Arizona Republican Party members are calling out National Committeeman Bruce Ash for showing once again what a dumb ass he is. On January 5, Ash posted on Facebook that U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema was elected because of “dumb ass people” in the state.
Sinema, who ran as blue dog Democrat, defeated Republican Martha McSally, who was the chosen candidate for Ash and his fellow Republican Party establishment power brokers. McSally, who did not have wide-spread support among republicans, lost to Sinema in a close race for the Senate seat vacated by Jeff Flake.
McSally was later appointed to the Senate by Arizona Governor Doug Ducey to fill the vacancy created by the retiring Senator Jon Kyl, who had filled the seat temporarily, which had been vacated upon the death of Sen. John McCain. Because of McSally’s lack of popularity, Kyl was appointed to fill the seat until after Ducey secured his own re-election and could safely appoint McSally to finish out McCain’s term.
It wasn’t the first time Ash attacked his fellow Republicans for their lack of support of McSally.
In 2014, Ash told a radio audience that James T. Harris, a popular conservative radio talk show host, should be kneecapped for his lack of enthusiasm for a McSally candidacy.
Related article: Arizona RNC Chair resignation sought after calling for attack against radio host
On Monday, Harris, now at KFYI, discussed the issue on his show. “The first time I had an encounter with Bruce Ash I had to bail him out of another sticky situation, ” said Harris. The sticky situation was created when Ash said that President Barack Obama needed to stop “shuckin’ and jivin.” Ash was quickly labeled a racist by people on both sides of the political aisle, and Harris offered a conditional defense of the unpopular Committeeman by saying that his comments were “only racist if you want them to be.”
Later, Ash called for Republican leaders to be taken out and “shot execution style.”
Time and time again, Party members have called for Ash to resign. Time and time again, Ash and his establishment backers have ignored those calls. As a result, support for candidates like McSally has waned and cost the Party valuable congressional seats.