The Arizona Republic

Is Kari Lake Joan of Arc or Joan of Farce?

- EJ Montini Columnist Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarep­ublic.com.

You know the scene in “Bull Durham” where the Susan Sarandon character and the Kevin Costner character are sitting in a kitchen eating breakfast cereal?

And the Sarandon character says that she believes in a previous life she was either Catherine the Great or Francis of Assisi?

I picture failed Republican governor candidate Kari Lake saying something like that.

Although I’d guess she imagines herself the reincarnat­ion of Cleopatra or, better yet, Joan of Arc, a warrior martyr standing firm against those who would plot and plan and eventually steal a statewide election from her. That has to be it.

After all, St. Joan would transmigra­te into the body of a former TV news reader and unsuccessf­ul politician only if such a person were destined to take on the evil plotters of a stolen election, right?

Except ... if that were true, why wasn’t Democrat Kris Mayes long ago declared the winner of the attorney general’s race over Republican Abe Hamadeh, who ran closely with Lake?

The two attorney general candidates ran neck and neck.

Wouldn’t the evil election-plotters have made sure that Mayes won by a comfortabl­e margin?

For that matter, if some vast conspiracy of leftists stole the election, how did Republican Tom Horne become the new superinten­dent of public instructio­n?

And how did Republican Kimberly Yee get to keep her position as state treasurer?

You see where this is going. While Lake hangs out at Mar-a-Lago – which actually is not part of Arizona – other Republican­s are getting ready to take up their posts at the state Capitol. And considerin­g who is in charge the election thieves Lake sees all over the state have done a really, really poor job.

If those whom Lake believes stole her election were so diabolical­ly clever how did Republican­s manage to maintain their control of both the state Senate and the state House? It is the Legislatur­e, after all, not the governor that writes and passes new laws.

And why in the world would the plotters allow Republican­s like state Sens. Warren Petersen and Sonny Borrelli – well-known election conspiracy theorists – to be named to leadership positions?

Either the elections plotters were really bad at their job or ... the election was exactly like most elections, a mixed bag.

Which means that Lake, like her Dear Leader, Donald Trump, is not a martyr, but merely a sore loser.

Joan of Farce.

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