An unsigned opinion article in the conservative magazine National Review today states that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio doesn't deserve to win re-election.
The magazine has previously run articles that defended Arpaio, but the sheriff's recent "birther" madness pushed it over the edge.
That's understandable, because the National Review has already debunked the same so-called evidence Arpaio recently released that purports to prove President Obama's birth certificate isn't real.
Here's what the magazine has to say about Arpaio and other birther-conspiracy nuts holding public office:
Republicans who have chosen to associate with the birthers have done their party and their country a disservice. And as Sheriff Arpaio settles comfortably into that political mental ward, the same must be said of those Republicans who choose to associate themselves with him more broadly. Those who cannot distinguish between the birthers' flim-flam and the critical questions that face our nation in 2012 will not win and do not deserve to.
While that sort of criticism sounds worse coming from a right-wing publication like the National Review, we'd also have to agree with a follow-up column by the Atlantic, which says that the birther nonsense "doesn't even make the top 10 list of his most egregious behavior."
The Atlantic article then goes on to discuss Arpaio's other problems, like the apparent racial profiling by his deputies, the misspending of $100 million in jail-tax funds, the bad treatment of inmates in county jails, the politically motivated criminal investigations, the failure to investigate sex crimes and other abuses.
Click here for a comprehensive list of the many New Times articles published about Arpaio over the years.
In reviewing Arpaio's history, you'll see that the sheriff "beclowns himself," to use the National Review's apt phrase, time and time again.
