Highlights from Mercer's Campaign

A collection of  political nuggets from this blog and the web is a look back at the phenomenon that is Gabriela Saucedo Mercer, and at the same time a study in extreme sociopolitical consequence. It remains a work in progress. Items are in no particular order.

• As a private citizen and before announcing her run for congress, Mercer supported AZ SB 1070, the "show me your papers" law, despite the fact that a Pew Hispanic Center poll from October 2010 showed that 79 percent of Latinos disapproved of SB 1070. 
• Supports Voter Suppression
• As a private citizen and before announcing her run for congress, Mercer supported two state bills by fellow Tea Party member AZ Senator Lori Klien that would have prohibited "partisan" thoughts in the classroom. One of the laws would have seen teachers fired, stripped of their credentials and schools de funded for having a "partisan" thought. The measure passed committee 5-2 and almost became law but was defeated by a hair thin 16-14 vote in the Senate. Klein is famous for pointing a gun at a reporter in the state legislature.
• Garnered national attention when she posted a "A lesson in Irony", an uncredited and allegedly plagiarized statement that equated welfare recipients with wild animals who "will grow dependent on handouts and will not learn to take care of themselves." 
• Promotes the film "Agenda", which claims that the "Left" is engaged in "microwave communism" and is but one of two options: "ignorant or evil", leaving the oversimplified political spectrum of "Right, Ignorant or Evil."
• Claims in debate and radio appearance that  "there's no subsidies for the oil companies" adding that "if you want to call it a subsidy, the oil and gas companies get 64 cents per kilowatt." Of course the International Monetary Fund disagrees.
• In a recent Facebook post, Mercer made an extraordinary claim: "Democrats fought against the blacks during the civil rights movement."
• After her "middle easterner" comments, is photographed with Lebanese Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA). Issa a few days later is named "Most Corrupt Congressman" for "leading a witch hunt" against Attorney General Eric Holder that forced the president to evoke Executive Privilege, then dodged behind "constitutional protections" to avoid censure. 
• Think Progress quoted Mercer in an appearance video "dismissing [her opponent, incumbent Raul] Grijalva, who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, as a “communist” — “what is progressive about communism?” Mercer asked — she told the crowd that the congressman is “anti-America.” “His allegiance is not to America,” Mercer declared. “Grijalva was born here, but he hates the American way."
• Openly called President Barack Hussein Obama a communist.
• Her announcement for candidacy was described as "underwhelming, filled with the usual conservative rhetoric on social issues and not much else."
• Supports the rejection of opposing viewpoints as "desperate hacks"
• Supports the Rosemont Copper Mine, claiming it will bring 2,000 new jobs to the region (Rosemont spokespeople have said it would create as many as 9,000 jobs). It remains a controversial project that is an issue battleground still undergoing permit reviews and legal challenges. Sadly, in a district with 18 plus percent unemployment,  it is the only tangible employment plank in her platform. 
• Was described by Dee Dee Garcia Blase, the founder and head of the largest national Hispanic Republican group, Somos Republicans, as having a "restrictionist Dixiecrat mentality ... we cannot afford that in Arizona."
• Appeared in public with red baiter Trevor Loudon, an advisor, mentor and notable member of the cult of ZAP
• Told a reporter “If you don’t give people welfare, if you don’t give them any freebies, they’re going to say, ‘Well, I better stay in my country.’”
• Supported Chick-Fil-A's anti-gay stance.
• Told a reporter she does not want "middle easterners" here "legally or illegally" causing one writer to exclaim "obviously, Mercer isn’t expounding on illegal immigration. She’s just spewing forth her own prejudice." She continues to defend her remarks.
• Routinely filters unfavorable and disparaging comments from her Facebook page rather than encouraging open, reasonable, articulate debate.
• Is an associate of Harry Mathews, an opponent of the Department of Education and education in general, but mostly of the way school "indoctrinates" youth. Together they share a 14 step plan to destroy and rebuild the DOE that included a "Kristalnacht" event, not unlike the horror that took place in Germany 1938 when thousands of Jews were rounded up, murdered and or sent off to concentration camps.
• In association with Harry Mathews, opposes the Student Non-Discrimination Act introduced by Senator Al Franken. The bill is vehemently opposed by the far right as something called the Homosexual Classroom Act.
• A "card carrying NRA member", Mercer openly supports congress take up the issue of  changing the 14th Amendment because, “(The meaning) needs to be discussed,” but remains unwavering on the 2nd Amendment.
• Garnered an endorsement from Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, only to have Brewer cancel a fundraising appearance less than 30 days later. The following week the National Republican Congressional Committee pulled it's funding for her campaign. "Why should they waste their money?" quipped one Phoenix analyst who called her opponent Raul Grijalva "unbeatable"
• Celebrated "no more pedagogy of the oppressed" as Ethnic Studies are banned in Tuscon, an act so ludicrous it brought the ire of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, which did a piece on it

Despite the foibles, Mercer has had many defenders. Some comments are here.