I expect that Jan Brewer is going to have an interesting primary.

[UPDATE] Or maybe the question is moot:

And by ‘interesting’ I mean ‘savage.’

Republican legislative leaders are not happy with Gov. Jan Brewer calling a special session to prompt votes on a $1.6 billion Medicaid expansion she supports.

Brewer, also a Republican, called the session to have legislators vote on the state budget and the Medicaid expansion, which leverages money from President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

Continue reading I expect that Jan Brewer is going to have an interesting primary.

#rsrh Another angle on Jan Brewer’s Mitt Romney endorsement.

Ed Morrissey’s thoughts on Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s endorsement of Mitt Romney make sense, but there’s another thought: could this simply be about immigration?  Romney’s portraying himself as a hardline immigration hawk at this point*, and Brewer got herself elected in 2010 largely on her willingness to take and keep a hard line on the topic herself.  Not too surprising that this might translate into an endorsement, honestly.

But will it work?  Don’t know, don’t care.

Moe Lane

*Note my choice of verb.

#rsrh Obama meets, and is a schmuck towards, Jan Brewer.

Come, I will conceal nothing from you.  Jan Brewer of Arizona is not… my favorite Republican governor, on paper.  I won’t get into why; if you must have a reason, call it ‘stylistic differences’ and be done with it.

But dang if she’s not able to get under President Barack Obama’s skin like nobody’s business:

[Gov. Jan Brewer] said the president brought up [her new book Scorpions for Breakfast*].

“I thought we probably would’ve talked about the things that were important to him and important to me, helping one another. Our country is upside down. Arizona was upside down. But we have turned it around. I know again that he loves this country and I love this country.”

It was clear from the moment they greeted one another that this would not be a run-of-the-mill encounter between the president and a local official. At one point, she was pointing her finger at him and at another, they were talking at the same time, seemingly over each other.

He appeared to walk away from her while they were still talking, and she confirmed that by saying she didn’t finish her sentence.

More here and here. I have to say, it’s amazing just how awful the President is at being pleasant in somewhat awkward situations. It’s like nobody’s ever taught him how to exhibit basic social graces under adverse conditions… oh, right, that’s because nobody ever did.

Moe Lane

*The full title is Scorpions for Breakfast: My Fight Against Special Interests, Liberal Media, and Cynical Politicos to Secure America’s Border; I give you the title in full in the hopes that it will act as what we in this business call a ‘tell.’

Gov. Brewer removes AG Goddard from immigration law defense.

Let me put it a different way: Gov. Jan Brewer (R, AZ-GOV) removes AG Terry Goddard (D-CAND, AZ-GOV) from the defense of the illegal immigration law that the former supports and the latter opposes.

Late Friday night as the Memorial Day weekend began, Arizona’s Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, in effect, suspended the state’s Democratic attorney general from defending the new law in upcoming legal challenges. The measure, known as S.B. 1070, is due to take effect this summer and, among other things, allows local police under federal guidelines to check the immigration status of people they stop.

[snip]

The governor’s abrupt action against Terry Goddard, her likely Democratic opponent in this fall’s gubernatorial election, came after months of disputes between the two and at the end of a long day of legal maneuvering in both Arizona and the nation’s capital.

Continue reading Gov. Brewer removes AG Goddard from immigration law defense.

What to take away from this Rasmussen AZ-GOV poll.

The very short version: all four GOP candidates for Governor beat the likely Democratic nominee. The hidden message: Arizona voters don’t like the Democrats’ health care debacle.

Over the past month, despite even higher opposition to the new national health care plan in Arizona than is found nationally, [state AG General Terry] Goddard has refused to join other state attorneys general in suing to stop the plan from becoming law. He argues that the suit will be unsuccessful and is a waste of taxpayer money. [Republican governor Jan] Brewer has gone ahead with a lawsuit anyway, delegating the legal work to her general counsel.

Now Brewer, who became governor when Janet Napolitano moved to Washington to be secretary of Homeland Security and has been plagued with severe budget problems ever since, earns 44% to Goddard’s 40%. A month ago, Goddard posted a 45% to 36% lead over the governor. were virtually tied in January.

Which should surprise nobody, but probably will. Ach, well, maybe May will see the sudden blossoming of support by the American people for a scheme that threatens to extend governmental control over 1/6th of the economy.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.