Jan Brewer corrects the record on headless bodies in the desert
Following a disastrous candidates’ debate in which Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer blanked out for what must have seemed an eternity, the Republican front-runner has been scrambling to repair the damage – starting with her overstating the nature of carnage along the border.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, R, gestures to democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry Goddard, far left, as Libertarian candidate Barry Hess, right, and Green Party candidate Larry Gist listen prior to a televised Arizona gubernatorial debate Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2010 in Phoenix.
Matt York/AP
OK, glad we got that straightened out.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer now admits she “misspoke” when she said decapitated bodies had been found by “our law enforcement agencies” along the US-Mexico border.
Following a disastrous gubernatorial candidates’ debate Wednesday in which Gov. Brewer blanked out for what must have seemed an eternity while giving her opening statement, the Republican front-runner has been scrambling to repair the damage …starting with her overstating the nature of the bad stuff along the border.
Some drug- and gang-related violence has spilled over the border, the Associated Press reports, but “none of the southern Arizona coroners who handle immigrant cases have seen headless bodies.”
Without getting too eww-inducing, let’s just say that according to the experts, there are ways of telling how a skull may have become separated from the rest of a corpse. Wild animals, for example.
"That was an error, if I said that," Brewer told The Associated Press on Friday. "I misspoke, but you know, let me be clear, I am concerned about the border region because it continues to be reported in Mexico that there's a lot of violence going on and we don't want that going into Arizona."
Brewer isn’t the only Arizonan who’s made provocative (and questionable) statements regarding immigration.
In April, Sen. John McCain (R), who was in a tough primary fight, told Fox News host Bill O’Reilly that “drivers of cars with illegals in it … are intentionally causing accidents on the freeway."
McCain used to be for comprehensive immigration reform – until he encountered a primary opponent to his right and found the need to get enthusiastic about Arizona’s new tough law on illegal immigration, which is being challenged by the US Justice Department.
Meanwhile, Brewer (who was named to fill the governorship when Janet Napolitano joined the Obama administration as homeland security secretary) is playing her election campaign very carefully. No more debates with Democrat Terry Goddard, the state’s attorney general, for one thing. And no more talk of decapitated bodies.