schweikert in which Schweikert called their opponents “the parasite class.”

This from a man who once compared union workers to Nazis, who voted against the aid package for hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico and whose office staff called the cops on constituents who showed up at Schweikert’s office armed with … cookies.

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This is Lesko, who brought in House Speaker Paul Ryan for a $2,500-per-ticket fundraiser not long after Ryan spoke of how the big tax break for the rich passed by Congress would drive up the debt so much that Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security would have to be cut.

The power of the R

And folks in the Sun cities go along with that?

As I said, it’s all about the R.

This is Lesko, who squirmed and couldn’t wait to get away from Ady Barkan, the health care activist who suffers from ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease, and confronted her about the Republican plan to dissolve the last vestiges of the Affordable Care Act, including the provisions that protect individuals with pre-existing conditions from being denied health insurance.

Because there is an R after her name, Lesko manages to convince good people to vote against their own best interests, yet has the nerve to call Tipirneni a “fake doctor.”

By the way, in addition to a number of doctors, Congress also includes of a number of lawyers, teachers, professors, veterinarians, psychologists, an optometrist, a pharmacist, nurses, former members of the military and ordained ministers.

So who is the actual fake?

Would Lesko call this latter group “fake ministers” because they no longer tend to religious congregations?

Likewise, would Lesko refer to those politicians who served in the Army, Navy, Air Force or Marines as fake soldiers or fake sailors or fake pilots?

No.

Their credentials are real, as are Tipirneni’s.

It is only Lesko’s slurs that are fake.

And, of course, Lesko.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.