As I watched Senator Kyrsten Sinema on Sunday Square Off this morning I quickly put on my rubber boots and prepared to listen to this supposed round table debate between A Republican, Rep. John Kavanagh (R) District 8 and Kyrsten Sinema (D?) district 15. Chip Scutari of Scutari & Cieslak a public relations firm sat in the physical middle, but as is customary with Sunday Square Off the guy sitting in the middle always leans right ideologically.

The first issue to come up was the counterclaim filed this last week by the state of Arizona in which the Governor & her Puppet ex Superintendent of Public Education and now State Attorney General Tom Horne named the federal government as counter-Defendants in the original claim filed by the feds against Arizona and it’s anti-Immigrant legislation titled SB1070. As I watched Kavanagh verbalize his support for the counter claim with his never diminishing New York twang, I couldn’t help but remember the several run ins he and I have had in which he has stood his ground on the issues he supports. Failed ideology and all, Kavanagh will not deviate from his anti-Immigrant stance. I’m certain Kavanagh, a retired New York Port Authority cop from Queens arrived to Arizona with a frustration pent up from not being able to openly attack Immigrants in New York (spoken with an accent), and decided he would use Arizona’s Immigrant population as his whipping boy. Kavanagh makes no bones about being a staunch supporter of any law focused on attacking Arizona’s Immigrant population.

On the other hand as I watched Kyrsten Sinema once known as a staunch supporter of Immigrant rights and defender of the underdog, I couldn’t help but notice how she carefully crafts her words to make sure she doesn’t deviate to far to the left, lest she alienate some potential Republican voters. Hell, Sinema is just now working on wooing the right to her corner with bills like her very own sponsored SB1225. Her anti-Immigrant legislation helps Sinema start to change her über liberal image and slowly peel off some of that Democratic clothing in a slow and revealing political strip tease. It may be sexy and alluring to the right but it certainly has some on the left and most in the pro-Immigrant corner in an uproar. This newly revealed Sinema clearly displays her political opportunism and her desire to do whatever it takes to get the ultimate prize. She has her sights set on the big picture and she isn’t going to allow her traditional stance on Immigration and liberal issues get in the way of her political achievements.

As the debate shifted on Sunday Square Off to the 14th amendment and the Republicans efforts to change the birthright citizenship aspect of the amendment at a state level, I watched Sinema argue that the legislation had no legal merit and that some people think it’s just bad for business. Having a legal mind I can fully understand arguing something from a purely technical aspect as to whether or not this type of legislation or any lawsuit that it may invoke has legal merit or would ultimately have the potential of prevailing in our highest courts, but that’s not the Sinema of yesteryear. At no time did Sinema bring up the humanitarian or the mean spirited aspect of the bill, nor did she point out the fact, that this, Arizona’s 50th legislative session is saturated with anti-Immigrant bills that clearly serve just one purpose, that is to pursue those low skilled laborers that Arizona’s businesses so desperately need to stay in business and to at least allow Arizona’s economy to churn at a snail’s pace as it has since Arizona’s focus shifted to Immigrant hating.

As I rewound the Sunday Square Off recording time and time again in order to make sure I was properly analyzing what I was interpreting as three Republicans slightly deviating from a common point of view, I heard Sinema end the show by stating “Actually, I love Russell, we get along very well, not always on policy matters, but on personal matters we do.” Sinema was referring to self proclaimed Senate Tea Party President Russell Pearce. Wow! Kyrsten Sinema loves Russell Pearce!

Look, let me clarify, I’m well aware that attorney and legislators of which Sinema is one and the same, often take up the roles of Wolf & Sheepdog also known as Ralph E. Wolf and Sam Sheepdog. If you’re as old as I am you’ll remember the cartoon series based on “Don’t give up the sheep”, ironically named and appropriately coined while we’re referring to Sinema. In the cartoon Ralph E. Wolf and Sam Sheepdog clock in every morning, say their hellos, and chase each other around, beating each other up, and at the end of the day they clock out saying their goodbyes and wishing the other well.

However when we are talking about 2011 Arizona you would not expect to see and hear the supposed lead defender of Immigrant and gay rights and highest profile “liberal” swapping saliva with the most high profile anti-immigrant nazi-hugging nativist Republican in Arizona.

Well, one thing is for sure, I sure hope Sinema hurries up and finishes that political strip tease. Anyway, some of us know what’s underneath, and it ain’t pretty!

Carlos E. Galindo is a radio talk show host & political analyst conducting radio shows in both English and Spanish on four radio stations in Arizona. Mr. Galindo is a weekly contributor to KPFK 98.7 FM Los Angeles and has appeared on CNN, Univision and Telemundo as a political analyst. Mr. Galindo is also an Op-Ed columnist on Prensa Hispana Arizona. www.nospinonair.com/www.carlosgalindo.com

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 13th, 2011 at 2:46 pm and is filed under Arizona Politics, Arizona's 50th legislature. Tags for this post: Arizona's Legislature, Birthright Citizenship, Carlos Galindo, John Kavanagh, KASA, KXXT, Kyrsten Sinema, Russell Pearce, SB1070, The JOLT, Tucson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.