Joe Arpaio came within an inch of winning GOP primary for Maricopa County Sheriff

It’s a moot point now, but how can this convicted felon legally carry a firearm?

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  1. He was convicted of a misdemeanor, not a felony.
  2. He was pardoned, which in the eyes of the law is the same as not being convicted at all.
  3. It’s not a moot point yet. As I said in my previous post, Rob is mistaken; the race has not been called.

Hmmm…

You sound like an avid supporter.

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So we can mark you down as supports torture of unconvicted suspects and finally, selectively of racial minorities?

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“ The Supreme Court stated in Burdick v. United States that acceptance of a pardon carries an "imputation of guilt " and is a confession to such guilt . …”

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Arpaio is a convicted felon. Why is he allowed to run? He can’t even vote.

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That’s not true at all. You can’t pardon an innocent person for the same reason you can’t pull the air out of a perfect vacuum.

Either you admit guilt in accepting the pardon, or you’re innocent all along and don’t require the pardon.

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Not at all. If I seem grumpy, it’s because I woke up to the good news that he’d lost the primary and then looked it up and found out that Mark had jumped the gun.

And now?

Have the final results come in?

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Yes, but that’s pretty much just symbolic. Any restrictions placed as part of that conviction – for example, a convicted felon being denied the right to carry firearms – are nullified by a pardon.

Another of Arizona’s great crooks, disgraced governor Fife Symington, was pardoned by Bill Clinton. He tried to run for governor again after that, because once he was pardoned, he was no longer restricted from running for office. He didn’t get very far, because a pardon doesn’t mean voters think you’re innocent. I’m hoping Arpaio comes to the same end – he did lose by double digits in 2016, after all.

But again, Arpaio was convicted of a misdemeanor, not a felony. Even if he hadn’t been pardoned, all he would have ever faced was house arrest. He never would have served a day in jail.

The rotten bastard did a lot worse than what he was convicted for, and I’m still furious at Holder for dropping the federal investigation against him. But at least he’s out of office and can’t do any more harm, except to the blue-hairs who are foolish enough to waste their money donating to his campaign.

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Not yet. Sheridan has maintained a pretty consistent lead of about 500 votes as they’ve kept coming in; as of this writing, he’s up 136,960 to Arpaio’s 136,419. But they’re still counting.

I’m pretty confident that Arpaio can’t win in November anyway – he lost by 10 points in 2016 – but I’d really like to see him go down in the primary. I suspect it’s all a moneymaking scam anyway (his Senate run two years ago certainly was), but if he can’t even win a primary for the office he got elected to six times, that would be a fitting final humiliation.

At least, I hope it’s final. He’s got a tendency to keep turning up like a bad penny.

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To the people that would vote for someone like that, being openly racist is considered a positive, if not an outright requirement. Sure, they may complain about tax money being spent on his defense, but it’s not his fault, it’s the fault of those damn liberals.

(And yes, my stomach recoiled a little as I typed the second clause in that sentence.)

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Excuse me?

Not to get all hipster here, but I suspect I was anti-Arpaio before most of you had even heard of the motherfucker. I used to vote in Republican primaries just to vote against him.

That Arpaio got off with a slap on the wrist, and then was pardoned, is not a defense of Arpaio; it’s an indictment of our criminal justice system. As is his entire career.

But what I said – Arpaio was convicted of a misdemeanor, not a felony, his pardon erased any restrictions that would have been placed on him if he had been convicted of a felony, and as of today the race has still not been called – those are facts, man. That’s not an endorsement of the rotten bastard, it’s just the unfortunate truth.

Somebody asked a question and I answered it. Accurately. Stating unfortunate facts about Arpaio doesn’t make me an Arpaio supporter. It just means I acknowledge the reality I live in instead of rejecting it and substituting a version I would prefer. If I wanted to do that, I really would be a Republican, not just a guy who voted in a couple Republican primaries.

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The race has still not officially been called, but it looks like Arpaio has indeed lost, as the current count has him down 6,000 votes with only 3,000 left to count.

I never get tired of seeing him lose. Though I fear that as a fundraising scheme and a publicity stunt, this was probably still a success for him.

And of course now we turn to defeating Sheridan in the general. I don’t know much about him but I know he’s Arpaio’s former chief deputy, so I fear he wouldn’t be much of an improvement over his old boss. (The incumbent, Penzone, isn’t ideal either, but I’ll take him over any Republican any day of the week.)

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Oh, dude

Well, that’s good then.

Genuinely glad for ya, best of luck on defeating the next GOP fascist in line…

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My misunderstanding. Your first couple of posts there made it seem like you were a fan of Arpaio. Glad to hear that you are the opposite of that. :slight_smile:

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