Arizona RNC Chairman Bruce Ash pulled a Joe Biden gaffe when, during a bizarre rant by his radio show co-host, Emil Franzi, he called radio show host Larry Elder “intelligent and articulate.” While the assault by Ash on local conservative radio show hosts, James T. Harris, Jon Justice, Garret Lewis, Joe Higgins, and Chris DeSimone and the backhanded compliment of Elder occupied water cooler conversations on Monday, it was nothing compared to his completely out-of-touch interview of Arizona State Senator Carlyle Begay in the second hour of the show.
When then presidential candidate Vice-President Joe Biden said his opponent, President Barack Obama, was “articulate and bright” the outrage was universal. There is no telling what the response will be to series of gaffes that occurred in less than two hours this Saturday on KVOI’s Inside Track.
During the first hour, listeners endured a bile fueled rant by Ash’s addled co-host, Emil Franzi. In that high-pitched rant, all of Franzi’s pent-up resentments were given full voice as he verbally assaulted the younger, more talented and more conservative talkers. The first hour was unnerving enough, but for those few listeners who remained for the second hour, things just got extremely uncomfortable.
Ash, considered a gaffe prone Republican establishment thug, took a cheap shot at the Republican Party and the grassroots during the second hour of the show during an interview with State Senator Carlyle Begay things got disturbing. Begay had mentioned that after his recent announcement that he was switching parties and becoming a Republican. He said that he is frequently told ‘welcome to the club’ and state he was not sure it there were “dues or hazing in his future.” Ash told Begay that he would not be hazed by his colleagues, but might be hazed by the voters.
“We’re not very bashful about speaking our mind when we have something on it,” sneered Ash. “You have town halls up in your district – we will find out if they are the same way when you were doing Democrat town halls before.” To the contrary said Begay, “It has been a welcoming experience.”
Begay, a member of the Navajo Nation stated that Congressional District 1 is a fairly large and diverse district. He explained, “You have an extremely large Native American population, a very large Hispanic population..” Franzi, who fancies himself an expert on Cowboy literature interrupted, “How many Native tribes do we have? I think its 4 isn’t it?” Begay responded, “Well, within Congressional District 1 there are 12 tribes in that District, of the 22 in the state.” “Twelve?” responded Franzi. “Twelve,” responded Begay. Franzi responded impatiently, “How do we count them, woo, what did I miss?”
Begay patiently proceeded to name them off for Franzi. Once again, Franzi interrupted, “Say, how do you guys get along?” Begay chuckled a bit and said, “Well, there is a lot of unification on key issues that impact the overall state. The future of our state is dependent on a true partnership with our rural and tribal communities.”
Still seeming to be annoyed that Begay was more familiar with the various tribes in the District, Franzi snorted when they returned from a commercial break, “Gang, I just want everyone to know that’s one of my tribe,” Frank Sinatra’s bump music. Ash laughed heartedly at the bizarre reference to Franzi’s Italian ancestry.
It appeared Ash finally recognized that the conversation was very awkward, and he quickly tried to change the subject. “Hey Carlyle, so it’s a big, big district – with a lot of tribal lands in the district, I – in full disclosure – for about 4 years was the Receiver for the Fort Defiance Housing Corporation. So I very much know how big this District is. I regularly had to drive it dealing with issues we had with that receivership.” That revelation went over like a lead balloon, eliciting a “hmm” from the always kind-hearted and soft spoken Begay.
Ash has had more than his shares of gaffes and missteps. In 2013, the Huffington Post reported on Ash’s antics when he mocked President Barack Obama in a Facebook post. According to the Huffington Post:
Bruce Ash, Republican National Committeeman from Arizona, linked to this BuzzFeed post with the following comment:
Some people wonder why I cannot figure out why I believe Obama is shucking and jiving on ObamaCare.
In 2014, on the same obscure radio show suggested that someone might consider kneecapping popular Tucson radio show James T. Harris. While Republican fans were mortified by Ash’s apparent call to violence, and called for Ash’s resignation, Harris was able to turn the abusive man’s anger into a continuous humorous segment on his show.
By Monday, Harris once again was able to turn Ash’s errors into an hour of comedy in which grassroots Republicans, who have felt the oppressive practices of Ash, called in to mock the GOP establishment.
Higgins, who is a morning show host on the same obscure radio station that features Ash, sent a video of the screed and a message that read in part:
Don’t kid yourself, there are powerful interests that would like to keep the status quo in Pima County.
When we look at what’s happening at the National GOP, you can see how hard it is to truly change the power structure.
One thing can be sure, as long as guys like Higgins continue to feed the beast – the beast will continue to feed on them, and Ash will continue to embarrass the Republican Party.