Kavanagh hit mailer a half-truth?

That bastion of lazy journalism -- the Arizona Republic -- characterizes John "Quid Pro Quo" Kavanagh's mailer as "somewhat true/somewhat false."

Okay, perhaps the Republic is trying to portray themselves as impartial, presenting the appearance of giving Kavanagh the benefit of the doubt. But when something is only "somewhat true," how can it be anything other than misleading?

A half-truth is a deceptive statement that includes some element of truth. The statement might be partly true, the statement may be totally true but only part of the whole truth, or it may utilize some deceptive element, such as improper punctuation, or double meaning, especially if the intent is to deceive, evade, blame or misrepresent the truth.

If Kavanagh had even an ounce of integrity, he could have taken the high road by stating up front that he considers himself a "drug warrior" and that he fully believes the War on Drugs has been successful but that his opponent disagrees. That's not what he did.

He went full demagogue on the topic.

A demagogue /ˈdɛməɡɒɡ/ (from French "demagogue", derived in turn from the Greek "demos" = people/folk and the verb "ago" = carry/manipulate thus "people's manipulator") or rabble-rouser is a political leader in a democracy who appeals to the emotions, fears, prejudices, and ignorance of the lower classes in order to gain power and promote political motives. Demagogues usually oppose deliberation and advocate immediate, violent action to address a national crisis; they accuse moderate and thoughtful opponents of weakness. Demagogues have appeared in democracies since ancient Athens. They exploit a fundamental weakness in democracy: because ultimate power is held by the people, nothing stops the people from giving that power to someone who appeals to the lowest common denominator of a large segment of the population.

The Republic can be credited for calling attention to Kavanagh's demagoguery, except that they really didn't "call a spade a spade."

THE BOTTOM LINE: Pennypacker's... Republic op-ed pieces on the legalization and regulation of illicit drugs are vague on which drugs she's proposing be legally sold...

Isn't that really the smoking gun evidence that Kavanagh intended to deceive the voters targeted with that mailer?

Kudos to the incessantly declining Arizona Republic for giving prominent space in its Sunday before election day opinion section to this issue which can give Arizonans plenty to think about. Yet, this largest news enterprise in our state leaves it sufficiently ambiguous to allow hard-core Republican voters to believe the four-term state representative was really not lying too brazenly.

We know, however, that this kind of thing is nothing new for Kavanagh. Here's an image from a prior election cycle mailer he used against his Democratic opponent Stephanie Rimmer.

This, by the way, is why candidates choose to not respond to Cathi Herrod's questionaires. The question Rimmer answered had nothing to do with writing laws regarding qualifications for employment in elementary schools. Kavanagh fully intended to exploit the situation by deceiving the voters. I don't recall the Republic doing a fact check on this mailer, but it would be a stretch to even give Kavanagh the benefit of the doubt on this one.

Bottom line as I see it is that John Kavanagh has no conscience that prevents him from lying to voters in order to get his way. This he learned, apparently, from decades of service as a policeman in New Jersey.