The sequel: Will the real Ruth McClung please stand up? (part 2)

Last Thursday, I posted Will the real Ruth McClung please stand up?, and it created quite a buzz here and on the Internet.

In this article and a previous one about McClung, I pointed out the fact that Sarah Palin has endorsed her, right-wing extremist groups are raising funds for her, small guv’ment guru Grover Norquist funded an attack against her opponent CD7 Congressman Raul Grijalva on her behalf, and she has distributed a print attack ad against Grijalva that some label as racist.

Three days later, the Arizona Daily Star expounded on the Norquist ad story.

Today, on his Liberland blog, national lefty commentator Alan Colmes published the story: What do Sarah Palin and Ruth McClung have in common? Here is an excerpt. [Emphasis added.]

The truth of the matter is that Ruth McClung has much more important allies than Sarah Palin. Oddly, though, she seems not to know who they are.  For instance, she had an interview with The Arizona Daily Star editorial board during which she professed to not be familiar with the group Americans For Tax Reform or even know founder Grover Norquist’sname. Of course, being charitable, one could forgive a 28-year-old first time candidate for that ignorance. How about when I tell you that Americans For Tax Reform has spent over $230,000 on ad buys targeting her opponent, incumbent Raúl Grijalva?

Still plausible deniability that she could be completely unaware of an outside group running ads on her behalf? How about when I tell you that Ms. McClung signed the Americans For Tax Reform pledge just as they prepared to make the ad buys? What could possibly explain this inconsistency? Seems the answer is either one of two things. Either McClung is cynically attempting to distance herself from attack ads being run by a group to whom she sold her political soul; or she is hopelessly, ridiculously ignorant and can’t even recall which pledges she has signed.

I’ll allow you to parse that question and decide what parallels she may have with Sarah Palin.  But one has to wonder what other back-room deals Ruth McClung has cut with Washington insiders and extremist groups. Just to whom would a “Representative McClung” be beholden?

Looking for a bit more background on Norquist and why he is so dangerous, I ran across this blog story and video about Norquist on the Common People’s Source for News blog. Ironically (since McClung claims not to know who Norquist is), she quoted him in the debate last week! When speaking about jobs, McClung said, everyone knows government workers are paid more than the private sector. Being a Tucson audience, there was a quiet chuckle that rippled through the crowd at this comment. (Anyone who has worked for the state of Arizona knows they’re paid far below the national wage.) Here’s an excerpt from the blog. [Emphasis added.]

[Norquist] said government workers are overpaid to the extent of $500 billion per year. And from the most recent reports, he’s right. USAToday published their article a couple of weeks ago comparing government pay to private sector wages, and there is definitely a sizeable disparity.*

Add all of this information to the fact that she ducked out of her commitment to debate her challengers tonight. The CD7 debate with Grijalva, Libertarian George Keane, and Independent Harley Meyer will be held without her.

So, dear readers, I’d love to hear your opinion of what’s going on here. Is McClung just stupid and doesn’t know who Grover Norquist is or what she signed? Or is she hoping no one will tell you that she’s just bobbing and weaving like all the rest?

*NOTE: One thing that may be a bit misleading about this labor statistic is that the federal government payroll includes the President, Congress, lots of diplomats, probably generals, etc., so it’s not really like a regular business that includes loads of worker bees.