There are still almost five full months left in 2012 and Pearce has already racked up a hefty list of awful moments so far this year. We've somehow managed to whittle those down into a list of Russell Pearce's top five most awful moments of 2012 (thus far...).
5. Your Delivery's a Little Off, Sir: Russell Pearce Talks "Crushed Scrotum" at Nationally Televised Event
Yes, the words coming out of Pearce's mouth in the above video were supposed to come together to formulate a joke . Pearce said "messaging is important as we communicate one with another." He should heed some of his own advice, because this particular message failed miserably to communicate this as a joke.
Pearce's sad attempt at humor occurred during a Lincoln Day Luncheon in Phoenix back in February. He began the alleged punchline for this joke at about the 1:32 second mark.
4. Russell Pearce Has a Stupid Sign
No one wants a dentist with bad teeth, a mechanic with a faulty car, or a barber with a crappy haircut. Likewise no one wants a champion of education who can't spell "education." Well, there's a pro-Pearce campaign sign floating around which proudly boasts his "Golden Apple Award for Eduction."
Never mind the fact that Pearce slashed education funding in Arizona by roughly half-a-billion dollars during his time in office, or that he received the award from a rather shady virtual learning organization, he could've at least spelled "education" properly.
3. Russell Pearce Blames Victims for Dark Knight Massacre
This is the point on the list were things go from funny to rather cringe-worthy.
Following the July 20 movie theater shootings in Colorado, Pearce thought it'd be a good time to defend guns and blame the victims of the tragedy for not being prepared to stop the shooter. On his Facebook page, Pearce wrote "Someone should have stopped this man. Someone could have stopped this man. Lives were lost because of a bad man, not because he had a weapon, but because noone [sic] was prepared to stop it."
Pearce later apologized for the statement, and had already expressed his sympathies for the victims in the original post. It certainly would've been extraordinary if someone could've stopped the man, but that certainly wasn't the time, place, or issue to rally support for gun-ownership. Especially since there are some gun-owners out there who are not prepared to play hero.
2. Racially Charged Emails Released
See also:Russell Pearce's Mexican-Bashing E-mails Slammed By Randy Parraz, Others
On July 17, the ACLU of Arizona released emails it obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, which show the erstwhile senator using very racially charged language. Just to give you a preview of some of the bigoted language used in the emails, here's what Pearce wrote in one:
"Myth: Mexico's people love the USA, respect our language and the laws of our country.
Fact: Corruption is a mechanism by which Mexico operates. Its people spawn more corruption wherever they go because it is their only known way of life."
"Tough, nasty illegals and their advocates grow in such numbers that law and order will not subdue them. They run us out of our cities and states. They conquer our language and our schools. They render havoc and chaos in our schools. I'm stunned at the speed of this invasion. I'm further stunned that most American don't see it or deny it or ignore it. We are much like the Titanic as we inbreed millions of Mexico's poor, the world's poor and we watch our country sink."
1. Russell Pearce Won't Stop Lying About Ties to J.T. Ready
After known racist and Neo-Nazi supporter J.T. Ready murdered four people before icing himself, it was inevitable that Pearce was going to attempt to distance himself from Ready once again.
For years now, our colleague Stephen Lemons has provided innumerable pieces of evidence proving that Pearce was long aware of Ready's extremely hateful views and behavior. In fact, Bill Strauss, the regional director for the Anti-Defamation League, said he warned Pearce in 2006 about Ready's prejudiced behavior and his link to the Neo-Nazi movement.
Despite the apparent warning, Pearce continued to remain buddy-buddy with Ready as recently as 2007. He didn't publicly break off his association with Ready until 2008 -- when it became politically damaging.
Even with the evidence stacked against him, Pearce still tried to pass this statement off as truth concerning his connection to Ready after the murders:
"In the past several years the local media has worked hard to try to tie me to the JT Ready that preached hate, and that is nothing more than a lie."
"When I learned the truth about him, I made it clear how wrong I thought it was and I worked to remove him from our Party. Yet the lie is told and retold over and over again."
Pearce apparently knows a thing or two about telling a lie over and over again. Check out a video which details his relationship with Ready:
